''Oltre - un mondo uomo sotto un cielo mago'', simply known as ''Oltre'', is the eleventh studio album by Italian songwriter

Claudio Baglioni Claudio Baglioni (; born 16 May 1951) is an Italian Pop music, pop singer-songwriter and musician. His career has been going on for over 50 years. Considered one of the most successful pop rock singer-songwriters in the history of Italian mu ...

, released on 17 November 1990 by CBS Italiana, a subsidiary label of

CBS Records International CBS Records International was the international arm of the Columbia Records unit of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. ( CBS) formed in 1961 and launched in 1962. Previously, Columbia Records had licensed other record companies to manufacture a ...

. The album is characterized by world music features and it was recorded in the

Real World Studios Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the old Box Mill building in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World R ...

of English songwriter

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

and in several European recording studios. Baglioni defined the album as the first of a trilogy about

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

: ''Oltre'' represents the

past The past is the set of all Spacetime#Definitions, events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human ...

, '' Io sono qui'' is the

present The present is the period of time that is occurring now. The present is contrasted with the past, the period of time that has already occurred; and the future, the period of time that has yet to occur. It is sometimes represented as a hyperplan ...

and '' Viaggiatore sulla coda del tempo'' represents the

future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

. The concept album divided critics due to its complexity and completely different format respect the previous works by Baglioni. ClaudioBaglioni_1991

Recording

In summer 1988, Baglioni began to compose a new album three years later the release of ''

La vita è adesso LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

''. First recording sessions were made in the

near

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, under the direction of

Celso Valli Celso Valli (born 14 May 1950) is an Italian composer, conductor, arranger and record producer. Born in Bologna, Valli studied at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini. He made his official debut collaborating with Drupi in his 1978 albu ...

and

Pasquale Mineri Pasquale is a masculine Italian given name and a surname found all over Italy. It is a cognate of the French name Pascal, the Spanish Pascual, the Portuguese Pascoal and the Catalan Pasqual. Pasquale derives from the Latin ''paschalis'' or ' ...

, while

was recording his soundtrack for '' The Last Temptation of Christ''. On ''

Topolino ''Topolino'' (from the Italian language, Italian name for Mickey Mouse) is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932 as a comics magazine. Since 2013, it has ...

'' n. 1703, Baglioni implicitly revealed in an interview that his new album would be entitled ''A presto''. Mineri said in an interview: On the following 8 September, the Italian leg of worldwide tour

Human Rights Now! Human Rights Now! was a worldwide tour of twenty benefit concerts on behalf of Amnesty International that took place over six weeks in 1988. Held not to raise funds but to increase awareness of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on it ...

was held in Turin and Baglioni took part as the local guest, but during his show a small group of hooligans near the stage began to boo and throw objects against him, because they considered the songwriter as not touched by the thematics and as out of place in a humanitarian concert led by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

and

, despite Baglioni had sung songs adhering to the meaning of the event and, during the interview before the concert, he declared to be interested only for the cause of the event. However, the controversy provoked a huge shock in Baglioni, who did not organize any new concert, and he continued to work on the album. In October 1989, presales of the album began with the temporary title ''Un mondo più uomo sotto un cielo mago'' ("A more human world under a wizard sky"). There were gossips saying that Baglioni was not convinced about the album and had begun to rewrite all the songs, forcing CBS to postpone the release to 1990. Meanwhile, recording session proceeded in different studios located in Europe, with the collaboration of international artists and collaborators of Peter Gabriel, like

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...

and

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusio ...

, as well as Italian stars like

Pino Daniele Giuseppe "Pino" Daniele (19 March 1955 – 4 January 2015) was an Italian singer-songwriter and musician. His influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music. Biography Daniele wa ...

and

Paco de Lucía Francisco Sánchez Gómez (; 21 December 194725 February 2014), known as Paco de Lucía (), was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first flamen ...

and Senegalese singer

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, ; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' described him as, "perhaps the m ...

took part to the project. Artists contributed with their native culture and music, giving to the album an ethnic sound.

Composition

''Oltre'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

which follows the story of the alter ego Cucaio, his maturation and his search for himself. The name of the character is inspired by the bad pronunciation that Baglioni had of his name when he was a little child. The songwriter said: Along with the album, there is a little booklet with a

stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. It is usually in the form of an interior monologue which ...

through which the author explains the ''Gusci'' ("Shells") containing meaning of the songs.

