Best known as a member of I Gufi (The Owls) - an Italian musical and comedy ensamble - actor, singer, comedian and writer Roberto Brivio was born in Milan in February 1938.
Son of a man from the Brianza area and a Friulian woman, he dedicated himself to theatre after graduating with famous actress Esperia Sperani, from the Accademia dei Filodrammatici, in 1959.
At the beginning of the '60s he joined the Compagnia dei ragazzi dell'Angelicum and started producing a series of 7" singles for children and prose LPs for La Voce del Padrone and Ricordi.
Among these we'd like to remember at least his Italian adaption of Nigel Kneale's "The Quatermass Xperiment" (L'astronave del Dottor Quatermass), which will hopefully be the subject of another post here on Stereo Candies in the future.
In 1962 he opened the Teatro del Corso in Milan, which he successfully managed for a few years.
Around the same time he started writing for the Italian TV and radio, and also produced his first comedy / chanson records for the Columbia label under the alias Roberto Bi. These included some early examples of his gallows humor, which he will expand later on during his experience with I Gufi.
In 1964, the meeting with Lino Patruno and Nanni Svampa, later joined by Gianni Magni, gave rise to the aforementioned musical group. In those years, I Gufi helped to create a form of musical cabaret in Italy, often using the Milanese dialect in their productions.
Their debut album, entitled "Milano canta" (Milan Sings), was released by Columbia in February 1965, and was the first in an astounding series of twelve successful LPs which were produced by the group in just four years.
During his tenure with I Gufi, Brivio was credited for writing about 50% of the band's repertoire in collaboration with his musical partner Ario Albertarelli.
Until their disbandment in 1969, the group regularly performed in theatres throughout the country and also arrived on television, managing to pass through the tight stranglehold of censorship thanks to their use of dialect.
Shortly after, along with Augusto Mazzotti, formerly one of his classmates at the Accademia dei Filodrammatici, Brivio debuted at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan with a new play entitled "Fantascienza" (Science Fiction).
Following this effort, a selections of songs probably excerpted from the play were collected on the first Brivio solo album, the aptly entitled "13 Canzoni di Fantascienza" (13 Science Fiction Songs). The album was released by Columbia in early summer 1969 and will be a succulent subject for another post quite soon.
During the same year, a 7" single entitled "Salve eroi della Luna" (Hello Heroes of the Moon) b/w "Glass" was also released, and is covered in this post.
Roberto Brivio on stage in a recent picture
Here's the track list for this 7" single:
01. Salve eroi della Luna (3:00)
02. Glass (3:28)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in February 2019 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the original item.
Please have a look at the comments for the download link.
"Salve eroi della Luna / Glass" was released by Columbia / EMI in Italy with cat. number SCMQ 7155 / 3C 006-17196 M sometime in 1969. The matrix numbers in the dead wax area are marked "2-10-69", so I easily guess that the single was published towards the end of the year.
The records comes in a cover that superimpose a picture of Buzz Aldrin, Neil Alden Armstrong and Michael Collins - the crew of the successful Apollo 11 mission that brought the first men on the Moon in July 1969 - on a drawing by cartoonist Ferruccio Alessandri that originally adorned the cover of "13 Canzoni di Fantascienza", the album released by Brivio a few months later. On the back we don't find much of interest, just a small coupon that can be cut out to be used inside juke-boxes.
As both the cover and title imply, "Salve eroi della Luna" (Hello Heroes of the Moon) is a ballad that solemnly celebrates the conquest of the Moon. The song was written by Brivio along with his long-time collaborator Ario Albertarelli and is a tribute to the "...fearless, brave, immortal, generous..." men who accomplished such extraordinary feat.
On Side B we find "Glass", a more hilarious track that had already appeared months earlier on Brivio's debut album. This is another Brivio-Albertarelli composition that focuses on the effects of lack of gravity during space flight, comparing them to the signs and symptoms of drunkenness. The lyrics make an elegant and effective use of all sort of onomatopoeias and Brivio's prowess as an actor clearly emerges. The last line "Non c'è serietà senza gravità." (There is no seriousness without gravity.) effectively summarises the concept expressed in the song.
