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Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso CD (album) cover

BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO

Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso

 

Rock Progressivo Italiano

4.31 | 1019 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars If you ask me the best singing language that fit prog music despite English, it's probably Italian and the second one is Spain. And Banco has blended the Italian speaking lyrics with classical music, jazz and rock in perfect way through this excellent debut album which I consider one of the seventies prog icons. No one would argue about this, I think. This album delivers beautiful compositions with varieties of styles from soft to loud, and from classical outfit to rock with some nuance of opera especially through the album opener "In Volo" (2:13) which involves monologues and orchestration. It moves into more uplifting mood with guitar rhythm accompanying excellent vocal delivery under "R.I.P. (Requiescant in Pace)" (6:40). This second track offers jazzy style keyboard work augmented with nice insertions of guitar fills. I really enjoy the electric piano exploration in the middle of the track - it's stunning. Structure-wise it's relatively simple and the beauty of this track on the arrangement with instrument solos combined with good singing style. The combination of piano and vocal right after the middle of the track is also another point of attraction about this track - especially when piccolo inserts its sound beautifully. An excellent track.

The bridge "Passaggio" (1:19) that contains a very nice keyboard / organ work with non-lyrical singing brings us to the fourth track 4 "Metamorfosi" (10:52) in elegant way: a combination of guitar, drum, and piano work in upbeat tempo. The organ fills the transition to nice piano solo. It's a memorable segment, I would say. For me, this classic music influenced piano solo has created an excellent enjoyment pleasure. Brilliant. Drums enter the music combined with nice organ fills as the track builds into a crescendo. Suddenly the track goes through a silent break continued wonderfully with organ solo. What an excellent break man! What follow is a fabulous exploration of organ work augmented in alternate with simple guitar fills as the music moves into various forms in smooth way. At the ending part the track offers great guitar solo followed with floating voice line in Italian accent. Awesome composition.

The album offers an epic "Il Giardino del Mago" (18:26) that comprises four parts: a) ...passo dopo passo... b) ...chi ride e chi geme... c) ...coi capelli sciolti al vento... d) Compenetrazione . The epic starts of with a soft piano opening with nice melody augmented with some drum work especially at every end of the bars. The music flows with organ that brings all instruments work together to form a cohesive epic. The combination of vocal and keyboard / organ has created beautiful harmony. The epic moves to relatively complex arrangement in a faster tempo demonstrating excellent keyboard work in high energy. There are also excellent mellotron sounds. The epic concludes with an uplifting mood with complex arrangement and dynamic delivery that reminds me to ELP kind of music. It's an excellent epic. The concluding track of the album "Traccia" (2:10) serves like an epilogue with ELP like music augmented with non- lyrics singing, guitar and dynamic drumming.

It's an excellent addition to any prog music collection that you should not miss. Keep on proggin' ..!

Progressively yours,

GW

Gatot | 4/5 |

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