PAESAGGIO SOLARE (ESTATE 1972)

Il Ruscello are an Italian prog band based in London and formed by three musicians from Milan, Silvio Cavallo (vocals, acoustic guitar, drums), his brother Giampaolo Cavallo (bass) and Luca Herb (guitars, synthesizers, piano). After some experiences in previous pop rock bands they decided to focus on a project inspired by the halcyon days of Italian progressive rock. Trying to blend the influences of bands like PFM and Le Orme they managed record something new but with the same sound and spirit of the early seventies. Their debut album, "Paesaggio solare (estate 1972)" was conceived as if it was directly coming from past, featuring vintage atmospheres and sounds. The album was recorded in London between January 2008 and March 2009 and was released by the Italian independent label BTF in September 2009 with a beautiful artwork and a booklet that reminds of the early days of the RPI scene. Well, in my opinion the result is not completely convincing...

On the long opener "Il cielo in un ruscello" (The sky in a stream) the blending of the different "sources of inspiration" is a little bit clumsy, especially when they skip from a passage in "PFM style" to what to my ears sounds like an appalling parody of Le Orme's "Frutto acerbo" from "Contrappunti". Lyrics are naives, to say the least. A gaze towards to horizon permits to discover a strange landscape featuring walking flowers, boars biting the grass and whispering butterflies while concrete buildings reflect themselves in a quiet stream... Bah!

"La grande città" (The big city) is a little bit better. It's a suite in two parts - "La notte di una città" (The night of a city) and "Il risveglio di una città" (The awakening of a city) - that tries to describe in music and words the nightlife of a metropolis, from dusk till dawn. Vocals and lyrics are not the strength of this band but at least here you can find some really well crafted instrumental passages.

"La quiete" is a beautiful short and dreamy instrumental track featuring piano and acoustic guitar that leads to the title track, "Paesaggio solare (estate 1972)" (Solar landscape ? summer 1972). Well, in my opinion more than the summer of 1972 what seems to have inspired this track is 1974, the release year of Le Orme's album "Contrappunti". In fact here you can find some melodic lines that seem to be picked out from "Maggio", while some keyboards patterns remind me of "La fabbricante d'angeli". Lyrics describe a pastoral landscape featuring two shining fireflies, a screaming heart of carnation flower and other amenities...

The long and complex final track "Orizzonti" (Horizons) is by far my favourite one on this work. Almost twelve minutes of good vintage prog rock featuring well balanced changes of rhythm and atmosphere. Lyrics here just suggest images and words are more like touches of colour than linguistic tools used trying to tell something...

On the whole this album is not completely bad and its purchase it's not a waste of money but it's very far from essential in a prog collection. I think that Il Ruscello are a band with a good potential but in my opinion their qualities are still unexpressed.