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy!
More information about Roberto Brivio and I Gufi is available here:
If you have any other useful information about Roberto Brivio and "Salve eroi della Luna / Glass", or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Piccola mia, dormi ancora che è presto
dormi ancora, il sole è lontano
Piccola mia, no, non voglio svegliarti
voglio solo accarezzarti
Il sole è nato, ancora addormentata
la tua pelle è tutta sudata
La casa è di amici, il letto ad ore
fatto apposta per fare l'amore
Ho diciassett'anni, tu se il mio grande amore
voglio darti la mia vita, il mio colore
Voglio spiegarti che non so come amarti
vorrei dirti mille cose, vorrei toccarti
Voglio svegliarmi insieme a te voglio volare
insieme a te voglio ridere e giocare
Voglio, voglio, quante cose voglio
non riesco mai ad accontentarmi
Parlare con te mi fa sentire più grande
un posto mio e tuo è solo un sogno
Il sole và via, la sera si avvicina
e siamo solo un bambino e una bambina
Voglio amarti, occhi di Luna voglio amarti
su una stella voglio portarti
Voglio scappare con te, voglio scappare
andare avanti e non tornare
Voglio amarti, occhi di Luna voglio amarti
Voglio scappare con te, voglio scappare
andare avanti e non tornare...
Keep on sleeping my little baby, it is still early keep on sleeping, the sun is faraway
No my little baby, I don't want to wake you up
I just want to caress you
The sun is born, you're still sleeping
and your skin is all sweaty
At a friend's place, a bed by the hour
tailor-made for making love
I am seventeen years old and you're my great love
I want to give you my life and my colours
I want to explain you that I don't know how to love you
I would like to tell you a thousand things, I would like to touch you
I want to wake up with you, I want to fly with you
I want to laugh and play with you
I want, I want, I want so many things
I can never be satisfied
Talking to you makes me feel more grown up
a place of our own is just a dream
The sun has gone away, the night is getting closer
and we're still a little boy and a little girl
I want to love you Moon Eyes, I want to love you
I want to take you on a star
I want to run away with you, I want to run away
move forward and never come back
I want to love you Moon Eyes, I want to love you
I want to run away with you, I want to run away
move forward and never come back...
[from the lyrics of "Occhi di Luna" / "Moon Eyes"]
Well-known Italian musician, composer and director Andrea Liberovici was born in 1962 in Venice, where he spent his youth before moving to Genoa.
Son of Sergio Liberovici (one of the most active musicians in the Italian music scene after World War II and founder - along with Michele Straniero - of the Cantacronache group, prime movers of the folk music revival and important representatives of the new political song movement in Italy) and of Margherita Galante Garrone (better known as Margot, singer-songwriter and also part of the Cantacronache), Andrea grew up in a stimulating environment and easily followed his parents' footsteps.
Liberovici studied composition, violin and viola at the Venice and Turin conservatories, acting at the Scuola del Teatro Stabile in Genoa and singing with Cathy Berberian at the International Festival in Montalcino.
Anyway, legend has it that he discovered Rock music when he was twelve years old, while on holidays in London, after attending a Rolling Stones concert. So, feverish of rock, he didn't hesitate a moment to join a few groups that used to play in pubs in the city. Back in his home town, Liberovici bought the whole Stones discography and spent the winter listening to therecords inside and out. During his next holidays he flew again to Londonfor three months and, just like most of the artists on the road, he earned a living playing violin in the London Underground and found a roof occupying houses with other youngsters like him...[1]
More recently, his music has been performed by Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montreal), Toscanini Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice Orchestra and others. These works have also been presented and produced by landmark cultural institutions such as Teatro di Roma, La Fenice in Venice and Salle Olivier Messiaen in Grenoble.