Disc one

;Side A *''Dagli il via'' - In this first track, Baglioni narrates his past with memories appearing without any order, together with questions, lost opportunities, forgotten loves. In the chorus he gives the start to a run for his freedom and his will to find his own destiny and those of the listener. The man running at the beginning of the song is Walter Savelli, the pianist of Baglioni. 1982_Pino_Daniele_10

*''Io dal mare'' - The sea is depicted as the mother of Cucaio and the whole humanity, giving a visual suggestion. The arpeggio at the beginning of the track was created by

David Sancious David Sancious (born November 30, 1953) is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on '' Human Touch'' (1992), '' Tr ...

during a pause from his work with Gabriel for The Last Temptation of Christ, while

contributed with his guitar and style. Manieri said that Pino Daniele wanted to do "that stuff with Claudio" before a surgery to his

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

, and the group was temporarily moved to

Formia Formia (ancient Formiae) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean , Italy. It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way. Mythology According to the mythology the city was f ...

to record the song. In an interview for the journal ''Chitarre'', Baglioni said: *''Naso di falco'' - The main theme is the moment when man becomes aware to have a dream, while he is looking for himself. The song begins with the depiction of a curious newborn

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

asking the same ingenuous questions that Baglioni asked when he was a child. These kind of questions are alternated with more mature and unanswered ones related to events like the

Ustica Massacre On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica at 20:59 CEST, killing all 81 occupants on board. ...

in 1980,

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

alleged repression in 1989,

Colombian conflict The Colombian conflict () began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups fighting each other to increase their i ...

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

in 1986, and the

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( ; ; ) was a crowd disaster on 29 May 1985, when Juventus fans were escaping from an attack by Liverpool fans while they were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of ...

in 1985. At the end, the hawk flies to a place "where a dream is still free and air is not ash". * ''Io lui e la cana femmina'' - It is dedicated to the two

German Shepherd The German Shepherd, also known in Britain as an Alsatian, is a German Dog breed, breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various Old German herding dogs, traditional German herding dog ...

dogs owned by Baglioni: he describes them as if they are human beings with whom stroll around, dreaming to be free and without inhibitions like an animal, to be the same. The song features the French musician

Richard Galliano Richard Galliano (born 12 December 1950, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French accordionist of Italian heritage. Allmusic biography/ref> Biography He was drawn to music at an early age, starting with the accordion at 4, influenced by his father ...

with his accordion. Mia_Martini_1973b

* ''Stelle di stelle'' - Baglioni talks about TV and music "stars" of the past whose art continues to live, like the light of

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

s reaches Earth despite they died millions or billions of years ago due to immense distances in the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

. The atmosphere is intimate and music is minimal.

Mia Martini Domenica Rita Adriana Bertè (; 20 September 1947 – 12 May 1995), known professionally as Mia Martini (), was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician.James Christopher MongerMia Martini allmusic.comRadioVerdeRai she said: ;Side B * ''Vivi'' - The song tells the story of an ended love which is not bright as once, but with the desire to become so. It depicts the fury of the will to live. The lyrics has a marked erotic tone and exalts life and sensual passion with the relations between the

four elements The classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Angola, Tibet, India, a ...

(Earth, Air, Water and Fire) conceived by

pre-Socratic philosophers Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of the ...

, as well as the cycle of life. Song ends with a succession of ethnic groups ( Ainu,

Akha Akha may refer to: *Akha, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran *Akha, alternate name of Dinan, Mazandaran, a village in Mazandaran Province, Iran * Akha people, of Myanmar, China and Southeast Asia * Akha language, the Loloish (Sino-Tibet ...

, Lacandon,

Tasaday The Tasaday () are an indigenous peoples of the Lake Sebu area in Mindanao, Philippines. They are considered to belong to the Lumad group, along with the other indigenous groups on the island. They attracted widespread media attention in 1971, ...

Nambikwara The Nambikwara (also called Nambikuára) are an indigenous people of Brazil, living in the Amazon. Currently about 1,200 Nambikwara live in indigenous territories in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso along the Guaporé and Juruena rivers. The ...

, Gond,

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

Maasai Maasai may refer to: *Maasai people *Maasai language *Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) Masai may refer to: *Masai, Johor, a town in Malaysia * Masai Plateau, a plateau in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India *Maasai peopl ...

Guna Guna may refer to: People * Guna people, Indigenous peoples of Panama and Colombia Philosophy * Guṇa, a Hindu philosophical concept * Guṇa (Jainism), a philosophical concept Places * Guna district, in Madhya Pradesh, India ** Guna, Indi ...

