Stagioni

Stagioni ("seasons") was released on February 4, 2000, four years after Guccini's last studio album, D'amore di morte e di altre sciocchezze.^[1] It consists of nine songs, three of which were named after a season: "Autunno" (autumn), "Primavera '59" (spring '59) and Inverno '60 (winter '60). "Ho ancora la forza" was written and sang together with Luciano Ligabue, another singer-songwriter from Emilia-Romagna; it received the 2000 Targa Tenco best song award.^[2][3] The title track was about the death of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a figure Guccini sang about also in his next album, Ritratti. Guccini said the first attempt at writing it was in 1968, but he stopped at half a verse; he was encouraged in finishing the song by the good reception those few lines received at one of his concerts.^[1][3] "Addio" was a bitter song, attacking the "horizon full of dwarfs and dancers"; it was seen by some as akin to "L'avvelenata", one of his most famous songs.^[4] In "Don Chisciotte" Guccini was the voice of Don Quixote, in a duet with Juan Carlos Biondini as Sancho Panza. The song "E un giorno..." was dedicated to his daughter, the second one after "Culodritto" (from his 1987 album Signora Bovary).^[1]

Stagioni received mixed reviews by critics. Mario Luzzatto Fegiz, in his review on the Corriere della Sera, said it was "Guccini DOC, with the final and melancholic tones of a testament",^[1] while an article on La Repubblica said "Guccini doesn't surrender, he still has the strength of becoming indignant".^[3] The website Ondarock gave Stagioni a 5.5 mark, saying there was more care in the formal feature but less spontaneity than in Guccini's former albums.^[5] The website rockol.it slated the album, saying it was "obvious, embarrassing, pathetic, redundant".^[6]

The album was a commercial success, reaching the top spot in the Italian album chart in its release week, and remaining in the chart for 13 weeks.^[7][8]

1. "Addio (intro)" - 0:53
2. "Stagioni" - 6:08
3. "Autunno" - 4:55
4. "E un giorno..." - 5:25
5. "Ho ancora la forza" - 3:24
6. "Inverno '60" - 5:17
7. "Don Chisciotte" - 6:00
8. "Primavera '59" - 5:59
9. "Addio" - 4:10

• Vince Tempera - piano, keyboards
• Antonio Marangolo - saxophone, percussion
• Roberto Manuzzi - accordion, saxophone, keyboards
• Ares Tavolazzi - bass guitar, double bass
• Ellade Bandini - drums
• Juan Carlos Biondini - guitar, vocals (in "Don Chisciotte")
• Jimmy Villotti - guitar (in "Inverno '60")
• Henghel Gualdi - clarinet (in "Inverno '60)