Lucio Battisti – Amore E Non Amore (LP, Light in the Attic)

For Lucio Battisti, the concept was based on the polar title: there’s a rocking “Non Amore” side, which contains songs about desire and betrayal, and an “Amore” side with dreamy prog rock instrumentals. For the album, Battisti collaborated with lyricist Giulio ‘Mogol’ Rapetti, with whom he had been collaborating since 1965 and had great successes such as the songs “29 Settembre” and “Sognando La California” (an Italian version of “California Dreamin'”) obtained. It was Mogol who first convinced Battisti to perform his own songs and who had the idea for this album. Mogol provided the inspiration, title, and descriptive, movement-length song titles for the instrumentals. For example, “Davanti Ad Un Distributore Automatico Di Fiori Dell’aereoporto Di Bruxelles Anch’io Chiuso In Una Bolla Di Vetro”, which translates as “In front of a flower vending machine at Brussels Airport, I too am locked in a glass case”. In an incredibly rare English interview accompanying this lavish pressing, Mogol discusses the album’s concept: “I knew Lucio was a great musician, a great composer,” he says, “and I think he pulled through curbed his restriction to the pop genre. I wanted him to be a musician. I said to him I really hope you become an orchestra conductor, a star who writes his own songs, so I tried to convince him to write his own instrumental compositions.” “Amore E Non Amore” became a defining moment for him Battisti. Its label saw it as too experimental and sophisticated for Italian audiences and refused to release it. They were wrong: instead, it launched Battisti on a liberating journey to artistic freedom and commercial success, and bestowed one of Italy’s greatest musical exports on the world.