Edoardo Bennato: "La Torre di Babele" returns with a 50th-anniversary reissue

To celebrate 50 years since its original release, Sony Music pays tribute to "La Torre di Babele", one of the essential albums by Edoardo Bennato, with a new numbered collector's vinyl edition, available from September 18. The release comes in two versions: one with an autographed poster, exclusive to the Sony Music Store, and one with a non-autographed poster distributed in stores.
Both editions feature a metallic sleeve and audio remastered at 24-bit/192 kHz from the original tapes. The poster reproduces the famous cover artwork designed by Bennato himself, who has also created much of the artwork for his own discography. The image visually translates one of the album's central concepts: mankind's technological evolution told through the progressive refinement of weapons. About a hundred warriors and soldiers from different eras arrange themselves to form an idealized Tower of Babel, a symbol of humanity which, "whatever the cost," seeks to rise to the heavens and assert its own superiority "over every other animal."

Released in 1976, “La Torre di Babele” marked one of the decisive steps in Bennato's artistic maturation, fully defining the blend of rock, sarcasm, irony and social criticism that would become one of his trademarks. The songs captured the tensions of an Italy riven by deep contradictions, tackling war, power, failed communication and conformism through provocation and paradox.
"With 'La Torre di Babele' I wanted to try to explain the biblical sense of a humanity blinded by its race for weapons, to the point of challenging divinity itself in an uncontrolled and uncontrollable escalation. Men came to conceive of building a tower so tall it would reach the sky and God," explains Bennato. "On the cover I drew humanity devoted to war, an imaginary snapshot of the human family and its innate warlike inclination. It starts with Neanderthal man at the bottom left, and then, moving from left to right and from bottom to top, the weapons become increasingly sophisticated. It's an image that represents the biblical concept of the Tower of Babel, with men determined to defy nature and God himself, who in the end punished them for their presumption. All the tracks on this record follow a very precise thread and reflect my stance against every form of conflict. I had realized that the best way to describe the ills of society was to ridicule them, and that's why the various songs deal in a provocative and ironic way with subjects related to war and the hatred between peoples who cannot communicate with each other and therefore feel the need to confront one another with force."

Consecration arrived just three years after a moment when Bennato's career seemed instead on the verge of ending. In 1973, following the lukewarm commercial reception of his debut “Non farti cadere le braccia”, Ricordi label director Lucio Salvini advised him to go back to Naples, resume his architecture studies and give up on music. Bennato reacted in his own way. Armed with guitar, tambourine and kazoo, he began performing outside the Rai studios. The initiative caught the attention of industry insiders and led him all the way to the editorial staff of “Ciao 2001”, then one of the leading music magazines. From there came an appearance at the Civitanova Marche festival and then numerous events over the summer of 1973, with growing media exposure. By the end of the year, Ricordi decided to give him another chance.
1974 brought “I buoni e i cattivi”; two years later, with “La Torre di Babele”, Bennato had finally found his definitive language, sound and identity.

Tracklist of the “La Torre di Babele” reissue

Side A

1. La torre di Babele (Remastered 2021)
2. Venderò (Remastered 2021)
3. Eaa (Remastered 2021)
4. Franz è il mio nome (Remastered 2021)
5. Ma chi è (Remastered 2021)

Side B

1. Viva la guerra (Remastered 2021)
2. Cantautore (Remastered 2021)
3. Quante brave persone (Remastered 2021)
4. Fandango (Remastered 2021)
5. Cantautore “Ma non è giusto” (Remastered 2021)

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