Franco Battiato... Recommendations?

Battiato has a fairly large discography and I only have two on CD: a compilation of orchestral & vocal music (classical genre) called Shadow, Light which I love, and Del Suo Veloce Volo, the one he did with Antony in concert a few years ago. I used to have his first five or six albums in MP3 format which someone shared with me but those are no longer in my library. I remember liking them and might wish to buy legit copies on CD, but I'm more interested in the recent classical works at this time. So if anyone can recommend some titles on CD I will appreciate hearing about the ones you like. And advice on the best mastered CD pressings, if applicable. Thank you.

This piece is exquisitely beautiful:

 

I love that song! One of the most peaceful and comforting things I've ever heard. It was my first introduction to Franco Battiato. That Shadow, Light compilation is the only Franco Battiato CD to ever get a release in the US, as far as I know.

I have since picked up several compilations but not the main albums, as they are tough to track down. I picked up The Studio Collection when I was in Italy and the sound and song selection are fantastic: Franco Battiato - Battiato Studio Collection

Oh! I also did stumble across the album Ferro Battuto and it's pretty good. More dance-y and electronic, it even has guest vocals from Simple Minds' Jim Kerr: Franco Battiato - Ferro Battuto

If you want to take the deep plunge and spend money, a massive box set of 21 albums and 4 DVDs was released in Italy last year. I'm just waiting for a good price: Franco Battiato - Battiato Collection

 

Oh, and if you like the more classical-oriented pieces, Battiato's new album, just released, is a collection of older songs re-recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.


Sadly, if reports in the Italian media are accurate, this will likely be Battiato's final release.

Franco Battiato, 'Torneremo ancora' non è il suo testamento | Rolling Stone Italia

 

I didn't think I was going to get a reply to this thread at this stage, so thank you for the thoughtful recommendations. I would love to get that comprehensive box but unless it was fairly cheap I wouldn't want to risk getting a lot of material I am not especially fond of. You say he has done electronic, dance type music? I am not sure I want to hear that! I love the classical works and would love to hear the early prog albums again. What sort of material is on the Battiato Studio Collection? Some sellers have that double CD comp at a good price and that might be a good addition to my collection. And the new one...

 

The first three are the ones that interest me the most, his avant garde/psych period - Pollution, Fetus and Sulle Corde Di Aries. I need to get my hands on Clic, I don't have that one ...

I probably hit Sulle Corde di Aries the most out of the ones I have:

 

Franco's early epic journey from experimental rock to silence is encapsulated by his first 8 albums that got collected in Sperimentale 72-78 boxset:

 

Wow, I juts looked up that box on Discogs and someone is selling a new copy for less than $8. I've added it to my cart but before I click on the buy button, can you tell me if these pressings are decent sounding masters? I see it's a 1998 release which does not say it is remastered. For the price, I'm not expecting best sounding masters out there for these albums, but I'm just asking if the sound is decent enough to enjoy listening? Thanks.

 

These are straight re-issues of the contemporary (late 90s) editions, but I cannot tell how they compare to earlier or later CD versions. They sound fine to me.

 

Yes, Franco has explored many different genres! I haven't heard the full albums, but based on the compilations I have found something to like with just about everything he has released after his early avante-garde years, which I'm not familiar with. In other words, I expect to like a lot of what is in that 21CD/4DVD box set. I just need to wait for a good opportunity!

The 2CD Studio Collection includes a few of the classical-influenced tracks like "L'Ombre de la Luce" and "Povera Patria." But also some earlier post-punk/new wave/pop rock tracks like "Cuccurucucu" and "Up Patriots to Arms." It's good stuff. Try a track like "Atlantide," which is kind of a mix of Roxy Music and U2. Or "Animale," which is one of my all-time favorites:



If you want tracks that are more in line with what is found on the US "Shadow, Light" compilation, I'd seek out the albums that were represented on that one:
F. Battiato* - Come Un Cammello In Una Grondaia (this one has "L'ombre della luce," "Povera Patria," and "Sacre Sinfonie del Tempo" along with interpretations of works by Beethoven, etc.
Franco Battiato - Caffé De La Paix (this has "Haiku" and "Investigation of the Third" from the Shadow Light comp as well as "Atlantide" from the Studio Collection comp)
Franco Battiato - Messa Arcaica (you probably don't need this, as it is an EP with the full Mass that can be found on the Shadow Light comp. Sound might be better, though, who knows?)

There's a lot to explore! Like you, I'm just amazed there is anyone else on SHF who has anything to say about Franco Battiato.

 

That's all I need to know, and I am going to order it today.

All good to know. Thanks!

 

I found a new copy of Battiato Studio Collection on eBay at a good price with free shipping so that is my second and final music purchase of the day. Next week I will have ten discs of Battiato to add to my library and my listening list! Thanks for the suggestions, all...

 

That's a great 4 album run. Sulle Corde... and Clic are the ones I listen to the most. Love those. Given their relative brevity they could almost be a double album, but I don't speak Italian so they might not mesh thematically the way they do sonically. Fetus and Pollution - to me - are rather like Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, Obscured by Clouds, or More: similarly psychedelic, some interesting bits and pieces, but ultimately kind of uneven - and I like all those albums, just don't listen to them as much as the later two (later two Battiato ones, that is: Sulle... and Clic)

 

For what it's worth, I was able to find this 23CD+4DVD set for a fantastic price on ebay, so I ordered it. When it arrives I'll report back on the mastering information for each album... assuming I can decipher the liner notes, which will almost certainly be in Italian.

 

Update: The Italian postal system is notoriously slow, but this package is being tracked and it recently arrived in NYC. So I should have it in the next few days!

