AFFRESCO

If someone ask me why i love RPI, one of the possible answers may be because there are no limits, when you think you have discovered everything, then you are wrong because in this RPI realm there are always something new to listen, this is the case of Franco Maria Giannini, an old Italian composer who used to have another moniker, but then changed the name to Gianninni and sadly released only one album.

Thanks to the recommendation of my hahaha italian expert friend i could listen to this album and see how beautiful is, and i just wonder how many gems are still to be listened, incredible. This album was released in 1974 and did not have success at the time, but nowadays due to those crazy collectors of Italian prog, the album has been released on CD and it's value increased a little bit. Affresco features 8 songs and a total time of 34 minutes.

It opens with the title-track "Affresco", with a folk and slow beginning which suddenly turns into a symphonic passage due to the use of keyboards, then after a short stop and spoken words, you will find his voice along with some backing vocals with a very italian style, then the song structure returns to the first part and it goes again with it's mini changes until the song finishes, nice song and nice introduction to this album.

"Lo Stracciarolo" starts with some violin that reminds me a bit to New Trolls, then again spoken word, drums, piano and very nice bass lines, some stop, and then it starts again with a constant sound and a great acoustic guitar over there, nice musicianship actually and some strange but nice changes.

"Il Cane Duc" reminds me to the first song due to the mandolin sound in the first moments, then the vocals enter (how beautiful is Italian language), some mellotron as background and with a romantic flavour, then the song changes and become a bit proggier, again the bass lines are noticeable and the drumming is very good. Despite being a short song, you will find several changes within, so that may be a good or bad point, depends on the listener.

Next one you will find L'eroe di Cartone which starts very different, with some trumpet introduction and then a soft piano sound along with Giannini's vocals, making a beautiful sound, after some minutes, the trumpets return and immediately after there are some funeral drumming for a few seconds, after a short stop, his voice appears again with some acoustic guitar and then after another stop again, the mellotron appears and the song becomes more powerful and beautiful,the ending is very nostalgic, one of the best tracks of the album without a doubt.

"Per la tua Strada" opens with some synth sound along with female vocals, after a few seconds that female vocals continue but at the same time Giannini's voice and his acoustic guitar appear, the song is very catchy and not that complex, but it has it's italian style with those vocals that remind me to New Trolls, there is also a soft guitar solo and the mellotron sound keeps being beautiful.

"Vecchio Uomo" has a slow and calm start with mellotron and after a minute the vocals appear, then it slows down a bit and later the drums' sound begin to increase and gives the impression of another change, and yes, the melody mix several feelings and makes several short stops and changes, violin, acoustic guitar and piano will be listened through the song. After some minutes the song and Giannini's voice turns more emotional. very good song.

"Un Sognatore" starts with acoustic guitar notes and a peaceful feeling, some seconds later a flute enters and then drums, bass and even electric guitars appear in order to make this a more powerful song and to put an example of that 70s classic RPI song, this is one of my prefered tracks of the album.

And the last one is "Il Barbone" which starts again with violin and then a very catchy melody begins with some nice acoustic guitar and Franco's vocals, the song has that old italian flavour, which makes it beautiful, nice song to finish a nice album.

With Affresco, you will not find anything new, you will not find outstanding tracks, but you will find one more hidden gem of this endless RPI realm, and believe me it is so cool to discover these musicians and to know they created great music, it is estimulating, so for that my search of more and more bands and artists increases everyday.

Nice album, 3 stars, good but non essential. Enjoy it!!

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