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

, Yanomani,

Semang The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula. They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand. The Semang are among the different eth ...

Onge The Onge (also Önge, Ongee, and Öñge) are an Andamanese ethnic group, indigenous to the Andaman Islands in Southeast Asia at the Bay of Bengal, India. They are traditionally hunter-gatherers and fishers, but also practice plant cultivatio ...

Kogi Kogi State is a state in Nigeria. Kogi may also refer to: * Kogi people, people who live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia * Kogi language, a Chibchan language of the Kogi people * Kogi Korean BBQ, a truck-based restaurant in Los ...

Waorani The Waorani, Waodani, or Huaorani, also known as the Waos, are an Indigenous people from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador ( Napo, Orellana, and Pastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate ...

Penan The Penan are a nomadic indigenous people living in Sarawak and Brunei, although there is only one small community in Brunei; among those in Brunei half have been converted to Islam, even if only superficially. Penan are one of the last such p ...

, Caingua,

Vedda The Vedda ( ; (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Veddas, are accorded indigenous status. The Ved ...

, Sammi, Caraja,

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

, Jurana). The track features the purva

melakarta Mēḷakartā is a collection of fundamental musical scales ( ragas) in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music). ''Mēḷakartā'' ragas are parent ragas (hence known as ''janaka'' ragas) from which other ragas may be derived. A ''melaka ...

succession of Indian

carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...

. * ''Le donne sono'' - Baglioni describes the interaction of men with women and he proposes a series of portraits of women depicted with admiration, irony, affection and perplexity. The song concludes depicting men as sailors in an ocean of women that they will not never understand. Paco_de_Lucia_Vitoria_1

* ''Domani mai'' - The theme of physical love returns, but this time the song depicts the lament for a future breakup of a couple due to an impossible relationship between the lovers. Paco de Lucìa plays the guitar giving a Spanish atmosphere: during the preparation of the album, de Lucìa studied the sheet for a week and returned to the recording studio with his ideas for the song. Baglioni said about him: *''Acqua dalla luna'' - The song depicts the desire to enchant the audience like a magician or a circus artist and to amaze in particular who is sad, less fortunate or people marginalized for an alleged oddity. The surreal circus of the song has a

Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

an atmosphere and it is full of weird characters (like an unbalanced tightrope walker, a defeated tamer and a mute storyteller), seen by Baglioni with the eyes of a child. A final reflection suggests that it would be nice if artists were allowed to alleviate every kind of sorrow or pain, but it is as impossible as to find fluid water on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. *''Tamburi lontani'' - Introduced by horns of the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, the song talks about the pain of living. Each person has an own drum, rhythm and singing with which human relations occur. The rhythm in particular has strict bonds with vital pulsations (like the

heartbeat Heartbeat, heart beat or heartbeats may refer to: Science and technology * Heartbeat (biology), one cardiac cycle of the heart * Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system ** Heartbea ...

) and cycles of Earth (like the alternation of

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

s). Baglioni asks a confirm to his interlocutor on the fact that time, despite all odds, has not provoked a definitive departure between each other, and it is related to the separation between his wife, Paola Massari, and his son,

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

. At the end, time shows itself again as powerful and indifferent towards human unhappiness, but at the same time there is a drive for rebellion against this condition.

Disc two

;Side A * ''Noi no'' - This song has the attitude of a collective singing which becomes more evident during a concert, where public is directly involved in the performance. It is an anthem dedicated to rebels fighting against injustices, to anyone who wants a better future for himself, future generations and the entire world. * ''Signora delle ore scure'' - The "Lady of dark hours" to whom Baglioni refers is unknown: she is described as a young woman living in the night, maybe from a distant tropical country, and the desire for her is sinful. * ''Navigando'' - A playful romance with a female figure is compared with the sailing of seas. The sailor shipwrecks among beauties from all the world, as if each woman has the beauty of all the women in the world. Baglioni reprises the melakarta from ''Vivi'' when he describes somatic features of exotic women, and at the end he realizes he had been like "

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

Sinbad Sinbad the Sailor (; or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle. He is described as hailing from Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate (8th and 9th centuries A.D.). In the course of seven voyages throughout the sea ...

and

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...