«I was born in Giudecca (...one of the islands in the Venetian Lagoon...) and I spent my entire youth in the city, studying at the Conservatory. I was a curious and restless spirit, before my sixteenth birthday I released my
first album, "Oro" (..."Gold", already covered here...), which included songs of a transgressive nature, entirely composed by me, which were born from precocious musical experiences I had along with friends of mine when I used to play in the streets. The venetian producer Ermanno Velludo, also a great engineer, took care of production. A milanese producer passing
by Venice produced the following album "Liberovici" (1980), but from that moment I decided to change direction, in controversy with the power of the record labels that often constrain the creativity of an artist.»[2]
"Liberovici", original insert - page 1
«Our home, in Venice, was populated by artists; the full Living Theatre lineup used to pay a visit. My playmate and buddy-buddy, both as a child and as an adolescent, was Serena Nono - daughter of Luigi - now a painter. She was my next-door neighbor and her home, as you would easily guess, was just as full of music and of meetings. Let's say that I was very lucky! My anarchist-creative spirit was not censored, but indeed profoundly encouraged by the people around me (friends, relatives and strangers).»
«I always played a bit of everything, before and during the Conservatory: from guitar to piano and flutes. I started the Conservatory when I was in junior high school and attended it, more or less, until the age of sixteeen. In the meantime I began to record and release my first albums, so I left the Conservatory for about one year. I took it up again when I was eighteen for three years, no longer in Venice but in Turin, studying violin and viola. Later in Turin I continued the study of the instrument and also began to study composition. I never finished the Conservatory and even if for a long time I felt this interruption as a sort of personal failure, now I'm proud of it.»
«My true icons were Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and then Patti Smith. I was fascinated by their singing style.»[3]
"Liberovici", original insert - page 2
«I think that "Oro"is a small declaration of absolute candour and amazement. I wrote it, lyrics and music, at the age of fourteen, but this wouldn't mean much. Indeed, generally speaking, the more you're young and the more you're inclined to refer to models. Instead I think that this album was, although born of many influences, very personal and, therefore, inevitably sincere. I love it very much. It's one of my creations that I love the most.»
«The "Liberovici" album was the beginning of disaffection. Music-industry executives, producers, press agents... At the age of seventeen I was touring Italy as a young star, with driver, fans, etc., and living in a Milan hotel suite. Above all I had no creative autonomy. My every intuition was examined, sifted through and censored. I still remember with horror the fights to the death (I was not easy to tame), with hunger strikes, locked inside the toilets of my record company, because they had rejected a song or mine or, even more serious, because they were putting on me an image that didn't belong to me. I even dared to refuse, with great dismay of the executives, the chance to go to San Remo festival. I literally told them to fuck off and I escaped to London to play my violin in the subway to survive.»[3]
"Liberovici", original insert - page 3
«I've been very lucky with my parents. All three. My mother Margot, an author, singer and puppeteer, my father Sergio, a composer and teacher with whom I lived for just a short time, and Giovanni Morelli, a musicologist who passed away some years ago, with whom I grew up. It was a wonderful family that deliberately throwed me into a magic potion cauldron, just like Obelix, filled with music and theatre. I came out from that pot (...at one point I was about to drown...) with many efforts and also with a great indigestion. Once digested, I found myself in the cauldron again, but with a joyful gratitude for those wonderful flowers who have placed me in the world and that have chosen art literacy from the world for me.» [4]
"Liberovici", original insert - page 4
Sources:
[1] translated from a short feature/interview published on "Albo Varietà Motori" magazine, 1980
[2] translated from a feature/interview by Riccardo Petito published in "Il Gazzettino", n. 174, 25th July 2004
[3] translated from the book "Officine Liberovici" published by Marsilio Editori, Venice, October 2006
[4] translated from an interview conducted by Filippo Bordignon, 2012
Andrea Liberovici performing live, circa 1979-80
"Liberovici" contains the following tracks:
01. L'eroe e l'eroina [The Hero and the Heroin] (3:46)
02. Ammorissimmo Mmio [Suupeer Loovee of Mmine] (3:04)
03. Padre Pio [Father Pio] (2:03)
04. Ciuff ciuff [Choo-Choo] (3:04)
05. Carino carina [Cute boy, pretty girl] (3:58)
06. Tira tira tira [Pull pull pull] (6:34)
07. Vorrei [I Would] (4:47)
08. Occhi di Luna [Moon Eyes] (4:26)
09. Uh caramellina uh uh [Uh Little Candy Uh Uh] (3:03)
All tracks were remastered in July 2018, they include complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files. For my remaster of this album I used audio tracks sourced from the rare CD re-release.
