NEVER TOO LATE

Formed in 1992, Italian project Nostalgia from San Remo was the brainchild of guitarist/singer Massimo Mazzeo, who guided the band next to his school friend multi-instrumentalist Andrea Romano.A tape with their arrangements were caught in the attention of Mellow Records' leader Mauro Moroni, who suggested the duo to rearrange them in a proggier way.So Mazzeo and Romano re-recorded the tracks and Nostalgia's debut ''Never Too Late'' became reality on 19th May 1993.

By the time of the album's release Mazzeo was going through a painful personal phase, having lost his job, and all these facts are taped on the emotional performance of the band and the heavily auto-biographical lyrics.Additionally both Mazzeo and Romano were fans of CAMEL, so the album has a good sense of melody throughout, where soft acoustic textures meet often with melodic electric solos.However the album lacks the real fundamentals of progressive music, containing no interplays, no radical changes and no trully obvious progressive leanings.It is more in the vein of the easier material of ATON'S or NOTTURNO CONCETRANTE with the material strongly based around Mazzeo's voice, the calm keyboard atmosphere and the alternation between the acoustic and electric sound.The production is really flat and sound really amateur, same thing with the synths' and drums' echoes throughout the release.On the other hand Mazzeo's voice (though very accented on the English lyrics) and the duo's guitar delivery somewhat hold the listener's interest, although the playing is very mellow and deeply esoteric.

A good album for anyone looking for some music with a background essence, easy-listening and emotional.But I can see noone else, who could really appreciate the soft approach of Nostalgia's debut.Some samples before purchasing would be really helpful...2.5 stars.