OSANNA & DAVID JACKSON: PROG FAMILY

Osanna is surely one of the best progressive italian bands, but not lucky like PFM or Banco. I've seen them many years ago and they were great! Now this is a Lino Vairetti formation (without Danilo Rustici - great guitar) playing the past of Osanna with a large partecipation of neapolitan friends - all great performers but there's not the original air in songs like Oro caldo or There will be time. It's a strange sensation to hear the Van Der Graaf single Theme One executed in italian style. For someone who wants to approach Osanna for the first time is better to buy Palepoli or L'uomo or the Milano calibro 9 OST; this new album is only for someone like me, who wants to shed a tear hearing this great songs or the VDGG saxman. However for progressive collectors and for fans of italian prog album, it's a well played CD! 3.5 stars maybe a good valuation.

The present incarnation of Osanna took off on the initiative of founder member Lino Vairetti, who gathered around him a bunch skilful young musicians like Gennaro Barba (drums), Fabrizio Fedele (guitar), Nello D'Anna (bass), Sasà Priore keyboards) and Lino's son Irvin Vairetti (synth). In 2008 they were in tour, with David Jackson as an additional member, performing new versions of their best pieces. I had the chance to attend one of their shows and I was struck by the vitality and the enthusiasm of all the musicians on stage. Osanna could have tried to capture the energy of their performances in a live album, instead...

They chose to record the new versions in studio looking for the best sound quality available and the precious help of friends such as David Cross, Tim Stevens, Gianni Leone, Oderigi Lusi, Sophya Baccini and others... Well, this album is not a simple collection of old stuff and the result is absolutely good (far better than their previous work "Uomini e miti"). Osanna's family tree has got deep roots and the "hot gold" of their music still glitters, although melted and reshaped with a modern taste. All the tracks are linked as in a long suite and every track merge imperceptibly into something else...

The opener and classical inspired "Tema", from the OST of "Milano Calibro 9", melts into a fiery "Animale senza respiro" (from Palepoli) that ends into a nervous "Mirror Train" from the debut album "L'uomo"... Osanna and David Jackson perfectly work together giving new life to pieces of music that are part of the history of Italian progressive rock, the music flows for more than seventy minutes without weak moments and the sound is perfect. Less known episodes like "'A zingara" and "Ce vulesse ce vulesse" from the album "Suddance" or "Il castello dell'Es" from "Landscapes Of Life" here are brilliant and convincing like the tracks coming out from "Palepoli" or "L'uomo". There are many changes of atmosphere and rhythm, from classical to traditional "canzone napoletana" (you can even find quotes of "Funicolì Funicolà" and "O sole mio"), from the bluesy and Mediterranean "Neapolitan Power" to the British prog of VDGG's "Theme One" it's like a long run "without a breath" from the start to the finish line, where you won't stop!

The packaging is very good as well, featuring a funny art cover design by Lino Vairetti and a booklet with many pictures and all the lyrics. I'm sure that this album will be an excellent addition for every Italianprog lover collection!

Themes

Like most I know David Jackson as one of the members of the classic line-up of Van Der Graaf Generator, but I recently "re-discovered" him through his participation in The Rome Pro(g)ject - a progressive Rock project led by Italian musician Vincenzo Ricca and in which Jackson (or "Jaxon" as he is sometimes known) appears alongside Steve Hackett and several other Prog luminaries. I found Jackson's contributions to The Rome Pro(g)ject impressive - particularly his flute playing - much more so than his role in Van Der Graaf Generator (a band I like, but don't love).

My renewed interest in Jackson led me to investigate what else he has been doing outside of Van Der Graaf Generator and it was in this way that I came across the present release credited to David Jackson and the Italian band Osanna. The album is nicknamed "Prog family" and features also a number of other musicians including ex-King Crimson violinist David Cross (who, like Jackson, also contributed to The Rome Pro(g)ject).

I was previously unfamiliar with Osanna, but as far as I understand the material on this album consists mainly of re-recorded and re-arranged versions of songs that originally appeared on that band's albums from the 1970's. Whilst I cannot say how these new versions compare to the old, I can say that this is a good and enjoyable album in its own right. Also included is a version of George Martin's Theme One, a number also performed by Van Der Graaf Generator.

The music is eclectic with elements of Jazz, Blues, Folk, etc. within a heavy Rock framework. The vocals are predominantly in Italian language but some parts are sung in English. Perhaps it would have been better to choose one language or the other rather than alternating between Italian and English, but the main attraction at least for me is the instrumental aspects.

Their second disc after their return to recording, released 2009, this features the reeds work of David JACKSON, by then formerly of the great VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR. Interestingly enough, it was the first VdGG album without him, Trisector (released a year before this, in 2008), which was one of the last I've most recently listened to--I reviewed it just 3 days ago. Also featured here is eventual (10 years later) Jackson collaborator David CROSS (of KING CRIMSON fame) on violin.

The nicely titled Prog Family starts off with the solemn then fiery "Tema", which rolls smooth on into "Animale Sena Respiro", reborn a very modern-sounding Prog number. I was just listening to a track by CHICAGO ("Once Upon A Time"), and I can't help but think of them now since this is such an apparently big ensemble. Everything is nicely mixed and mastered, clear and purposeful from the onset. Fusion, classic and modern Prog (thanks to the newest and youngest additions to the band proper), and dramatic Italian idiom all present! I forgot until this point that this album covers a lot of ground from previous Osanna material. A compilation of rerecordings, really (the majority of the album). For me, for much of these tracks this is my first time hearing them.

If anything is hokey or they seem too 'comfortable' haha, I'm noting appropriately, but really everything is so well performed. No surprise here. Much of it is fresh. "Mirror Train" is one, for instance, where for every part I wasn't such a fan there were, say, 4 things that were so satisfying and beautiful they won me over. There were unfortunately a number of tracks in the middle and backend that lacked this charm. I'm realizing I'll have to hear much of these then in their original form in due time (who knows when I'll get to it?).

The first bit of Jackson getting his chance to shine is on "L'Uomo". But also met, particularly on the second verse, with beautiful string ensemble.

The first apparently newly released track here is "Fuje 'A Chistu Paese", which to my ears at times sounds like the fusion of Italian Prog and Zeuhl. Very rhythmic and at times jazzy, but also has a tribal sort of nature to it. In the middle section, most dies down and then revamps with this really awesome, lively synth lead, joined by guitar to the gallop of the drums. The next track first recorded on Prog Family is "My Mind Flies", a quieted and quick interlude of sorts. Then it was "Solo Uniti", which had a really great melody and the jangle of acoustic guitar(?) and great guitar-strings leads [Unfortunately this track and a few others had some digital breaks and skips... Strange.].

Other tracks of special note are "Vado Verso Una Meta", some excellently performed Heavy Prog (notably featuring violin lead), and "Theme One", one of my favorite compositions (for BBC Radio 1, written by George MARTIN) covered I would think famously by VdGG.