24.11.2018 Update: sorry guys, no downloads and no audio previews are available for this release...
Recorded the previous year, "Liberovici" was released by CGD in Italy sometime in early 1980, probably in January, with catalogue number CGD 20194. The album was re-released on CD sometime during the mid-90s, probably in 1996. Although not a limited edition, this digital version has been unavailable since many years and rarely surfaces on the second hand market.
I came into possession of my vinyl copy of the album in 1987. It was part of a stock of LPs given to me by my older brother, who in turn had got them as a gift from someone else who wanted to get rid of them... Sigh, poor discarded and homeless vinyls, how can people treat you with so much cruelty? My little babies, I'll keep you warm and safe...
Ehm, in 1987 I was 17 years old, just the same age that Andrea Liberovici was in 1979 when he recorded this provocative second album and I couldn't help but identify with many of the verses of the songs included on it.
Given the young age of the musician, and aware that the LP was simply entitled with the author's surname, at that time I thought that "Liberovici" was his first and only album... Since I had enjoyed that record so much, a great joy filled me one year later as I discovered that Andrea had released his debut LP back in 1978: "Oro". I already dedicated a post to it and I almost can't believe that more than five years have already passed since I promised to offer you his second effort...
The difference between the two albums is clear right from the cover: while Oro" showed him offering a beautiful smile under a huge pair of glasses, a guitar over his shoulder and a nice "No Nukes" button, on "Liberovici" Andrea appears almost emaciated, gazing at us with a mixture of challenge and resignation.
Andrea Liberovici, feature on 'Albo Varietà Motori' issue 14, April 1980
L'Altritalia has already written the perfect review of this album and I truly hope they won't mind if I include it here below. I completely agree with them about the nature of "Liberovici", which in my opinion is absolutely not a trash album.
«Ridicule can be tragic, and tragic is often sublime. Andrea Liberovici was 18 in 1980. Son of Sergio, composer and etnomusicologist, he was kind of an infant prodigy, having released his first album "Oro" (Gold) in 1978, at the age of 15. This first effort was sort of an end-of-course essay for a precocious, brilliant child musician who had studied at two different conservatories and had a great talent for theatre as well. The work of a teenager trying to impress the world, attempting to be profound and provocative, while he mostly sounded naive, and eventually innocuous. The music is a mash up of Canterbury-like pop with rockish rushes and some avant tricks. The whole album is actually interesting, but the one track that stands out is "Risotto", which is also a strong link, both musically and lirically, to his incredible second record. Liberovici came out just at the beginning of what was later called riflusso (“reflow”): after more than twenty years of massive political engagement, the revolutionary movement was rapidly disbanding, and collective issues were soon replaced by individual commitment. La marcia dei quarantamila (“The march of the the forty-thousand”) is a milestone in Italy's contemporary history. More than 40.000 employees and managers from FIAT demonstrated against trade unions power and for a “return to order” in the factories. Restoration was coming. In the meantime, heroin consumption was reaching a peak, and terroristic attacks got more and more indiscriminate and useless. The conflict was still there, but became a private issue. Something for your analyst, if you could afford one. Or something to sing at, if you were a musician. The album reflected this end-of-an-era climate, being hysterical, confused, disturbing. It summarized seventies' glam, funk rock, new wave, cantautore style in a way that was already pure eighties' postmodernism. The lyrics as well were a collection of the past decade's alternative culture slogan and clichés: drugs, sex, new social and family relations, spirituality. Everything's fluorescent and overilluminated; exaggerated and yet stylized. The boy took the risk of turning himself into a comics' character. And in a way he was a comics' character: look at him on the cover. But the thing is, he sounded totally serious about what he was doing. Serious and intransigent as only a young man can be. It's the same attitude that made great Cannibale and Frigidaire, two of the most important and influential italian magazines of those years, and the people from The Great Complotto. Even when he dedicated to Padre Pio – now a saint – a love song which somehow reminds of “Je t’aime, moi non plus”, it was not comedy. There's a no-way-out feeling here, a sense of loss and hate which rescues even the most embarassing moments. In the end, i disagree completely from pals at Orrore a 33 giri. [...their review of "Liberovici" is available here...] This is not a trash album. It’s a great piece of contemporary art.»
