DIARIO DI VIAGGIO DELLA FESTA MOBILE

Italy perhaps hosted the most dynamic progressive rock movement outside of England and it never ceases to amaze me how many great obscurities continue to emerge from this peninsular nation which had more than its share of acts that released a single album and disappeared from the scene. One of the bands from that lengthy list is a band called FESTA MOBILE formed by two brothers, Francesco Boccuzzi (keyboards) and Giovanni Boccuzzi (keyboards, guitar) in the Bari region before relocating to Rome and recruiting Alessio Alba on guitar, singer Renato Baldassarri and drummer Maurizio Cobianchi.

The band remains obscure with little info to be gleaned from its brief existence and released this sole album DIARIO DI VIAGGIO DELLA FESTA MOBILE ( Travel Diary of the Mobile Party ) in 1973 just when Italian prog had reached its absolute apex before the scene started winding down. The album pretty much came and went without notice and printed in a limited number on the RCA label but has since been re-released many times on CD including a proper remastering job. The album consisted of five tracks in the traditional symphonic prog style of the Italian scene with an extra robust emphasis on virtuoso piano parts in the vein of a more traditional classical pianist as opposed to the synth wizardry of Keith Emerson.

DIARIO DE VIAGGIO DELLA FESTA MOBILE is supposedly a concept album of sort but considering no info was included in the liner notes of any kind one would have to decipher the Italian lyrics to figure out exactly what it could possibly be. FESTA MOBILE was quite unique sounding in its five tracks that added up just shy of 32 minutes in playing time. In the forefront of the musical mix was the galloping tinkling of ivories that both Boccuzzi brothers contributed in making although one would tend to the virtuoso piano romps while the other provided the symphonic atmospheres. The opening "La Corte di Hon" sounds like a piano roll on crack cocaine as it whizzes by at a million miles per second like a Chopin album set to a higher speed and it's spectacularly woven into what sounds like a form of riff looping that culminates in a beautiful heavy rocker with guitar and bass heft augmented by bombastic drumming in jittery time signature displays, my number one track on the album.

Like other contemporary Italian proggers vocalist Renato Baldassarri belted out passionate operatic lyrics in his native Italian sounding much like related bands PFM, Banco or any of the other greats who indulged in a heavier bombastic flair. "Canto" slows things down a bit and focuses more on the atmospheric possibilities of a more traditional symphonic prog style although the lighter and airy piano parts still display an unrestrained restlessness as does the guitar but stay on their leash while the slower tempo demands respect. The track exudes some nice jazz-rock elements but finally everything succumbs to the restless nature of the piano and breaks into faster rock tempos. They rhythmic cyclic loops of piano rolls display the band's affiliation with the many pop artists they worked with in the RCA studios.

"Aristea" follows suit with the airy piano rolls existing in a tangled web of independent guitar, bass and drum parts. Perhaps the proggiest of the bunch this track exudes a perpetual intro that never ends but finally settles on one of those bravado led PFM styled rockers. "Ljalja" opens with jittery almost unsettling piano rolls with the guitar and bass once again chomping at the bit to do their own thing which actually sums up the feel of this album and that would be a strong tension of the instruments wanting to go their own way but always finding resolution and settling on perfect harmony. This particular set of musicians is brilliant in creating some of the most unnerving tensions in this regard but have no difficulties in playing in tandem like a flock of freshly satiated birds from a well stocked pond. The closing "Ritorno" is the lengthiest track at nearly 9 minutes and takes on a different mood where it mixes technical prowess with soft sensual atmospheres. Given the track's length it runs the gamut of trad Italian prog along with some avant-garde leanings. It ends with a dramatic display of sound effects signaling the end of this most obscure band.

Unlike anything else in the scene FESTA MOBILE really strikes a chord with me. The music has a darker feel than most Italian prog and the restless technical nature of the piano offers a tension unlike most prog of the era outside of the most hyperactive such as Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman. While the jittery nature of the music can come close to the breaking point, the band allows pacification of the soul with slick soulful sensuality that feigns a moment of respite before bedazzling the senses with some slick prog maneuvers. On the technical side of things this band was beyond instrumentally sound and the singer was pretty gifted as well. For a one shot and gone type of band this is a really beautifully designed piece of work although something seems to be lacking to bring to the level of the major bigwigs of the era. This is a band i wish would've stuck it out and perhaps had these guys emerged a couple years prior it might've been. As it is, this is a highly recommendable piece of 70s Italian prog that deserves more attention than it has received. The Boccuzzi brothers continued on together with another prog band called Il Baricentro which released two albums.