L'OMBRELLO E LA MACCHINA DA CUCIRE

This album marks the beginning of the collaboration between Franco Battiato and the philosopher Manlio Sgalambro, who wrote all the lyrics... The music has strong classical influences with the use of operatic voices and choirs ("Un vecchio cameriere" is an elaboration from Haydn's quartet op. 64 n. 5) while the "rock side" is almost completely absent... You can find here some good ideas but the mood is a little bit "desolate and depressing" and at length this work risks to be a little boring...

The opener title track is quite interesting with keyboards and operatic choirs as a background for Battiato's vocals: "I was alone like an umbrella upon a sewing machine..." A good track with a mysterious feeling and hermetic lyrics... The second track "Breve invito a rinviare il suicidio" (Short request to postpone suicide) is more in a "pop vein" and features some electronic sounds and keyboards interacting with choirs while Battiato's vocals give you the suggestion to avoid suicide just because "this appearance of life does not deserve it": this is perhaps the most "cheerful" track on the album, along with the ironical and weird "Gesualdo da Venosa", dedicated to the famous Italian composer of madrigals (1560 - 1612) who killed his unfaithful wife and her lover because of "honour reasons", but "What does it matter? / His note strike / Sweet like a rose..." The other tracks flow without prise or blame, every now and then almost giving the idea of "landscapes without any idea of movement, where immobility echoes..." (words taken from "Moto browniano").

In the whole "L'ombrello e la macchina da cucire" is not a bad album, although it' not an essential one in a prog collection... Recommended only to the fans of the artist...