 

What was the price for this, @morgan1098 ?

 

I am a quite big Battiato fan, I have several of his releases including the big set pictured above.
That one includes mainly remasters from 2008, which was the last big campaign for him and included his "pop" (and arguably best) albums from late '70 through the '80s.
The albums from the '90s and 2000s were not remastered, afaik, but they sound good enough anyway.

A couple of historic albums, "Patriots" and "L'era del cinghiale bianco" have been re-remastered and expanded with a bunch of bonus tracks in recent years.

Further to that, another 6 CD+2dvd box from 2015 called "Le Nostre Anime" 2015 included most tracks on remixed or new versions.
There is also a condensed 3 CD version, which I have, but it might miss some key tracks for rabid fans.

To the OP, I suggest "Come un cammello in una grondaia", which has 4 Battiato originals in the symphonic vein, and 4 "lieders " from classical composers like Wagner and Beethoven.
Battiato has also recorded an opera called "Gilgamesh", but I can't tell more about it as I never bought nor listened to it.

 

Thanks for this information! Believe it or not, there's also a 2-CD version of "Nostre Anime," which I own. I like some of the new versions and now I wish I would have spent money on the full 6CD version.

Are all the liner notes/booklets in the huge 2018 box set in Italian? I would imagine so since this wasn't really for sale outside Italy. It's nice to see a few other Battiato fans here.

 

I am happy to share the passion and some informations with fellow Battiato fans around the world!
I did not know about the "Le nostre anime" 2 disc version... The 3 disc version is fine, and I think I might have chosen it over the big box because it was chepar and had all the songs I really wanted.
If I recall correctly, "Le nostre Anime" box has 4 DVDs with actual movies (not concerts) directed by Battiato himself. Depending on who you ask, they are genius, interesting, or utter dross. Once again, I never watched any of those, so can't comment.

About the liner notes on the huge 2018 set, every CD comes with his own booklet with lyrics, pictures, artwork and in depth comments from several Battiato collaborators; engineers, musicians, journalist and even artists who did his album covers!
Some booklets are 24 pages long!
And yes, all liner notes are in Italian... Sorry for that!

While reading this thread, I realized the huge box is incomplete, as it does not include two albums from the "pop" era: Echoes of Sufi Dances and Giubbe Rosse.
The first one is a collection of songs sung in different languages (mainly english and spanish), while the second is the first live album Battiato ever released, and is a disc I really love for several reasons.

I think Giubbe Rosse is included in full (albeit not in order) in the "Battiato Live Collection" 2 CD set.

 

1981's La voce del Padrone never fails to blow me away
I believe it's both his best selling album and most commercial sounding but every time I revisit it, I can't quite describe it. It seems like synth baroque pop crossed with flourishes of prog rock-- whatever it is, it's most definitely high art.
The Italian CD pressing also sounds sublime on a good sound system - I believe it's the only one in print but I may be wrong.

 

La voce del padrone is available as of now in 4 different releases, out of which the one you posted is probably the only one out of print now. Have a look at Discogs for the details on those.

Giubbe Rosse, the first live album mentioned above, is special because it contains many songs that Battiato originally wrote for other singers, plus a new studio cut (as was customary for live albums in the '80s), all of them stone-cold classics.
This one he wrote for Lucio Dalla & Gianni Morandi's (wonderful) smash-hit duet album from the previous year (1988). This, his own version, probably goes right into my Top 3 Battiato songs. The promo video features his trademark hilarious dance moves, borrowed from (echoes of) Sufi dances as he is a practicing Sufi.
A good 50% of the enjoyment of Italian music resides in the lyrics and Battiato is one of the very best (and a true original) in that department. Here's an English translation of the song for the non-Italophones following this thread: Italian songs translated into English

 

Although the most successful and celebrated Battiato pop albums are probably the '80s run from L'era del cinghiale bianco (1979) to Fisiognomica (1988), with other significant best-selling peaks such as Cammello (mentioned above in post #9) and L'imboscata (1996), my own absolute favourites are 1) the second live album, Unprotected (1994), and 2) his first studio album with lyrics written by another wordsmith, L'ombrello e la macchina da cucire (1995).
The former is a selection of previous classics from the Cammello tour "classicized" for small chamber orchestra and synthesizer (much in the style of the Cammello album) which are simply to die for, whereas the latter is his most left-turn vocal album - his "Tilt" (ref. Scott Walker) one might say. Here's the first, and title, track ("The Umbrella and the Sewing Machine"):

 

This song has been one of Battiato's immortal classics ever since it came out (on Fisiognomica, 1988), but may be the only one to have been even bettered by a cover version (although Disciplinatha's cover of "Up Patriots to Arms" is no slouch either). C.S.I. (nothing to do with the later TV series) was the premiere band of the 1990s Italian indie renaissance - their run of three studio albums and two live ones is all desert-island stuff - and they had a lot in common with Battiato on philosophical grounds if not stylistically, so much so that he himself features at the end of this incredible cover of theirs (from Linea Gotica, 1996):

 

I cannot help but share the hilarious review by Swedish RYM user “floater” below that got me in stiches.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/franco-battiato/echoes-of-sufi-dances/

 

RIP.
For Italian music lovers, the impact of this loss is incalculable. It's akin to losing Bowie.

My pick for today, mostly based on the lyrical theme (death, the eternal, reincarnation). Jakko and Gavin Harrison from Crimson on guitar and drums respectively.

 

Another one on the same subject, the final song from the same album.
"I who have to pass / wish to drift into nothingness / grow smaller / and become nothing."