reviews / 2005

FABRIZIO DE ANDRÉ - In direzione ostinata e contraria

Name: FABRIZIO DE ANDRÉ – In direzione ostinata e contraria
Item: In direzione ostinata e contraria
Rating: 8.5
Author: Claudio Fabretti

2005 (Ricordi/Sony)

songwriter

by Claudio Fabretti

8.5

The death of Fabrizio De André, besides depriving us of one of the greatest Italian singer-songwriters of all time, left us at the mercy of an unstoppable wave of musical cannibalism, disguised under the reassuring banner of “homages”, “tributes” and “celebrations”. A horde of two-bit Italian musicians thus saw fit to overlay their own voices on the unmistakable one of the Genoese singer-songwriter, reinterpreting his classics with results that were at times horrifying. Nor did things fare much better on the anthology/reissue front, with a steady stream of slapdash compilations churned out to milk the myth for all it was worth. Not to mention the vapid TV retrospectives, Mollica-style…

A work like the one we're holding in our hands with such satisfaction is, first and foremost, a sigh of relief. A “finally!” shouted in the face of all those who, up to now, had tried every which way to muddy one of the cornerstones of Italian songwriting. Because the box set “In direzione ostinata e contraria” – starting with its title, a perfect distillation of De André's personality – represents, better than anything else, the legacy of a nearly forty-year career that took Italian song by the hand, freed it from the cloying sentimental veneer that had wrapped it up, and dragged it into the ravines of human desolation.

Anthologies, as everyone knows, are bound by commercial rules, which often result in questionable track selections, especially when Christmas shopping season is involved. In this case, though, one really does get the impression of being in the presence of the choicest cuts of the De André songbook. Across the three CDs, no fewer than 54 tracks are gathered, retracing Fabrizio's “bad road” from his beginnings all the way to the masterpieces of the '80s and '90s. From the folk ballads of his youth to the murder ballads of “Tutti morimmo a stento“, from the secular act of faith that is “La Buona Novella” (which De André himself considered his finest album) to the ruthless political and emotional (self-)analyses of albums like “Storia di un impiegato” and “Volume VIII” (the record marking his encounter with Francesco De Gregori), from the memories of his kidnapping on “L'Indiano” to the ahead-of-its-time world music of “Creuza de mä” and the mature yet still remarkably fresh songwriting of “Anime Salve”, his true epitaph, born of his partnership with fellow wandering Genoese soul Ivano Fossati.

Songs that have by now become part of the heritage not just of Italian music, but of Italian culture and society as a whole, joined here by others that are virtually unreleased, such as “Titti”, inspired by Jorge Amado's “Dona Flor”, “Una storia sbagliata”, dedicated to Pasolini, the moving version of “Geordie” sung with his daughter Luvi, and the previously unreleased live duet of “Cose che dimentico”, together with his son Cristiano.

Leading the entire operation is the loving hand of Dori Ghezzi, who personally selected and curated all the tracks, with supervision from Maestro Gian Piero Reverberi, who had already arranged six of Fabrizio's albums. The unusual choice to "de-master" the tracks also came from the Ligurian singer-songwriter's widow. Thanks to the meticulous work of Antonio Baglio, all the master tapes were recovered and the sound was adjusted with minimal intervention, using only the tools available in the year each track was originally released. In this way, all the layers of digital compression added by the various reissues of the songs were stripped away, restoring their original spirit, imperfections included. A further step "in a stubborn and contrary direction," but also a sincere testimony of love.

Rounding out the box set is a rich 52-page booklet with photos, lyrics, and a foreword by Aldo Grasso. If De André's lyrics were ever truly to enter school curricula - as has been floated for years - this booklet would be the ideal summary of them. The legacy of a non-conformist poet, who used the irreverent force of irony to expose the hypocrisy of the very bourgeoisie he belonged to. A desperate message of freedom and redemption against "the laws of the pack" and the arrogance of power.

"In direzione ostinata e contraria" is a work that, without exaggeration, could be called essential. For those who have loved De André, and for those who don't know him yet.

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30/04/2026

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Claudio Fabretti, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition

Tracklist

Disc 1
1. Amore che vieni amore che vai
2. La città vecchia
3. Via del Campo
4. Bocca di Rosa
5. La canzone di Marinella
6. Ballata dell´amore cieco o della vanità
7. Carlo Martello ritorna dalla battaglia di Poitiers
8. La guerra di Piero
9. La ballata dell´eroe
10. Il pescatore
11. Canzone dell´amore perduto
12. La ballata del Miché
13. Preghiera in gennaio
14. Valzer per un amore
15. Si chiamava Gesù
16. Maria's Dream
17. Ave Maria
18. Tito's Testament
19. Winter
20. Ring-a-Ring o' Roses
21. Third Intermezzo
22. Chorale (Legend of the Unhappy King)
Disc 2
1. The Hill
2. A Judge
3. An Optician
4. Jones the Player
5. Introduction
6. Song of May
7. The Bomb-Thrower
8. They'll Come Asking You About Our Love
9. La cattiva strada
10. Giugno '73
11. Canzone per l'estate
12. Amico fragile
13. Andrea
14. Volta la carta
15. Titti
16. Una storia sbagliata
17. Geordie
Disc 3
1. Fiume Sand Creek
2. Hotel Supramonte
3. Se ti tagliassero a pezzetti
4. Creuza de mä
5. Sidún
6. Â duménega
7. La domenica delle salme
8. A cimma
9. Don Raffaè
10. Khorakhané (A forza di essere vento)
11. Princesa
12. Ho visto Nina volare
13. Anime salve
14. Smisurata preghiera
15. Cose che dimentico (previously unreleased live version, sung with C. De André)

FABRIZIO DE ANDRÉ on the web

De André profile

Official website

Fabrizio De André on OndaRock

Monograph

Fabrizio De André

In direzione ostinata e contraria

He upended the conventions of Italian song with ballads forever suspended between myth and reality. And he challenged the arrogant of every era with the biting language of irony, never bowing to the "laws of the pack." A retrospective on Fabrizio De André, one of the great masters of Italian songwriting

Fabrizio De André on OndaRock

Go to artist page

All Reviews on Ondarock

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Through a "cantata in B minor for soloist, choir and orchestra," a journey unfolds into a Dantean circle of human desolation

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On September 19, 1996, De André released "Anime salve", his last album, written and produced together with Ivano Fossati. Thirty years on, its message feels more alive, powerful and poignant than ever

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The verse under fire - When Fabrizio De André was censored in one of his classics – Comparing the two versions

Censorship spared not even one of the most refined pens in Italian song, forcing him to alter one of his classics, inspired by Saba

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