ALDEBARAN

This album was recorded in France, at the Château d'Herouville studios (the same studios of Elton John's "Honky Château") with a new label (the major Warner). The band put great accuracy in the sound quality and was clearly influenced by pop and disco-music in fashion in that period.

"Here is the wall / Standing high and your way / And here is the hammer to take it down.". The opener "Suite disco" (sung in English) seem to come out from "Saturday's Night Fever" OST and New Trolls seem to have become an Italian version of Bee Gees, quite puzzling and disappointing indeed. Nevertheless "Aldebaran" is not exactly an album of disco music.

The second track "Quella carezza della sera" is an amazing pop song with great harmony vocals and dreamy lyrics. It is probably the most famous New Trolls' song and as a single it was rather successful (the band released also a Spanish version of this song). "Musica insieme" (with autobiographical lyrics about the band greeting Nico Di Palo after a running out period), "Lei se vuoi" and the title track are nice pop songs while "Espanolada" (sung in Spanish) is just another weak disco track.

The only track with some reminiscences of progressive is the final "Dancing" (sung in English), a kind of reprise of "Le Roi Soleil" from "Concerto Grosso 2", that reminds of Queen and where the band try to develop some vocal experiments. "Dancing, everybody wants to se me dancing / Just all the time all my muscles shout and cry / They will lead my dance until I die / Dancing, everybody wants to se me dancing."

Well, the progressive vein here seem just to melt into disco music... "Aldebaran" is definitely not a progressive album, though it could be of some interest for New Trolls' fans and for collectors.

I have never really understood why TNT was considered as such a great and influential Italian band. They have released some good (three) to very good (one) albums so far and I can tell you that while you listen to the short (thank god!) "Aldebaran", it doesn't add anything interesting to their discography.

Was it really necessary to get back together some two years prior to this album to record such a lousy album? This is really an infect album whose nadir is probably the incredibly weak and useless "Suite Disco".

If ever you want to listen to sub-par "Bee Gees" singing in Italian this might be your Holy Grail. But who wants to listen to this? It is a total waste of time: to listen to it and to review it.

"Akin" said in his review that "This is a total disaster from a progressive point of view". I would even say that you can cut the sentence before "from a progressive point of view". It is a pure disaster.

Absolutely dreadful. Just have a short listen to the reggae oriented "Lei, Se Voi". Gosh!!! If you prefer some indigestible soup, let's go for the syrupy and insipid title track: one of the worst ballad ever written I guess.

But the whole of this record is to be forgotten (or better: never be listened to). By doing so, you will avoid some extreme poor "musical" moments like the disgusting "Espanolada".

"Dancing" starts as a parody of "Queen": some sort of "Rhapsody". It is actually the only bearable part of the album. But it will be blended into some soulish mood of the poorest effect. Still, it has to considered as the best stuff available in here. But it was quite easy?

One star. Just ignore this album.

Unfairly underrated album by one of the top italian prog bands of the seventies. It's really difficult to include this album into one or another style. Not truly progressive (and that's the reason for the cold reception, after such gems like "Concerto Grosso" or "UT"), but approach it like an art-rock album and you'll not be disappointed. While "Aldebaran" and "Quella carezza della sera" were two of the most successful ballads from the late seventies all over Europe (especially in Italy and Spain), the 8 minutes operistic track "Dancing" is maybe the most "Queen-style" song I've ever heard. In spite of its title, the opener "Suite Disco" is a nice instrumental, but the whole album is dominated by very rich vocal parts (up until five vocalists in some tracks), in the vein of BeeGees or Queen. Only for really open-minded listeners.