Anima Means Soul

It was only supposed to be 3 gigs, three blues clubs in Northern Italy. Just for fun!
We gathered in Forlì, at the home of a Vintage Fender collector, for three days of rehearsals. There was just enough time to put together a repertoire, a few classics to justify a jam session.
But "Anima*Blues" had other plans.
From the first notes, I realized that something special was coming to life, something that had ancient but familiar echoes. Each one of us had limitations but, merging with those of the others, they turned into a unique sound. And the creativity!
In the first three days we conceived "Holyland", "Heart Of The Country", "Marta's Dream" and "Sweet Surrender".
I hadn't written anything new since "Accadueo" in '98 and, frankly, I thought the well had dried up, but now we can't get together without some new idea being hatched.
We started doing gigs, like the memorable concert at the "Festambiente" festival near Grosseto.
I was dreaming about a live album, but the record industry is going through bad times and soon I found myself neck deep in endless wrangling 'bout budgets, schedules, production.
I knew exactly what I wanted the record to sound like so I decided I would pay for it out of my own pocket and that I would start my own production & publishing company: EFsounds.
I called my good friend Sandro Pascucci, the Mayor of Longiano, a small paradise in the hills of Romagna, home to Teatro Petrella, a tiny jewel box theatre where we spent a week rehearsing, eating and recording. That's where we organized all the ideas, the lyrics and, in the process, also wrote "Pipe Dream", "Estrellita", "Barn Yard Mama" and "Long Way Home".
But for our final recording we needed a Mecca of Vintage!
The sound I wanted was crystal clear in my mind, but to catch it, I needed the NEVE 5116 board of "Officine Meccaniche", owned by my friend Mauro Pagani. It was there that, in seven incredible days of absolute concentration, we finally recorded "Anima*Blues". There we wrote "Mojo Philtre", completed "Mama Left Me" and, at 6 p.m. the last day, we improvised "Doctor Doctor".
Finally, listening to it one night at home, I realized that I had finally found my Holy Grail: the lost album that-they-never-let-me-record, and that "Anima*Blues" is not only my new album but, in many ways, also the oldest of all, since I've been dreaming of it for precisely 40 years.

Eugenio*Finardi
Milan, March 2005