IL PETALO DEL FIORE E LE ALTRE STORIE

Greenwall started as a one-man project in Rome in 1999 by keyboardist/singer Andrea Pavoni.He composed music since his young years at school and actually the material featured in his first album was ready since 1989 with only some help from friends on bass,guitars and voices.Mauro Moroni from Mellow Records heard this demo tape some 10 years later and decided to publish the album as it was with a couple of new compositions by Pavoni.

''Il petalo del fiore e altre storie'' stats with '' I Bimbi E Il Burrone'',a track showing the amateur level of Pavoni's early recordings,groovy synth music with bad vocals and plastic drum programming,simply avoid this one.What follows is the eponymous 34-min. suite divided in two parts.The first one is great keyboard-driven Symphonic Rock in the vein of SITHONIA with evident RICK WAKEMAN and E.L.P. influences.Excellent church organ,careful use of synths and fantastic piano with some good breaks throughout will create ethereal melodies all the way.The secons part is more diverse,it will open with some mandolin before organ,synths and electric guitars take over into a very bombastic and complex mood.Towards the end Pavoni flirts with Symphonic New Age music,atmospheric synths with Classical tendency will carry the listener to the romantic vocal-based outro.''Il petalo del fiore e altre storie'' is definitely a well- arranged and performed modern prog suite.''Nonno'' belongs to Pavoni's newer material,this time the dreamy flute-driven start will leave its place to Pavoni's piano,the overall sound is rather cheap but the composition is again at a very good level.''Le Stanze'' is a surprise due to the strong use of electric guitars,the track is a bit uneven,the rhythmic guitars with the keyboard solos are rather childish,but when melody takes over things are going in a much better way.The last so-called hidden track is a new version of the album's opener and this time ''I Bimbi E Il Burrone'' sounds quite good.With excellent female vocals by Tiziana Brasile,a slower tempo and the synths being by replaced by Pavoni's piano,the track ends up to be a decent ballad.

For a one-man effort ''Il petalo del fiore e altre storie'' is a quite decent effort,especially the long suite is a must-listen.The album suffers of course by a mediocre production,but it is still a nice purchase for fans of keyboard-driven Symphonic Rock.Recommended.