Franco Battiato - Fetus, Classic or Dud?

Pollution is great. very similar to fetus. very similar.

Sulle Corde Di Aries is pretty cool. a little less rock inspired and more Terry Riley inspired. lots of repetitive looping sections. and maybe more jazz(?). i need to listen to it again.

i used to own Za, Cafe Table Musik. i sold it after only one or two listens. the first track is 15-20minutes of one piano chord. the same piano chord. maybe he adds an octave here or there. and he only plays the chord every couple of seconds. pretty boring. the second track was a little more interesting. tapes and voices and echo and shit, but still not enough for me to keep it.

and it looks like i need to pick up Clic

if you're interested in other people playing with synths in a more pop/rock arena, check out Silver Apples, Bruce Haack, Dick Hyman, Tonto's Expanding Headband (a little more experimental, no vocals, but they played Moog for everyone from Stevie Wonder to Todd Rundgren), and a bunch of the Kraut guys (Brainticket, Cluster, Tangerine Dream)

The saddest thing about him is that here in Italy he is more famous for the "pop" records he produced since "L'Era Del Cinghiale Bianco".

G.

I listened to Clic again and find it to be more a mix of space rock and modern chamber music, and not so much a dabbling with classic pop forms. Although "No U Turn" does sound like it could have inspired Trans-Europe Express period Kraftwerk.

Sulle Corde di Aries comprises of four mostly instrumental pieces and it is more from the Terry Riley/LaMonte Young school as JasonD describes. I love the wobbly, tremolo drone in the opening track and the elegant operatic touches. I wonder if Jason Spaceman's ever heard this one. It sounds like it could have inspired him greatly.

I still think Battiato's most original and revolutionary move, whether intentional or not, was melding electronics with classic pop on Fetus. While the songs may be partly Bowie inspired, the ghost of Buddy Holly is there as well ("Fenomenologia"), and Battiato was writing the same kind of timeless and inspired Latin melodies as his contemporaries in Brazil (Milton Nascimento and Caetano Veloso both come to mind). Add in the synths and programmed rhythms and you have a truly futuristic and timeless brew.

Don't get me wrong. I admire what he did on Pollution, and Sulle Corde di Aries, and Clic, and I do hear some similarities on Pollution, but it seems he started to leave pop behind fairly soon after his debut. I appreciate some of the prog and art rock of that period, but inevitably much of it sounds dated now. Fetus sounds like it could have been recorded today or even 30 years from now, and it would still sound just as relevant.

"yeah, fetus is great. too short though. every time a great idea comes in, it dies."

I thought about this when I listened to it again, and there are some places where I wish some themes might have been developed further, but overall it's the conciseness and not going on too long with any one idea that makes it work so well.

"if you're interested in other people playing with synths in a more pop/rock arena, check out Silver Apples, Bruce Haack, Dick Hyman, Tonto's Expanding Headband (a little more experimental, no vocals, but they played Moog for everyone from Stevie Wonder to Todd Rundgren), and a bunch of the Kraut guys (Brainticket, Cluster, Tangerine Dream)"

Thanks for the recommendations. I've heard about half of these artists. The rest I'll have to look into.

"Inside the gatefold, there's a pic, taken from above ov battiato playing either organ or mellotron, with a synthi aks synthesiser on top of it. The minute I saw it, I knew it was going to be good!"

Cool. I'd love to track down some vinyl copies of his early albums.

And lastly, thanks for the recommendations, Giulio. I'll look out for Camisasca. Buckley and Hammil sounds like an intriguing mix. And I was wondering about that "La Convenzione" single. I saw it on the discography list on Battiato's website. I'll be searching for that one as well.

I enjoyed your reviews on AMG of Battiato's works, but what's your take on Fetus? I wish you had written its review. I'm not satisfied with the one that's there. It's an okay summary, but doesn't get at the importance and influence of Battiato's debut.

Now that I'm websearching I've noticed he's the producer of the minimalist record 'Motore Immobile' by Giusto Pio, which I really enjoy.

julian cope mentions an english language version? http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/albumofthemonth/375

has anyone heard any of Battiato's records from the last five or six years? some of the samples on his site sound slick, but hardly normal, and promising.

VOLCANO THE BEAR (Uk) Da Oriente a Occidente
 KINSKI (Usa) Propiedad prohibida
 HRVATSKI (Usa) Plancton
 CUL DE SAC (Usa) Fenomenologia/ Energia
 ZU vs OKAPI (Ita) Beta
 JENNIFER GENTLE (Ita) Meccanica
 LAND OF NOD (Uk) Aries
 CIRCLE (Fin) No U turn
 LOS NATAS (Arg) Sequenze & frequenze
 ONEIDA (Usa) Propiedad prohibida
 ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE + RUINS (Jpn) Fenomenologia
VOLCANO THE BEAR (Uk) Da Oriente a Occidente (slight return)

Oh neat. I'm still missing a couple of the seventies albums but not much.

after that he gets really minimal, and what I've heard of the 90's/00's stuff has weird moments but the drum loops kill it for me.

thanks guys.
one love.

ignore the stupid AMG reviews that describe those late albums as playing "the same chord" over and over again (all you have to do is, you know, offer 20 minutes of your time and attention to not write something stupid like that) ... the whole point of the exercise is the overtones ... and geez and gosh are they beautiful.

