Prego!!!

Greetings, dear friends. I am back from Italy and - some lingering quirks with Box permitting - ready to resume normal service.

We'll kick off with tracks from a couple of CDs I picked up over there. Neither of them could really be described as "must have", but for the combined cost of €4 they were worth a punt.

First up is Franco Battiato's 1981 album, "La Voce Del Padrone". According to Wikipedia, this was the first Italian album ever to sell a million copies. 33 years on it is difficult to work out what got the Italians quite so excited, although the same could be said for a lot of things from the 1980s I suppose. Anyway, it is OK. Next is a track from "Le Cena Delle Ceneri", a 2011 mini-album by Andromeda Lodge. Not really my cup of tea at all this one.

"Cuccurucucu" - Franco Battiato

"Una Stagione All'Inferno" - Andromeda Lodge

Andromeda Lodge are from Pesaro, and it was in Pesaro that the musical highlight of the holiday occurred - a free concert on the prom from Moreno "Il Biondo" Conficconi and his Orchestre Grande Evento. Il Biondo is one of the greats of the Emilia-Romagna music scene, and the show had something for everyone. Highlights included a red key-tar, a tribute to Valentino Rossi - born up the road in Urbino - and guest vocalist and future Mrs Goggins, Anna Maria Allegretti. But not, unfortunately, any of these line dancers.