": the songwriter has lost himself in his voyage and when the love ends he is alone "like a wolf in the lair". Richard Galliano plays again the accordion. YoussouNdour20090913

*''Le mani e l’anima'' - The songs is dedicated to the drama of whom leaves his mainland in order to find a redemption in another country, describing in particular the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n roots of men, with parallelism between body parts and natural elements typical of the African environment. The lyric self wants back his hands and soul, his "African soul" (''Africanima'') and his body by

synecdoche Synecdoche ( ) is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole (''pars pro toto''), or vice versa (''totum pro parte''). The term is derived . Common English synecdoches include '' ...

, because Africa is the soul of the whole world. At the end, Italian pejorative way mocking the stereotypical accent of African peddlers is used to spell phrases of resignation (like ''Che vù campà'', ''Che vù parlà'' and ''Che vù tornà'') overcome by African rhythm, meaning that Africans has to claim the right to be not considered as inferior or culturally underdeveloped and the right to consider Africa as mother and soul of the entire world. Instrumental track was composed in the

, while voices were recorded in Rome. Senegalese songwriter and

mbalax Mbalax (or mbalakh) is the urban dance music of Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia. The musical style is rooted in the indigenous instrumental and vocal styles accompanied by polyrhythmic sabar drumming of the Wolof, a social identity that incl ...

pioneer

took part to the choirs: *''Mille giorni di te e di me'' - The story of an ended love story lasted about three years, when each one goes towards those who will teach what they have learned together, dreaming of that "moment of eternal" which has never been realized between the lovers. Causes of split up are initially not clearly revealed, but the lyric self considered love as a shelter from the world and he tries to imagine a new relationship which would however had scars of the one ended. With the final salute to the former girlfriend, the lyric self delivers the memory of himself to who would be his substitute. In an interview with Italian journalist Vincenzo Mollica, Baglioni said: ;Side B * ''Dov’è dov’è'' - After an introduction of Italian actor

Oreste Lionello Oreste Lionello (18 April 1927 – 19 February 2009) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Lionello was born in Rhodes (which was then a possession of Italy), to Calabrian parents, and grew up in Reggio Calabria. He began his career as ...

who describes the moral decline of society, Baglioni compares himself with the child he was, when he ran from attentions of his relatives, and the grown-up himself who runs away from

Paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...

, fans, family and the world. Everyone is desperately looking for him like in a search of a fugitive criminal. It features actual voices of parents, former teachers and his wife, telling in choirs the character of the child Baglioni. At the end, the "criminal" is caught and took to process and events of his private life become a sort of accusation by meddlesome people. *''Tieniamente'' - It is dedicated to the events of

1989 Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led Demonstration (people), demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsucces ...

and the title is a pun between "Tienanmen" and ''Tieni a mente'' ("Keep in mind"), appealing to not forget what happened. * ''Qui Dio non c’è'' - The song depicts the rage and suffering (both personal and collective) provoked by all wrong and evil things in the world, where maybe there is not any

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

despite He should have realized himself in nature. * ''La piana dei cavalli bradi'' - The song begins with a natural atmosphere of horses running freely on plains, and then lyrics describes the distance between two lovers: probably, it refers to the two-years retirement of Baglioni in

Ansedonia Ansedonia is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Orbetello, in the province of Grosseto, southern Tuscany (Italy). At the time of the 2001 census, its population was 88.Rai Radio 2 Rai Radio 2 is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organization RAI and specializing in talk programmes and popular music. History The origins of the channel can be traced back to 21 March 1938, when the ...

, Baglioni declared that he was inspired by the Plateaus of Castelluccio, in

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

*''Pace'' - In the final song of the album, the author makes pace with himself, his child self and with all the world: he is now an adult and he has find by himself that heart in this world so similar to human beings, under a sky tricking us like a magician. After saluting Cucaio, the lyric self declares to have become free, a "Beyond-Man" similar to the

Nietzschean Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) developed his philosophy during the late 19th century. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Arthur Schopenhauer's ''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'' (''The World as Will and Represe ...

Übermensch The ( , ; 'Overman' or 'Superman') is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. In his 1883 book, '' Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (), Nietzsche has his character Zarathustra posit the as a goal for humanity to set for itself. The repre ...

Release

In October 1990, the second

stereophonic Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

radio station of

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

, RaiStereoDue, aired the first two tracks of the album one month before the official release. On the following 4 November, Claudio Baglioni had a serious car accident with his

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

, having injuries on his hands and face, including the tongue. Medical bulletins confirmed later that the surgery would not hinder his musical career. On 15 November, Baglioni was the only guest of

Maurizio Costanzo Show Maurizio Costanzo (28 August 1938 – 24 February 2023) was an Italian television host, journalist, screenwriter, and film director. Biography Costanzo began his career as a journalist, first as a contributing writer to ''Paese Sera'' and then ...