Andrea Liberovici, feature on 'Intrepido' issue 26, June 1980
Here's the credits and personnel list of "Liberovici":
Music and lyrics by Andrea Liberovici.
"L'eroe e l'eroina" lyrics by Andrea Liberovici and Marziano Fontana.
Arranged by Tony Mimms.
"L'eroe e l'eroina", "Padre Pio" and "Tira tira tira" arranged by Liberovici, Angelo Turotti and Rockstarter.
Produced by Liberovici.
Mixed by Gigi Venegoni and Gianfranco Longo.
"L'eroe e l'eroina" produced and mixed by Marziano Fontana,
Silvio Puzzolu, Liberovici and Pino Vicari.
William Marino, Dave Summer, Stefano De Carli, Giancarlo Brambilla: guitars Michael Fraiser: keyboards Michael Brill: bass Andy Surdy, Fabio Amodio: drums Tullio De Piscopo, Claudio Bassani: percussion Bruno De Filippi: harmonica Pierluigi Muccioli, Claudio Pascoli, Giovanni Capriolo: horns Ornella Cherubini,
Eloisa Francia, Marina & Monica Balestrieri: backing vocals
Backing vocals in "L'eroe e l'eroina": Rockstarter, Mixo and Silvio Puzzolu
Photography: Flavio Gallozzi
Cover and Logo Design: Marziano Fontana
Adverts for "Liberovici" on 'Il Discorriere' (CGD magazine), February 1980
A few original 1980 TV appearances which feature a short-haired Andrea Liberovici are included below courtesy of YouTube.
More information about Andrea Liberovici is available here:
If you have any useful information about Andrea Liberovici, or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
Vieux hôtel
de périphérie
comme le miel
sur le mur chanter
la vie on routes désertes.
Bonne s'il est,
le train de l'adieu
ma grand-mère
somme en arc en ciel
le jardin du paradis superbe.
Mon métier
faire le musicien
flux de fer
comme les chemins
de bleu de blanc
je jou le violon comme Einstein.
Oui, de comburant
des chagrins
moi je n'en veux pas
J'ai conseillé le train de l'adieu.
[an attempt at reconstructing the lyrics of "Adieu" by the kind people at BattiatoForum]
During the last few years I took care about the remastering of all the Pop albums and singles produced by Giusto Pio during the '80s, which were mostly created in collaboration with Franco Battiato... In 1978, the Astra project was one of their first exploration of more commercial territories, after their previous Classical and Avantgarde experiments.
Sadly, after a whole life dedicated to music, Piohas recently passed away at the age of 91. As far as I know, he was still suffering the after-effects of a fall which occured to him in late 2015 and produced a hip fracture.
Since a detailed Giusto Pio biography has already been included in theaforementionedposts this time I'll keep it short, but I can't help to mention once again the exceptional quality of Pio's contribution to Italian music.
On a personal note, I would just like to add that I have always felt affection for the kind figure of this renowned composer and his death has particularly sadden me, even more than the many untimely and unexpected departures than happened among musicians in recent times.
