COSÌ TI AMO

The mixing on this album is really something else, right from the start, kind of jarring with "Al mattino"... It feels like my ears are experiencing the depth and breadth of the composition lol. I don't know how else to put it. And I really have to wonder if they did it with such great purpose (I assume yes). At least it's musically lovely. And very very of the time, 1969/1970, just as 1973's followup, Fiore di metallo, is very much a product of its time. For general fans of Prog, I would recommend starting with Fiore (as I did).

This strange production style on the opener relaxes immediately and the remainder is largely orthodox in mixing. On that second track, "Ma dove vai", the organ and harmonica call to mind GRAHAM BOND ORGANISATION. Sort of an Italian Beat thing (as I'm sure that was very much a thing post-British Invasion). Other elements of that style of jazz-inspired early hard rock can be heard on the closer, "Marshall Jim 100".

Musically, the album is an interesting mix of general 1960s idioms. What we, as ProgArchives listeners, may have come for in Proto-Prog and Psychedelia is matched with Sunshine(ish) Pop, Baroque Pop and even neo-classical flavors (yes, I know this may sound redundant having already mentioned Proto-Prog), and that sort of rootsy(?), bluesy, even jazzy thing (the specific sound that made me think of Graham BOND). Are Progressive Rock fans going to want to flock to this early, at best, Proto-Prog-adjacent album? I would think not. But also, this release, 4 years before the aforementioned 1973 followup, shows an interesting creative basis for the band: How were I Califfi inspired early on? What were they jumping off of to become one of the many bands within the very specific Italian Prog pantheon?

One thing that of course caught my eye (and then my ears) was their cover of the (early) Bee Gees, here, the title track: "Cosí ti amo (To Love Somebody)". The organ they use here reminds me of PROCOL HARUM. Makes me even more curious of all the bands and musical artists that had greatest effect on I Califfi. To be clear, really, a decent album. But that's about it. Certainly not a whole lotta Prog goin' on in 1969, but especially not on this'n... If I were to suggest anything, it's the previously mentioned final track on the digital version I had access to, "Marshall Jim 100." Heavy jammin'.

Enjoy! Or don't!