POA

While the accomplished heavy hitters of the Italian scene get most of the buzz, it is the undiscovered artistic gems of the lesser known groups that excite me, as they toiled in obscurity to produce their one-off magnum opus likely realizing they wouldn't get another chance. Blocco Mentale is one of my favorites, blending superb musicianship, great vocals, enthusiastic flurries of ideas, good sound, and thoughtful arrangements. While certainly not hard-edged and harsh like the more daring Italprog groups, Blocco is by no means pop drivel. They instead inhabit a middle ground combining catchy and memorable melodies with playing that is not flashy but is nearly understated perfection. The album glows with a warm organic sound that stimulates emotionally and intellectually on the musical side. Lyrically of course I cannot comment on the quality and I'm happy about that as the vocals are just another color of the sound. POA stands up with my other favorite lesser known gems like Reale Accademia, RRR, and Apoteosi in providing a musical experience that is extremely accessible and yet fulfilling enough for Italian prog fans.

Gnosis2000's Peter Thelen notes "Here's an Italian band from 1973 that, instead of taking their cue from the keyboard driven sound of ELP, have more in common with the sound of Jethro Tull, early PFM, maybe Blodwyn Pig, and perhaps early Yes as well; there are near-schizophrenic outbursts of high speed sax-driven rock going right into the folky flute and guitar textures similar to Per Un Amico era PFM. Of course there are keyboards here, piano, Hammond, mellotron, and more, but it's more an integral part of the music than a dominant force and vehicle for solos. The band has two lead vocalists, Aldo Angeletti who doubles on bass, and Dino Finocchi who also plays sax and flute. One of the two sounds surprisingly similar to the vocalist in Latte E Miele. The band creates a diversity of moods and currents within their music, moving effortlessly between styles, doing fast changes from a simpler accessible folk styling straight into ripping bits of jazz-rock, with intense involvement from all."[Peter Thelen] Dr. Progresso's web review adds "The album opens with angular staccato sax riffs and then slides into a lush melody somewhat reminiscent of PFM in their early (and best) days. There are rich vocal harmonies blended with organ and flute, and once again a Mediterranean sensibility which distinguishes much of the best Italian progressive rock. Swelling Mellotrons blend into vocal harmonies, and give way to a cascading piano line. The music moves around a lot in the course of the album. The fourth track, Io E Me, is an amazing Mediterranean blues, with a wailing harmonica taking the lead. One has the sense that the group was striving to produce a well-rounded album, rather than stamping out each track with the same stylistic cookie cutter. (This was an approach much more common in sixties and early seventies rock than it is today.)" [Dr. Progresso]

Blocco Mentale were a band from Rome who released this one-off in the most orgasmic year of Italian prog, 1973. It is slightly longer than most at 40 minutes and deals with nature and the creeping realization that man was altering the environment in ways that would eventually lead to destruction. The group released another single after this album but then quickly folded which is a real shame. A message from the band in the liner notes states "We'd like to talk about nature. With these few tracks we'd like to remind the little green world that is still around us. Maybe there could be a different world than the one we've created.maybe you could discover too all the values of life that we have been lately disregarding. With love." Nothing dated about the message although the telling of the story lyrically and visually is noted by some as perhaps..well.the main character deals with these issues via conversations with a flower.so yeah. While that aspect may come off as dated or naïve set it aside and enjoy the fine music to be had. Eventually the band would reform under another name Limousine and have some modest success with a more commercial sound. That band folded when keyboardist Lazarri, dealing with depression, attempted suicide. He died in 1991 in a car accident while heading to a gig in Rome. Like so many other quality one-shot Italian bands, drummer Michele Arena said the label signed them up upon hearing them play and then never provided any support or promotion once the album was pressed.

"Capita" begins with a guitar/sax tradeoff that instantly reminded me of Gentle Giant but soon becomes typical Italian sounding, with the romantic vocals, warm bass, acoustic, and flutes. Nice keyboard runs and good percussion accenting some choppy sounding guitar, the moods here move back and forth from contemplative to a mid-paced rock. I think it's a very good opener with lots of thoughtful instrumental choices arranged nicely together leaving the listener primed. "Aria e mele" again begins with playful saxophone that leads into a bouncy synth that soon changes to piano and bass. Soon the piano, bass, and flute are caught in a fiery jazzy section with the drummer..breaking down into a heavy harmonized vocal section leading back to a dark Crimson-like riff briefly. Much is happening very fast so it's hard to keep up typing as I listen.usually a great sign that the music is interesting! This song turns into a real maelstrom with everyone joining into this dramatic riff that stops as "Impressioni" is connected via the mellotron. The delicate opening begins with flute over a softly picked acoustic guitar and mellotron, the perfect balance to the stormy previous track. Then in walks a delightful nostalgic piano melody over the flute and tron. Yeah, it's nice. I think even those who don't like Blocco Mentale would have to admit that "Impressioni" is a fair piece of prog. Dramatic drum rolls arise and peak with cymbal crashes as the flute gets more intense. Then it falls back as the soft first vocal verse begins accompanied only by acoustic. There are several vocalists on this album and all are quite good and never annoying, and there is good balance between amount of vocal and instrumental sections. The chorus section is very nice with the mellotron coming back and a nice build-up of bass/drums. Around the 6 minute mark the sax and guitar spar for a bit with the keyboardist and they share some riffs punctuated by starts and stops controlled by the drummer. Then Finocchi lets rip with a nice front end sax solo and the song closes nicely leading into "Io e me."

Many of the tracks simply flow right into the next song giving the album a connected feeling rather than the typical fadeouts. "Io e me" starts with a bluesy harmonica section leading to the vocal and acoustic guitar strumming. Bass and hand drumming accompany the singing and harmonic until the mellotron creeps in briefly. The next section has harmonized vocals and a California sounding hippie vibe like they spent the afternoon jamming with Bobby and Pigpen. Definitely a shift in feel on this track that offers variety but is not up to the material preceding or following it. "La nuova forza" has a heavily pounded piano opening leading into a trippy keyboards sequence spiced with flute and good drumming, then a nicely altered acoustic guitar and flute play a pretty lead in to the vocals. Good sentimental melodies with catchy refrains put this close to proggy pop music but it is so well done it goes down very easily and there is enough care to the instrumental to sell it. Beautiful vocals blend with the warm bass and offer frequent guitar, flute, and piano as counterpoints. "Ritorno" is pure heaven with extended washes of lovely piano playing and amazingly well-crafted band jamming tight and focused-great track. "Verde" features a more sugary sound again over mellotron. The vocals are upbeat harmonies and the structure is standard but the playing expressive. Certainly the least proggy moment on the album but still enjoyable.

There are two CD versions, one on Mellow and one on Vinyl Magic. While the Mellow issue gives you two bonus tracks and better art reproduction, the sound quality is reported to be better on the VM release that I have. I have not heard Mellows, but I can vouch that the sound is good on the VM. Thus you can decide between sound or bonus tracks/artwork, personally I'd take the one that sounds better especially when dealing with the early 70s period.

While POA may never be hailed on the same level as the PFMs and QVLs I must recommend this album to all Italian fans. For those who like to find the gems, this one will deliver quality playing and melodic music to your ears and I think you will like it. It is not a perfect album or masterpiece but it's a damn good one. Not every attempt works and there are other moments that cry out for some special oomph that is missed. But the unabashed enthusiasm is undeniable and the results good enough to recommend to fans outside the Italian fanbase. I'd have to put this on the south side of 4 stars but I have enough affection to round up.

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