To end this short introduction, I decided to offer you the translation of a Giusto Pio quote taken from an interview conducted by Stefano Mereghetti in 2010. It perfectly summarize Pio's optimistic view and attitude towards life:
«There is always hope for a better tomorrow. Also because I usually see a lot of people carrying the world on in silence. Unfortunately, the news are always full of negative events. Instead, there are so many people, often unknown to the public, who do a lot of good and nobody talks about them.»
Giusto Pio and Franco Battiato, circa 1978
Here's the track list for this 7" single:
01. Adieu (3:31)
02. San Marco (3:09)
Both tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in March 2017 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the complete original artwork.
Please have a look at the comments section for the download link.
Produced by Luigi Mantovani, "Adieu / San Marco" was released in Italy by Elektra with catalogue number T 12310 in September 1978. During the same year the single was also released in Portugal with catalogue number N-S-57-43.
Both the front and back cover of the single feature the same picture of Giusto Pio's son, Stefano, while the centre labels omit Battiato's real name from the writing credits in favour of Kui, one of his most used aliases that debuted exactly with this release. It's clear to see that Battiato, who at the time was enjoying a respected career as an Avantgarde musician, didn't want to be associated with a Pop product...
This is how Giusto Pio recalled the days of the Astra project in an interview conducted by Marco Rapelli in 2000:
«The first song we did, pretty much at home, had French lyrics and was entitled "Adieu". On the record Battiato sang and I played the violin, but since he didn't want to be credited with his real name, he signed the song under a pseudonym and the name of the singer who appeared on the cover was "Astra". The most curious part of the story is that when we had to promote the single on TV, we sent my son Stefano, who mimed the song and also pretended to play the violin.»
On the first side we find "Adieu", which is dominated by a multitracked violin and a tight / obsessive rhythm section that keep both the melody line played on a keyboard, and the leading singing voice that takes its place, in the background, preventing us to fully decrypt the French lyrics of the song...
Interestingly enough, the same melodic line was revived the following year on "Canterò se canterai", a song performed by Catherine Spaak credited to Kui-Pio, with new lyrics by Michele Pecora. The melody was used again in 1989 in the song "Una storia inventata", written for Milva, whose lyrics also contain some references to the original version.
The flipside offers "San Marco", a slow track where piano and violin create a fin de siècle atmosphere which is definitely softer than the one expressed by "Adieu". Once again Battiato sings in French, and this time his voice is made unclear by using a... megaphone!
Here's the lyrics of "San Marco" as found on Facebook:
Le jeune homme, la peau blanche, l'écharpette brune
le matin d'un dimanche en Piazza San Marco.
C'était le réveil d'un jeudi inconnu
la fantaisie de soirs passés en compagnie.
Le jeune homme, plein de livres comme un philosophe
le corps si pâle à lui qui aurait du aller nu.
C'était le réveil d'un jeudi inconnu
leur souvenir, la donne est-ce tous en c'est tout aller.
La dernière vente c'était un paletot brun.
Bonne chance! Au revoir aux vins et aux voeux!
Franco Battiato and Giusto Pio in the late '70s
The following clips offer a complete preview of the remastered single, enjoy!
More information about Giusto Pio and Franco Battiato is available here:
If you have any other useful information about this post or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
«One day, coming back from school in Castelfranco when I was about eight or nine, I met a person who was playing violin under the arcades, in front of a small shop: that frail sound came over me, it made me vibrate and echoed inside of me for many days.»
Giusto Pio was born in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, in 1926. He inherited a passion for music from his father, who played several instruments without ever having attended regular schools.
At 13 he began to study violin in Marghera and three years later he was accepted at the Liceo Musicale Cesare Pollini of Padua. In 1941 he moved to Venice, where he studied composition and violin under Luigi Enrico Ferro, the last great violinist of the "Venetian School", at the Benedetto Marcelli Conservatory.
Pio graduated in violin in 1947, a few years later he got married and moved to Milan. During the '50s he received important national and international awards and entered the RAIorchestra of Milan (Italian television orchestra) as Concertino violin, a role that enabled him to acquire, in about thirty years of activity in close contact with the best directors and performers of the world, a wide experience in the field of orchestral-symphonic and operatic music.
