SAMADHI

As Finnforst and Tszirmay have indicated already in their reviews this is one of those albums that really makes you feel good. The vocalist Luciano Regoli has one of those voices that simply makes me smile, he sounds so good. Luciano was in a band with Claudio Simonetti years before this, when that band broke up Claudio went on to form GOBLIN while Luciano went on to form RACCAMNDATA RICEVUTA RITORNO. After one album RRR broke up and Luciano and RRR's guitarist Nanni Civitenga went on to form this band SAMADHI. This had been described as sort of a super group as the others in the band also came from other known bands from that time. The majority of these tracks were composed by the keyboardist and bass player. Jazz-Rock was starting to spread throughout Italy at this time and so the band steered itself in that direction on this their only release.

"Uomo Stanco" is a top three track for me on this album. Strummed guitar to open as organ joins in. A full sound comes in with vocals. I was instantly drawn in by those incredible vocals, how can you not smile ? Nice bass lines throughout. Guitar 2 minutes in is pleasant. Excellent organ to end it. "Un Milione D'Anni Fa" has a bit of a classical vibe because of the strings and bassoon. The vocals are great. A fair amount of piano too. Pretty cool track. "L'Angelo" opens with acoustic guitar then electric guitar, piano and drums take over. Vocals and bass follow. Fantastic guitar after 1 1/2 minutes. Vocal melodies and horns follow. "Passaggio Di Via Arpino" features percussion early as flute comes in. This song becomes the jazziest tune yet when the piano, light drums, sax and bass take over. Some outstanding guitar follows. Great section before 5 minutes with flute. I like this instrumental a lot.

"Fantasia" is another top 3 song for me. It opens with organ,a full sound follows. Love the vocals before a minute. Some good organ and flute in this one, piano late. "Silenzio" is mellow to start then strummed guitar and piano follow. Electric guitar and vocals after a minute. The guitar 4 1/2 minutes to the end is a treat. The previous two songs bring PFM to mind at times. "L'Ultima Spiaggia" is the longest song by far and my favourite. Piano intro as reserved vocals join in. A full sound before 1 1/2 minutes with flute. Check out the vocals 3 minutes in as he brings some passion in his singing. Some beautiful piano melodies later then we get deep male vocal melodies joining the piano, drums and bass.This goes on and on and it's so moving.

I know this could be said about a lot of Italian bands but it's too bad they only put out one album. I'm just glad I own it.