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

, publicly appearing for the first time after the incident. BaglioniMCS1990

On 17 November 1990, after three years since its announcement, the album was finally released in Italy with the title ''Oltre - un mondo uomo sotto un cielo mago'' was finally released in Italy and in 1991 the album was sold in all Europe (mainly in Spain, France and Germany) and America (Northern and Southern). In February 1991, CBS declared that the album sold more than 900 000 copies in Italy. It sold more than 6 million copies in the world.

Reception

Oltre surprised Italian music critics and journalists. In a review for

TV Sorrisi e Canzoni ''TV Sorrisi e Canzoni'' () is an Italian weekly listings magazine published in Segrate, Italy. History and profile The magazine was established in 1952 in Foligno by Casa Editrice Campi, with the name ''Sorrisi e Canzoni'' and Agostino Campi ...

, composer

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

wrote: Critic Gino Castaldo wrote on

La Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

Track listing

; Disc 1 ; Disc 2

Personnel

Credits from the booklet. * Claudio Baglioni - lead vocals, piano *

Steve Ferrone Stephen A. Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Aver ...

- drums * David Rhodes - guitar * Walter Savelli: piano, backing vocals * Paolo Gianolio: guitar * Simon Clark: piano * Charlie Morgan: drums *

: piano and keyboards *

Frank Ricotti Frank E. Ricotti (born 31 January 1949) is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist. Early life and education Frank E. Ricotti was born in St Pancras, London, England; his father was a drummer. Bill Ashton, founder of the National ...

: percussions *

Phil Palmer Philip John Palmer (born 9 September 1952) is a British rock sideman and session guitarist who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous artists. He is best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Dire Straits. Biography Palmer grew up ...

: guitar * Danny Cummings: percussions *

Danilo Rea Danilo Rea (born 9 August 1957) is an Italian jazz pianist. He is a graduate of the Santa Cecilia music conservatory in Rome. He made his debut with the "Trio di Roma" (with Roberto Gatto and Enzo Pietropaoli) in 1975.Riccardo Giagni. "Danilo ...

: piano, backing vocals *

: guitar *

: bass *

: guitar *

: keyboard *

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A session bassist, he has played bass for a number of acts such as the Who, the John Mayer Trio, Gary Numan, Paul Young, Don Henle ...

: bass *

: accordion * Nick Glennie-Smith: keyboard *

: drums *

John Giblin John Giblin (26 February 1952 – 14 May 2023) was a Scottish musician who worked as an acoustic and electric bass player spanning jazz, classical, rock, folk, and avant-garde music. He was a member of Simple Minds from 1985 to 1988, and w ...

: bass *

Hossam Ramzy Hossam Ramzy (; 15 December 1953 – 10 September 2019) was an Egyptian percussionist and composer. He worked with English artists including Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Siouxsie Sioux, as well as with Arabic music artists like Rachid Taha and K ...

: percussions * Marcello Bono:

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

* Danny Thompson:

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Didier Lockwood Didier Lockwood (11 February 1956 – 18 February 2018) was a French violinist. He played in the French rock band Magma in the 1970s, and was known for his use of electric amplification and his experimentation with different sounds on the electri ...

: violin * Paola Massari,

Claudio Mattone Claudio Mattone (born 28 February 1943) is an Italian composer, lyricist and music producer. Born in Santa Maria a Vico, Caserta, Mattone approached music at young age, as a jazz pianist. After leaving the university he moved to Rome, where he d ...

, Ida Baldi, Piero Montanari, Rossella Corsi, Susan Duncan Smith, Franco Novaro, Livio Macoratti, Roberta Longhi, Matteo Montanari, Massimiliano Savaiano: backing vocals

Credits

* Written and produced by Claudio Baglioni * Arranged and directed by Celso Valli * Supervised by Pasquale Minieri * Recorded by Stuart Bruce, Mark Chamberlain, Graham Dickson, Claude Grilles, Maurizio Maggi, Paul Mortimer and

Eddy Offord Edward Offord is an English retired record producer and audio engineer who gained prominence in the 1970s for his work on albums by the progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. Life and career Offord studied physics at university, an ...

; * Mixed by Pasquale Minieri, Graham Dickson and Mark Chamberlain * Mastered by Tim Young

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * * * {{Authority control 1990 albums 1990s concept albums Pop albums by Italian artists World music albums by Italian artists