The whole point is the overtones and the way the pianist he employes on all these records -- this guy Antonio Ballista -- employs the damping pedals to like, remove one set of overtones, or allow one set to ring out ..... it's totally great stuff. So, yeah, Feldman-like in the sense of space and determination; bet yet not in the sense that, I don't think Feldman played around with damping pedals in this way... it's totally intoxicating, I think. I dunno .. Milton parker much smarter about this stuff than me, obv..

milton, i've only heard motore immobile, but i'd also like to know who's heard the later guisto pio stuff and how it compares to the first.

beta - i know exactly how you feel about za! i had heard it after only hearing sulle corde di aries and maybe another similar album, and it was not what i was expecting. however, i really love it now.

About late pop Battiato of the '80 you miss too much if you can't understand the incredible lyrics (i'm italian), it's a pity, imagine listening to Pulp or Scott Walker without understanding the lyrics, you miss so much......
.... that's because for non italian the mostly instrumental '70 album are obvioulsy more considered (and listenable) than the '80.

it opens with the exact same spiral moog melody that Battiato opens with and returns to on 'Fetus'. a different performance. Vorhaus runs it through a few variations.

which makes me suspect that they're both lifting it from a classical piece -- does anyone know what it is?

need to find copies of the later minimal Battiato albums as well

Battiato, Franco-Melle Le Gladiator $10.00
Battiato, Franco-Battiato (aka Za) $10.00
Battiato, Franco-Juke Box $10.00
Battiato, Franco-L'Etitto Prima Del Sabbie $10.00

definitely buying the last one -- which other one would someone recommend?

so i was gonna sell this, and decided to listen to it again. i actually don't hate it. it kinda reminds me of some low energy HI-NRG, if that makes sense. like some of the poppier Lime but not as dancey. could see it used in some Cosmic mixes.

is there anything out there that sounds like fetus ?

not really but if you want an idea of how weird mainstream Italian pop had gotten around the same time, you'd probably like Lucio Battisti's 'Anima Latina', which gets more eccentric with each track. & Riccardo Zappa's 'Chatka' (& also 'Celestion').

Clic - artrock, the songs buried in dense collages but the tunes are still there with weirder production than ever, definitely my favorite. dedicated to Stockhausen and pulls it off, the last five minute track is a brilliant fastpaced montage of shortwave music from around the world, it's a pop music version of Hymnen

listening to Clic again recently I realized that most of the world music samples Battiato uses in this piece are all taken from Volume 1 of Henry Cowell's 'Music Of The World's Peoples', one of the first track-by-track continent skipping world collage compilations: http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=902

I did download the later two Giusto Pio records -- a lot more pop, more digital synths. Nowhere near as timeless as 'Motore Immobile', every time I come back to that one I love it more, it's so minimal / ambient / simple but it knows exactly what not to do

also Alan Sorenti's "Aria" & Claudio Rocchi's "Essenza". 2 amazing folky, proggy art pop albums.

side one of that Sorrenti record is pretty strange. will check out that Rocchi album.

& there's your thread here: Does a Noise dude know anything about Luciano Cilio?

& Dominique's post on that thread jogs my memory 'cause he was right, anyone who's crazy about Fetus will probably want to hear Leprino's 'Integrati Disintegrati'.

http://www.discogs.com/Franco-Leprino-Integrati-Disintegrati/release/2302758

better link - http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=14536 & it is on mutant sounds

thanks guys. i have the sorrenti and the battisti records and i love them both.

now ill have to check out that zappa, rocchi and leprino.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zex3iVWikpw&feature=related

Flamen Dialis' only album sounded a bit like early Battiato - but they were French, not Italian.
The first two Sorrenti albums are good, they have a strong Peter Hammill/ Tim Buckley vibe, with lots of acrobatic vocals.

I always wondered whether the acrobatic vocals are what endeared Hammill to the Italians

Definitely. VDGG were huge here mostly for this motive: I think their combination of technical dexterity and gothic sensitivity was also a big plus.

By the way, Sorrenti had a couple of huge disco hits towards the of 70's, like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PjsarOf2k

Yes, listening to a lot of Morricone songs I'd noticed that a lot of Italian pop singers tended to forgo subtlety in favour of vocal chord rupturing hysterics

Blame it on a) our operatic tradition and b) a consolidated national habit of taking pleasure in showing off.

listened to Riccardo Zappa's 'Chatka'. not really feeling it tbh. it's got a nice vibe to it. sorta resembles a bit of ashra stuff w/the delay, but it's a bit too happy/major key for me. and not really digging the classical guitar tone he uses.

I was watching old Eurovision performances and wondered about the guy with Egon Spengler/serial killer vibes that sang for Italy in 1984:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3q9DVCfERk

Took me a while to realise it was the same guy who made Clic! Anyway I hadn't checked out any of his other albums and am now happily burrowing down a Battiato rabbit hole. Here he is on TV in 1972:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCoUNjjjlEQ