Clic is the fourth studio album by Franco Battiato and was released in 1974 on the Bla Bla label with a line up featuring, along with the Sicilian artist (piano, organ, VCS3, mandola, vocals), Gianni Mocchetti (guitar, bass), Gianfranco D’Adda (percussion), Juri Camisasca (vocal effects), Pietro Pizzamiglio (vocal effects) and the Quartetto Ensemble of Milan Conservatory directed by Luciano Bianco. The album is dedicated to Karlheinz Stockhausen and is the first of a series of works that many people find almost impossible listening to. On this album there’s no much room for rock and “to be progressive” here means most of all experimenting new sounds and effects. In this period Battiato became more and more involved in avant-garde and less and less interested in music business dynamics, the art cover by Mario Convertino reflects this minimalistic approach...
The opener “I cancelli della memoria” (The gates of the memory) is a piece with a mysterious, disquieting mood. It’s like a horror film soundtrack with sax lines appearing like a ghost before melting back into the mist and giving room to an interesting rhythm pattern...
Experimental sounds and reverse tapes introduce also the following “No U Turn”, the only track on this album featuring lyrics and a conventional vocal part. Here the artist depicts in some way his personal inner quest to knowledge and truth and his fight on the brink of madness against the haunting ghosts of anguish and fear... “To destroy old realities / I floated on seas of irrationality / I slept to not die / Throwing away my paper myths / On skies of schizophrenia...”. In my opinion this is the best track on the album and the closest one to the sound of Battiato’s previous works...
The third track, “Il mercato degli dei” (The god’s market), is a minimalist piece where synthesizer and piano arpeggios set an ethereal atmosphere, while the following “Rien ne va plus: andante” is just an experimental and almost self-ironic collage of classical music hints... Definitely unconventional but not completely convincing!
Another good piece is “Propriedad prohibida”, an interesting example of electronic music with a strong spacey flavour featuring strings and synthesizers while the last two tracks are frankly weak. “Nel cantiere di un’infanzia” (In the building site of a childhood), in my opinion, is just a clumsy mix of experimental sounds and Mediterranean melody and “Ethika fon ethika” is nothing more than a mix of scattered sounds put together with the collage technique...
On the whole, this is not an essential album, but it could be of some interest for Franco Battiato’s fans and experimental music lovers...
You can listen to the complete album HERE
Michael Berry: A dense ambient electronic album with some avant sections that hint broadly on where he would be heading in the years down the road. This album was the culmination of his early electronic period. The avant hints that were dropped in Sulle Corde di Aries are even more pronounced here, and possibly more fully realized. An incredible album. Not being particularly into the electronic side of prog I can't vouch for what Battiato did in comparison to others. In creativity or quality for that matter. All I know is what my ears tell me.. and they tell me that I love this album... (read the complete review HERE)
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