Search - Franco Battiato :: Fetus

Interesting Italian prog by one of Italy's big pop stars

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 09/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Franco Battiatio is one of the big names of Italian pop. But this is hardly the kind of music that would be found at the Eurovision Song Contest. On Fetus, released in 1972 on the Bla-Bla label, he went for the Italian prog rock sound of the time, and added some really cool VCS-3 synthesizers. If you like Le Orme, you're sure to like this, as Battiato sounds like Aldo Tagliapietra at times, not to mention the occasional acoustic pieces only justifies the Le Orme comparisons. But unlike Le Orme, Battiato liked making all sorts of strange sounds off his synths. "Cariocinesi" is an interesting piece, especially the use of violin, giving it an almost American feel, until you hear Battiato's singing. "Meccanica" starts off sounding like PFM, but then you hear some ELP-like organs, at the end you hear a clip from the Apollo 11 moon landing with Bach being played in the background. Quite interesting music, and if you like Le Orme, Italian prog in general, or experimental electronic mixed with prog, you're sure to like this."

Fascinating Early Synth-Pop from Italy

ProEvil | MA | 12/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Battiato was already a famous european pop musician when he took this more experimentally progressive turn. On this album, he fused folk-flavored pop with stark electronic textures inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen. At first the juxtaposition seems strange, but with repeated listens it reveals itself to be quite appealing. Definitely a very early example of techno-pop with a distinctly european flair (this pre-dates Kraftwerk's 'Autobahn' by a couple of years)."