PASSO DOPO PASSO

Magnificent 5 piece symphonic prog band with influences such as QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA and PFM. "Passo Doppo Passo" contains live material from the late '70s and early '80s work filled with loads of analogue synth-driven passages wonderfully written and choreographed songs... IL CASTELLO DI ATLANTE blend excellent vocal harmonies (vocals in Italian) with grand symphonic landscapes played with delicate romantic - influences. I actually do not know all that much about this album in terms of its origin, but think it is a great live album with a few breathtaking moments. This album offers a nice warm feel with loads of acoustic guitar and analog synth work. Lovers of 70's Italian Prog will certainly enjoy this album. This is one of those albums that all prog lovers live to find and will most certainly be a prized addition to the ol' collection my friends.

After the succesful first official album of the band,''Sono io il signore delle terre a nord'' from 1992,which sold over 3000 copies,Beppe Corvella of Vinyl Magic insisted on an immediate second album by IL CASTELLO DI ATLANTE. Material wasn't ready so the members decided to collect some of their old tapes, recorded both live and in studio between 1974 and 1984, and release them as a tribute to their early years under the title ''Passo dopo passo''.

Dropping an eye on the band's past (this record) and future (the first official release),I can't detect any significant changes to their delicate musical approach over the years.''Passo dopo passo'' runs at over 70 minutes with 12 tasteful compositions,where IL CASTELO DI ATLANTE insist on playing melodic Symphonic Rock with some Italian Ethnic tendenciies,maybe a liitle bit more complicated and adventuruous compared to their debut.Vocals are very warm with a romantic feeling,guitars continue on the previous album's sensitive lines and the moog synth passages is met all along the album.Some melodies in here are definitely of first class,showing the band's talent in songwriting,while a fair amount of acoustic guitars makes this an even more interesting experience...and CASTELLO's big weapon,the driving violins are in here too,though a bit less used than on ''Io sono il signore...''. Negative points:Certainly the bad sound quality,as most of the compositions seem to be headed for demo tapes and not for a professional recording,along with the somewhat weak mix of the instrumental parts.

However the excellent quality of the compositions will satisfy every sympho-maniac out there,waiting for some old and good Italian Prog.3.5stars,followed by a strong recommendation!

You'd have to be a hardhearted soul indeed to fail to be moved by the story of this RPI band. To recap briefly, they formed in 1974 and never really disbanded between then and their 1992 debut on Vinyl Magic. They claim that they were united more as friends than musicians during that period. That may be so but the strength of their friendship is the current that powers their music, an enchanting and lovable blend of 1970s RPI and British symphonic prog. In 1993, when informed that their debut had surpassed the lofty sales peak of 3000 units, they were asked, nay commanded, to dispatch a second album pronto. What to do? They had yet to fully tap their significant repertoire amassed during 18 years sans record deal, but they had no time to lavish the same loving kindness on the other chestnuts as they had on "Sono Io Il Signore Delle Terre A Nord". So they made the only logical choice - they raided the vaults and the result is "Passo dopo Passo", a mostly live compilation of hitherto unreleased bootleg quality material from the 1974-1984 period, much of it live.

The result is bittersweet. If the band had been given sufficient time, many of these pieces could have found their way onto subsequent studio efforts, edited and produced in a manner that does justice to their underlying strengths. As far as I can tell, only one, "Cavalcando tra le nuvole" has been resuscitated in the intervening 22 years, and this is a minor tragedy. The lengthier tracks are just a few washed out bridges from being up to the level of subsequent recordings, while the mid length songs could have graced the debut album and not been out of place with minor cleanup. In particular, the ballad "Alice" (pronounced appropriately as ah-lee-chay), "Omer", the masterful mini epic "La Guerra del Topi", and the dazzling instrumental, "Chorale" (which reminds me oddly of the title cut to CAMEL's "Rain Dances") outshine their skimpy treatment. But honestly, nothing here is weak, particularly given the context. I especially enjoy the prominence of violin and flute as well as the washes of string synthesizer throughout, and the rhythm section is stalwart and accomplished.

The positive aspect to wasting these compositions in this manner is that the band could no longer depend primarily on archive material from then on. After "L'Ippogrifo", released fairly quickly the following year, they became very much a going concern in terms of songwriting, production and performance, and have released several high quality disks over the last couple of decades, including a new one this year.

My own tastes ally most with the band as they were in the early 1990s, so even though this isn't much better than the old teenage trick of putting a mike to the clock radio speaker - actually, that's probably pretty much what it is - to me the spirit shines through and handily overcomes any obstacles, generously offering, warts and all, the definitive, versions of these low hanging fruit. Step by step indeed.

"Passo dopo passo", Il Castello di Atlante's second album, is a collection of live recordings and demos dating back to the first period of the band's activity, from 1976 to 1984. It was released in 1994 on the independent Vinyl Magic label with a beautiful art cover representing time passing by with an hourglass in the forefront. In my opinion, this album is a good document of the musicians' enthusiasm and freshness in their early years but, despite the remastering, the sound quality is not always adequate to say the least. Moreover, the booklet is rather poor, with no details about the recording sessions. Nonetheless the music is worth listening to...

The powerful instrumental 'Overture per un concerto' (Overture for a concert) opens the album, then it's the turn of another instrumental track, an early version of 'Cavalcando tra le nuvole' (Riding through the clouds), a beautiful piece properly re-recorded and released in 2005 on the album Quintessenza...

The long, complex 'Danza sulla Quinta Strada' (Dance on Fifth Avenue) begins by the sound of wind and hooters while distorted vocals evoke long shadows with a deathly train and funereal ghosts ready to wear their mask. Then the rhythm rises and the dance can start... Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan and one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. Here it is described as the temple of deception, a place without poetry where even music sounds phoney. The protagonist walks along the street, under the colourful lights he's hiding his thoughts and his disenchantment...

'Alice' is a delicate piece that depicts in music and words a little girl in love with nature who prays in the night, picks up daisies in the morning and let her dreams fly from the seashore to the mountains... Next comes 'Omer', a joyful, surreal ode to friendship and music that describes a keyboardist on his way to a castle located in the mountains of sound, guarded by friendly bearded knights...

Then comes the ethereal instrumental 'Epiciclo' (Epicycle). The title refers to a geometric model used in the Hipparchian, Ptolemaic, and Copernican systems of astronomy to explain the variations in speed and direction of the apparent motion of the Moon, Sun, and planets...

The disquieting 'L'ombra' (The shadow) features a pounding electronic sound and a mysterious feeling. The vocals play the role of a strange, insubstantial shadow fallowing you everywhere but disappearing at night... Then it's the turn of the short, acoustic ballad 'Il cortile' (The courtyard) that depicts a pastoral landscape from where old memories and bits of the protagonist's past emerge...

The instrumental 'Passaggio' (Passage) is just a long violin solo inspired by classical music that leads to the following 'La guerra dei topi' (The war of the mice), an epic piece that evoke a rebellious army of mice marching from the suburbs towards the big city, pushed by a strong thirst for justice. They go on and on towards the unknown, towards the void, towards the glory, against the power, against the gods...

'Babele' (Babel) is another long, epic piece. Here the music and lyrics conjure up the images of living statues and ashes of gods wandering on the ground and whispering their meaningless words to the grim reaper, playing a pointless game of checks with the fate. Strong in their armours they build wall after wall trying to erase their past in a dark spiral of power and death... Then the soft instrumental 'Chorale I' ends the album with a slow, solemn pace and a dreamy, nocturnal mood.

On the whole, despite the poor sound quality, a good work that deserves a try.