Edition of 300 copies, white vinyl. In the sprawling catalog of Franco Battiato's remarkable career, certain artifacts remain tantalizingly out of reach—works that slip between the cracks of official discographies yet represent crucial moments in the evolution of one of Italy's most visionary artists. M.Elle Le Gladiator stands as one such treasure, released in 1975 as the final and most controversial work of Battiato's experimental period for the Bla Bla label, marking the end of what many consider his most eversive creative phase. This Saifam reissue, pressed on striking white vinyl, represents a rare opportunity to encounter Battiato at his most uncompromising. Heavily influenced by John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen—who famously commissioned Battiato to contribute to his Inori composition—this album pushes into fractured, avant-garde territories that anticipate the electronic experiments of Tangerine Dream while maintaining Battiato's singular vision. The album's three instrumental tracks showcase Battiato's mastery of the VCS3 synthesizer, the legendary EMS instrument also used by Pink Floyd. The opening "Goûtez et comparez" presents a stunning sound collage technique reminiscent of Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrète, weaving together radio broadcasts, field recordings, and electronic manipulation into a sonic mosaic inspired by the cathedral of Monreale. The album's centerpiece, "Canto Fermo," features Battiato's improvisation on the monumental organ of Monreale Cathedral, creating cluster compositions that directly recall György Ligeti's Volumina. What emerges is a work that bridges the gap between Terry Riley's minimalism and the experimental strategies of Olivier Messiaen's keyboard works, while pointing toward the ambient territories that would later define the German electronic school. This is Battiato as pure experimentalist—before his commercial breakthrough, when he was solely focused on pushing the boundaries of what music could be.

The album captures a pivotal moment in Italian experimental music history, closing Battiato's relationship with Giuseppe Previde Massara's Bla Bla label and representing his final work as both composer and performer before transitioning to the collaborative approach that would define his later career. It stands alongside classics like Pollution, Sulle Corde di Aries, and Clic as one of the peaks of 1970s European experimental music. This white vinyl pressing ensures that this crucial document of Italian avant-garde music receives the attention it deserves. For devotees of experimental electronics, concrete music, and the outer reaches of 1970s minimalism, M.Elle Le Gladiator offers an essential glimpse into the mind of one of Italy's most important musical visionaries at his most uncompromising.

A must-have for collectors seeking the complete picture of Franco Battiato's artistic evolution and anyone interested in the intersection of electronic music, concrete composition, and mystical exploration that defined the European avant-garde of the mid-1970s.