Review Summary: Latin Soul, indeed.
When I was sifting through my record collection in preparation for my favorite albums of all-time list one thing stuck with me like nothing else. Almost every album I own is recorded in the UK or US. Most albums are performed by American or English artists. You’d think that in the days of the world wide web, where everyone and everything is connected, that other styles and cultures would bleed over into the western hemisphere but that’s in fact very rare. If it happens, it does so mostly on the basis of novelty and general weirdness (Looking at you Psy). Obviously I’m partially to blame, because the Internet did make many of those albums available and I still mostly don’t listen to them. But to be frank, most people don’t.
“Anima Latina” by “Lucio Battisti" managed to break through this barrier. I don’t want to oversell the album based on that fact alone. Battisti comes from Italy, which is not exactly far away from the influence of English music and was himself heavily influenced by popular American and English artists of the 60s and 70s (Especially progressive rock, just listen to the ending of “Anonimo”). While there are still a lot of familiar instruments and styles everyone has heard somewhere, “Anima Latina” really differentiates itself from western music. In 1973 Battisti decided that he was not satisfied with just being a national idol and pop star, instead he wanted to create a truly progressive album while heavily drawing from his Mediterranean roots. The rhythm section is definitely a key component here; you won’t find many familiar drumming patterns on this album, but it doesn't stop there. Guitars are heavily used, but remain acoustic throughout and sound distinctly foreign; the songs generally seem to move at a different pace than most of songs in that genre.
Title track and centerpiece “Anima Latina” showcases every aspect of this with its subdued almost folksy guitar intro that at some point (but one can’t really tell when exactly) takes a turn and becomes much more rock oriented. Battisti's frail, yet masterfully controlled falsetto is along for the ride and gently accompanies the listener through the first half of the song that becomes increasingly more urgent and adventurous while more and more instruments join. The second half of the song is a giant crescendo of Mediterranean rhythms and sublime trumpets as the backing band just keeps ramping up the intensity and pace of the song until you can literally feel the rhythm section being pushed over the edge and the song just goes off the rails and stops. That may sound abrupt but is fitting for such an explosive finish. In just this one song it becomes imminent that Battisti is a truly great songwriter who is able to effortlessly combine different styles, a host of different instruments, even different moods, into one song without ever letting them become a bloated mess.
Other songs on the album work just as well. Opener “Abbracciala abbraciali abbracciati” starts off slow and soft with some beautiful trumpets and restrained drumming, slowly the band begins to weave some more instruments into the mix, the song begins to swell, calms down again, descends into a flute section that could have been ripped from a Jethro Tull album, before picking up the initial trumpet theme again and then gently gliding into the next song, “Due Mondi”. “Due Mondi” is perhaps the most poppy song on the whole album, a very pleasant duet with Mara Cubbedu. Since Battisti was a successful pop star in his home country, he’s a very accomplished singer who has complete control over his vocals. That’s why he easily sells more traditional folk-pop songs like “Due Mondi” (which is still pretty experimental when compared to other folk of its time).
In short, this album is a marvel to behold. Battisti managed to create a unique blend of Latin and Mediterranean folk, 70s progressive rock as well as pop and he did so in style. The instrumentation on every song is varied, colorful and lush. The vocals are magnificent, the songwriting is immaculate and the record is progressive in the best sense of the word. Although (almost) none of the genre tropes apply, it captures the spirit of adventure like only the very best of the genre did.
It’s time to broaden your horizon, even if it’s just a little bit.