During the '60s and the '70s, he also carried out an intense didactic activity with the best Milanese and Italian chamber music ensembles, contemplating a vast repertoire of music that, starting from the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Letitiae Musicae, the pioneer group in Italy for Medieval and Renaissance music), went through the Italian Baroque (Complesso Strumentale Italiano, Symposium Musicum Milano, Giovane Quartetto di Milano, Complesso Barocco di Milano, etc.), and then reached the contemporary music of today with many premières of the greatest Italian living composers.
Over the years Giusto Pio has participated in several recordings for the major record companies of the time (Ricordi, Angelicum, Vox, Decca). These musical performances were always philologically attentive, thanks to the help of musicologists such as Francesco Degrada and Raffaello Monterosso of the Musical Paleography School of Cremona.
In the late '70s Pio was hired by Franco Battiato as violin teacher and they soon became friends. Later on, almost for amusement and curiosity, Pio began to play improvised concerts with him and vocalist Juri Camisasca.
In 1978 he worked as musician on "Juke Box" by Battiato and during the same year he released his first album of experimental music entitled "Motore immobile" (...you can listen to the whole album here...) on Cramps Records.
The long collaboration with Battiato was one of the most prolific and interesting during the '80s and '90s in Italy; this partnership took Pio to new heights in the fields of commercial and avantgarde music, with a great success in terms of popularity and discography.
Most of the albums by Franco Battiato, from "L'era del cinghiale bianco" (1979) to "Unprotected" (1994), depending on the case, included Giusto Pio as co-author of the music or of the arrangements, as violinist or as conductor. All the tours performed by Battiato during those years always included Giusto Pio among the essential lineup of musicians.
In those years, always with Battiato, he wrote the music and arrangements of many hit songs for Italian singers Alice, Giuni Russo and Sibilla ("Per Elisa" by Alice won the Sanremo Festival in 1981, you can watch the original performance here), produced two albums for Milva and various songs for other artists.
In 1984 Pio, Battiato and lyricist Rosario 'Saro' Cosentino penned the Eurovision Song Contest entry "I treni di Tozeur", performed by Alice and Battiato, which finished 5th in the contest and became a considerable commercial success in Continental Europe and Scandinavia. A video of the original performance, which briefly shows Giusto Pio as orchestra conductor, is available here.
Between 1982 and 1987 he released three lovely albums of Pop music: "Legione straniera", "Restoration" - I already remastered both of them some time ago along with the "Auto-Motion (Otomoscion)" single - and "Note", the subject of this post. In particular, "Legione straniera" and "Restoration", both written along with Battiato, sold very well and Pio became a well-known name among the younger audiences, as evidenced by the musical chronicles of those years on many magazines and newspapers.
In 1988 he published "Alla corte di Nefertiti", an album that marked the passage to a music style which was very different from his previous output and had far less commercial appeal. His association with Pop music definively waned after the end of his artistic fellowship with Battiato.
Over the past decade, Pio increasingly approached acoustic and electronic research, and produced music for theater (for example the play "Medea", for the Florentine group Krypton, which won first prize for music at the Massa Carrara Festival, or his collaboration on Battiato's operas performed in the major Italian theaters), music for movies and interactive musical comments with other art forms such as painting, sculpture and poetry.
Among his most recent music releases we remember "Utopie" (1990), "Missa Populi" (dedicated to His Holiness John Paul II, 1995), and "Le vie dell'oro" (2000).
The book "Dedicato a Giusto Pio", which includes a companion CD entitled "Dolomiti Suite", was published in 2010 to celebrate Pio's 85th birthday.
Although the artwork was scanned and restored from the vinyl album in my possession, the music was sourced and remastered from an original copy of the rare CD version which was kindly supplied by Stefano AbulQasim, thank you so much Stefano!
All tracks were remastered in September 2016 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with complete artwork reconstruction and printable PDF files.
