CARONTE 50 YEARS LATER

FIRST REVIEW OF THIS ALBUM

The return of Classic Italian Prog.

The Trip released four albums in the first half of the seventies. The eponymous debut LP (1970) and Caronte (1971) contain a blend of rock, prog and psychedelia, with a lot of harder-edged guitar and powerful organ. On the third effort entitled Atlantide (1972) The Trip plays as a trio without a guitar player. The eight songs sound pleasant and varied with decent English vocals and strong work on keyboards (The Nice and ELP inspired). Their final effort Time Of Change (1973) is jazzy oriented with ELP sounding keyboards. In 2010 the reunion of the 72-73 trio line-up took place, then The Trip performed at the Prog Exhibition in Rome. This event was released in a lush 7-CD and 4-DVD box set, entitled Prog Exhibition ' 40 Anni Di Musica Immaginifica ( also featuring bands like Banco, PFM, Osanna and La Maschera Di Cera). In 2011 The Trip played in Japan, the death of Andersen in 2012 and especially the lost of Vescovi in 2014 (another original member Billy Gray had passed away in 1984) marked the end of this highly acclaimed formation. In 2015 The Trip only original member drummer Pino Sinnone continued the rebirth of The Trip, and one year later Black Widow Records released the CD Live 1972, recorded at the legendary The Piper in Rome. The new line-up since 2019 still includes only one original member, drummer Pino Sinnone. In 2020 The Trip released a new version of the 1971 Carone album entitled Caronte 50 Years Later.

Early Seventies Hammond drenched prog, re-recorded in 2021, what an interesting combination! The 8 compositions deliver a pleasant variety. Psychedelic in the short instrumental opener Acheronte. Bombastic and dynamic with The Nice inspired Hammond work and fiery guitar in Caronte 1 and II. A ballad with piano and decent English vocals in Little Janie. Heavy guitar and swirling Hammond like Atomic Rooster, topped with strong Italian vocals and a boogie woogie piano in Una Pietra Colorata. And a blend of Seventies Uriah Heep and early Classic Italian Prog with slightly theatrical Italian vocals in Fantasia.

My highlight on this album is the longest track L'Ultima Ora E Ode A Jimi Hendrix (10 minutes). First a slow rhythm featuring soaring Hammond and powerful vocals. Then the music turns into bombastic and compelling, with dramatic vocals and lush Hammond. The sound reminds me of Seventies Uriah Heep. Halfway a wonderful Hammond solo, followed by an accelarion with lush Hammond and powerful drums. Next a fiery guitar solo and a Hammond solo with strong classical hints. The second part is a warm tribute to Jimi Hendrix, translated in a moving way by howling electric guitar runs, very intense.

Good job by this new The Trip line-up, fuelled by only original member drummer Pino Sinnone. Especially keyboard player Andrea "Dave" D'Avino colours the The Trip sound in an exciting way with his mighty Hammond."

After the split up of The Trip in the mid seventies, Joe Vescovi, Arvid 'Wegg' Andersen and Furio Chirico met again in 2010 for a reunion and played together at the Prog Exhibition in Rome. The new course went on with a concert in Japan in 2011 but the death of Andersen in 2012 marked a first stop. Vescovi and Chirico with two new members, Fabrizio Chiarelli (guitar, vocals) and Angelo Perini (bass), kept on their live activity but when the keyboardist passed away in 2014 the drummer gave up... In 2015 original drummer Pino Sinnone took over the name (initially as The New Trip) gathering around him a bunch of talented musicians to keep the repertoire of the band alive and the ne incarnation of the band has been active since then.

In 2021 The Trip released "Caronte 50 Years Later" on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records with the new line up featuring Pino Sinnone (drums), Andrea 'Ranfa' Ranfagni (lead vocals), Carmine Capasso (vocals, guitars, sitar, theremin), Tony Alemanno (bass, backing vocals) and Andrea 'Dave' D'Avino (Hammond, piano, backing vocals) plus the guests Christian Sinnone (drums) and Antonio Capasso (Harley Davidson on 'Two Brothers'). It was homely recorded during the lock-down and consists in a new version of the 1971 album Caronte, interpreted with philological passion and an updated sound. The art work was taken from some illustrations by Austrian painter Joseph Anton Koch (27 July 1768 ' 12 January 1839) inspired by Dante's Inferno and perfectly reflects the subject matter...

The album opens with a short new piece entitled 'Acheronte'. The name refers to the river that in Greek mythology was depicted as the entrance to the Greek Underworld and where souls had to be ferried across by Charon. It starts by recitative vocals declaiming some verses from Dante's Divine Comedy. It's a nice introduction to the new versions of 'Caronte I', 'Two Brothers', 'Little Janie', 'L'ultima ora e Ode a Jimi Hendrix' and 'Caronte II' that follow showing all the good potential of the band and the qualities of the musicians involved in the project.

After the journey through hell and the meeting with the damned souls of the two "easy riders", Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, the album closes with the new versions of other two historic pieces sung in Italian, 'Una pietra colorata', originally released in 1970 on the first eponymous album, and 'Fantasia', originally released in 1970 as a single and taken from the soundtrack of the film Terzo canale - Avventura a Montecarlo. The music and lyrics of the last one perfectly fit the subject matter describing a vision of the afterlife and a visit to Paradise...

On the whole, a good album. It's a perfect exercise of style for the new line up and, after the re-appropriation of the old repertoire, I hope this band will manage to compose original music in the future.