VOLO MAGICO N. 1

The second record of Claudio Rocchi is made of only four tracks where the title track fills the whole A-side. This is the first of many similarities with another famous album by an italian singer-songwriter of the early seventies: ALAN SORRENTI's Aria (1972).

Probably Volo Magico n. 1 is the musical pattern upon which Aria was built. Not only. The folk-side of Aria is also an analogy with Volo Magico. On the other hand, the results of the two artists are very different: Rocchi at the time was (still) not interested in (vocal) experimentation or avant-garde music. He was only an italian-psychedelic troubadour who tried to spread the audience with eastern and tibetan philosphy. Probably time was too late for doing such things. They even that this interest of him was the reason of the end of his collaboration with STORMY SIX, a band whose members were mainly lined up for politics ready to enter the seventies.

So, what makes this record interesting for an RPI lover is the 18 minutes title track which is a somptuous acoustic crescendo evolving in wonderful psychedelic tour de force, majestic electric guitar solos, piano, mellotron and mighty rythm section, all dressed in tibetan spiritualism.

On the B-side the one that really stands out is "La Realtà Non Esiste": a short and vibrant acoustic gem with very deep and mystical lyrics. The other two numbers are generally regarded as of lower interest even if not in quality. I'd say the last two tracks don't add anything to the wonderful previous numbers.