Please have a look at the comments for the download link.
«After the moderate success of "Legione straniera" and "Restoration" I had decided to be the Cincinnatus of the day, cultivating a small piece of land in my neck of the woods. However, the lure of music was too strong. After all, I still used to perform each now and then with some 'ensemble' of acoustic music, be it Baroque or other styles, so I hadn't completely quit the stage. Then, some old friends (starting from producer Angelo Carrara and the CBS press office) convinced me to work on a new record. The album, informal in style and presentation, was born almost like a 'divertissement'. I bought a mixer and a twelve-track tape recorder, and I brought them to my country house. There, from February onwards, I focused on the compositions. I also resumed old ideas that I had never developed; some of them date back to the days when I used to work with Battiato.» [1]
«"Note" is my latest album of Pop music; it includes instrumental compositions for violin and strings. Two tracks, namely "Halley" and "Capitano Nemo", were retrieved from some improvisations related to "Cigarettes", an unreleased work made in 1978-79. Other compositions are more recent, for example the lullaby that I composed for my nephew Andrea.» [2]
"Note" (Notes) was released by CBS with catalogue number 460063.1 sometimes in late 1987, probably in October or early November, both on LP and cassette tape. The album was also issued on CD format in a limited run, hence its rareness today.
Just like the two previous Pio's Instrumental Pop efforts, the album was produced by Angelo Carrara. However, the album doesn't feature the same team of musicians that enriched those records; guitar and bass are completely absent in favour of a more electronic / programmed / midi sound that unfortunately, in certain passages, appears a little bit dated today.
Franco Battiato, who had co-written all the tracks on "Legione straniera" and "Restoration" - the touchstones with whom "Note" should be compared - was not involved in the making of this album and his contribution is limited to the short endorsement that those of you who are lucky enough to read Italian can enjoy here below.
All tracks are therefore signed by Pio alone and, as a matter of fact, the usual extra-European suggestions which are ascribable to Battiato are not part of this work. Unlike in the two previous albums, quotes from famous pieces of Classical Music are nowhere to be found on "Note".
I may be wrong, but I guess that on this album Pio received some help by young pianist Roberto Rossi: he is credited for playing various sinthesizers and samplers, but also for some kind of 'artistic collaboration'. In the meantime, after years spent playing keyboards for many Italian artists, Rossi is now Head of the A&R department of Sony Music Italy...
An endorsement about "Note" written by Franco Battiato
The album opens with "Capriccio", an uptempo number which probably would have been the perfect choice for a single or for radio promotion, but as far as I know no single was released, not even a promo.
"Halley" is a superb composition, probably the best on the record, and deserves a special mention; it brings up images of deep space and oceans. How this piece can be born from an improvisation completely eludes me...
The piano + midi keyboards introduction of "Concerto" doesn't sit among my favourite moments of this record; luckily enough the track evolves with a sax + violin refrain that elevate the mood. I can't help to think about how this piece would have benefited from a real bass instead of the thin sequenced line that we are offered.
Side One ends with "Capitano Nemo" (Captain Nemo), another of those tracks whose origin Pio traces back to the late 70s. Once again, this is a strong piece that offers a well-balanced fusion of sequenced elements and violin, with an apt organ outburst in the closing section.
Side Two starts with the sweet "Ninna nanna per Andrea" (Lullaby for Andrea). In his short review of the album, Battiato describes it as «a kind of symphonic poem chamber, a "program music" intimate story».
"Inno" (Hymn) may not be as effective as Vangelis' "Hymne" but its progressions highlight the more playful side of the Maestro, while "Angeli?" (Angels?) offers a serene reflection on faith, a theme which is very close to his heart.
With "Sagra" (Festival / Celebration) the album returns to a lively mixture of synthesizers, with different melodies chasing each other until the violin bursts onto the scene.
"Note" closes with "Ultimo Lied" (The Last Lied), a romantic «twilight poem», where violin and piano have prominent roles.
If you have any other useful information about this post or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
