A big name in synth and avant-garde, Franco Battiato is a veteran in numerous forms of expression. He is perhaps best known for his first LP, Fetus, a cornerstone release for prog and synth-based music. Tonight, I share with you his fourth album, Clic, a mostly instrumental album touching on a variety of textures, sounds, themes, moods and interestingly an about face in songwriting. Franco's early work is often aligned with progressive-related genres, however this album branches out noticeably. Perhaps taking cues from Brian Eno (for what it's worth, Here Come the Warm Jets was released the same year) and other ambient artists active at the time, Franco uses a plethora of synths and drones to create tranquil atmospheres reminiscent of, well, 70s synth in general. He is not without his psych influence either, touching on psych-out themes throughout the only predominately vocalized track "No U Turn," which among its peculiar bursts of oddity features various operatic voices including his own crooning throughout the track. Apart from that, the album is overtly ambient in theme. Fans of current synth artists are sure to notice similarities here.It should be duly noted that this is ripped from the UK version, that is the 1974 Island Records pressing. The original, Italian pressing it a great deal different from this one.
Franco Battiato - Clic LP MediaFire
1 comment:
Thanks so much for this, I've always wanted to hear the UK version. Quite surprised that the whole of side 2 was originally part of "sulle corde di aries", his previous album (in Italy). Bonkers!
Thanks again.
-Dan
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