Franco Battiato is one of the most successful singers in Italy. He began his career as a "light" singer, recording a few singles. In 1971 he started his particular journey through experimental music, recording his proggiest issues: "Fetus", "Pollution", "Sulle corde di Aries". Some very atmospheric parts and some very melodic songs make these records worthwhile, along with musical references to the arabic culture and italian folk that will surface from time to time in all of his following output. His next records are gradually more and more experimental, exploring minimalism and culminating with "L' Egitto prime delle Sabbie", with two long pieces based on hardly one note and its harmonics.

"Le nostre anime" is the title of a new Anthology collection of the multi-platinum selling artist Franco Battiato from 1972 until 2015. This is not a simple Best Of, as all tracks have been re-mixed and re-mastered to create new versions of every track. There are 2 brand new studio songs, 1 orchestra new song and a great duet with MIKA. Franco Battiato is a huge star in Italy - a creative genius with an output that spans full length Classical pieces as well as pop, rock and electronica albums., Battiato has been at the forefront of Italian music since the early 1970s. Loved by the critics, Battiato has been variously compared to diverse artists including Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Phillip Glass, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Scott Walker and Jim O'Rourke.

Dedicated to the Centro Internazionale Studi Magnetici, Battiato's second album starts with an elegant orchestra and chatter of partygoing guests - a bit like the start of Roxy Music's debut record only with an even more rarified atmosphere. But with the sudden intrusion of his spoken-word vocals, which fade into the mix before an explosion heralds the arrival of his own backing band, things take a nicely different turn. Pollution is proudly prog-oriented if more than a little derivative, able to draw comparison from everything to Ash Ra Tempel's drive and Faust's humor to majestic (and apparently intentionally ridiculous at points) keyboard fanfares that might make Rick Wakeman jealous. There's something wonderfully lively about it all, though, that saves it from the crushing boredom so much pseudo-deep slop suffered from during the same time period…

The turning-point of Franco Battiato's career: from uncompromising experimentation and progressive electronica to catchy melodies and refrains. The transition had already begun with L'era del cinghiale bianco, but "La voce del padrone" made it complete: its seven refinate synth-pop, with a bit of Krautrock influence, anthems catapulted the album to the top of the hit parade and made it the best-selling Italian album ever. Meticulously produced, with a nice summer vibe throughout its runtime and playful lyrics and instrumentals brings La Voca Del Padrone a lot of life and sets it apart from others from the region to set alongside with other great New Wave classics.

In 1979, after some years of soporific avant-garde, Franco Battiato woke up and turned his attention to the public. However "L'Era Del Cinghiale Bianco" is not just an easy pop album or a bleak effort to reach a commercial success. In that period the "Halcyon days" of prog were gone and Franco Battiato, like many other artists, was looking for new musical ways. Here classical music and Mediterranean and Middle- Eastern folk influences are blended with rock and pop in a very personal way, with the help of a group of excellent musicians. Lyrics don't tell stories but the words are just like "flashes" trying to suggest imagines. The result is surprisingly good! The album is short (it lasts only 31 minutes) but every track is worth listen to. "L'Era Del Cinghiale Bianco" is still far from the clever pop of Battiato's following albums and in the whole it could be an excellent addition to an Italian prog collection.

Franco Battiato's 1980 album Patriots, his first for the major multinational company EMI, found him moving to more of a synth-based pop/rock sound, the better to create stirring anthems like the opening track, "Up Patriots to Arms." The 40th anniversary edition of the album adds four bonus tracks, including English- and Spanish-language versions of that song. Later Battiato albums would enjoy widespread commercial success, but Patriots set the stage for that mass popularity.

A Persian scientist of the XII Century was used to say "I live like a camel into a gutter" to show how is language was inadequate to speak of science. This is where the album's title is from. The cover is a paint of Battiato himself who has signed it with his arabic nickname. It's a very short album as almost all in his production with 4 "minimal" songs on the A side and the arrangement of 4 lieders on the B side. If the four songs can't be considered as classical music, all the instrumentation is classical and also the melodies have an operistic touch. Of the four the best is the last: "L'Ombra Della Luce" (Light's Shadow) both as music and lyrics…

Franco Battiato's 1980 album Patriots, his first for the major multinational company EMI, found him moving to more of a synth-based pop/rock sound, the better to create stirring anthems like the opening track, "Up Patriots to Arms." Later Battiato albums would enjoy widespread commercial success, but Patriots set the stage for that mass popularity.