FELONA E/AND SORONA 2016

A 2016 re-recording of one of the greatest progressive rock albums of all time. How exciting! This is also a re-recording of both versions, the italian original and the english version. I don't have the english version of the album so I am going to review only the italian version. I have the double CD edition called "The gold edition". Strange is that the CD 2 contained the same song twice but in the shippment I also received another copy of CD2 with the right songs. Something must have gone wrong in the printing of the CD. This review is also more about comparing the original from this 2016 version more than the music itself, that you can find in the reviews of the original. First, when you re-record an album as original and great as this one can only assume that this is because you either want to record the album with a better sound, or you didn't like how the original composition of the original turned out. Now you have the chance to do something about it. There is only one rule; make it better! So, did Le Orme improve their original album and made it better? The short answer would be; no.

The album have the same titles as the original and the lenghts of the songs are basically the same, the first song is two minutes longer so here I am expecting something cool that the band have added. My, my. Am I disappointed? Yes. The two longer minutes consists of an expanded drumsolo. They have taken the original short drumsolo that finishes the first song and expanded it two more minutes. Aaaagh... I hate drumsolos. Not a good start. The second song have a slighter rockier approach than the original as have the 6th song. The rest of the songs are basically the same for the exception of the last song that is one minute longer.

The biggest difference between the original album and this is that the sound is a bit more fresh, more of a live feel. The singer has of course got older but still sings great. The songs are slightly rockier, the basswork is slightly heavier och more prominient but the rest is almost exactly as the original. Even the sound of the keyboards are almost a carbon copy of the original.

So, how do I feel about this then? The music is great, some of the best moments in progressive rock history, but that we kind of already knew. The sound is marginally better, it's a tad rockier and it's a bit longer but on the other hand contains a drumsolo (why...why??).

For completists only, or for us Le Orme suckers that want to hear everything with them. If you have the original, don't bother. If you don't, this could be a great start, or just buy the original album. The music would get a five star, but this re-recording, compared to the original, will get only three stars because this is basically just a re-recording and nothing else.