IL LUNGO CAMMINO DEI RAMINGHI

An early pioneer of the Italian scene

Raminghi were a proto-prog band from Bergamo Italy near Milano. The group was led by bassist and vocalist Franco Mussita. While hard to find much background, Mussita apparently began his pop career in the early 60s as the CD booklet has great photos of his early band I Nomadi. According to the bio he is "a blend between visionary and stubborn genius combined with a little bit of madness." It is said he arrived on the music scene when the stars of the Italian progressive movement were little more than children. After many years of playing live and paying dues, Nomadi became Raminghi and found a record deal with the Bentler label. Mussita was smitten with the likes of Deep Purple, Vanilla Fudge, Blue Cheer and Uriah Heep and wanted to record music in this vein. They did a couple singles for Bentler before recording Il Lungo Cammino dei Raminghi which translates to "The Long Way of the Rovers." They chose an album cover by a famed local painter from Bergamo. They ended up rather unhappy with Bentler, because the label delayed for too long, insisted they soften their energetic sound a bit, and of course did little to provide promotion.

The bands sound varies from quite unique in places to typical in other places. Certainly some sections sound incredibly dated and very 60s, imagine listening to the Italian version of Quicksilver Messenger Service. Some of their music sounds like the theme song to a 60s spy tv show while others sound like bands from the early Haight scene in San Francisco. Swirly organs in the background, thin acid-drenched electric leads, lots of psych moodiness, and some bluesy hard rock influence too. Mussita wails a bit like the singer in the Spanish band Ibio with a big dramatic bellow at times. The drummer is quite good with an understated style. The guitar playing is raw in rhythm mode with a real scrunch to it. I think one of the things that make Raminghi worth hearing for prog historians is that you can really hear a confluence of different factors at work in the songs. You can hear traditional Italian influences and 60s beat music altered by later 60s psychedelia, and you can then hear this forming the basis for the early part of the Italian progressive scene. Raminghi are not any more "prog" than The Doors are but it is interesting to hear the changes happening right in front of you from the Italian perspective instead of through the California lens of Doors, Airplane, Grateful Dead.

The second bonus disc features a live show from several years later in 1975. This is cool because on the studio material of disc one you hear Raminghi prior to the Italian prog peak (1973) while on the live disc you are hearing them afterwards. The live material is certainly more adventurous both in playing and content though still fairly traditional compared to wild stuff like Osanna or Balletto di Bronzo. Think maybe something like the live Trolls sound of a few years earlier but even rougher around the edges. There is some mellotron here while the first disc was mainly organ. It's a spirited set with the guys really rocking out and letting their hair down. Some of the material seems headed in a more elaborate symphonic direction while other songs are still essentially hard rock. It's a nice bonus to have but the studio album interests me much more because of the historical factors. By '75 they were so buried by competition that they sadly weren't all that necessary.

The Vinyl Magic mini-lp sleeve reissue is a true collector's gem, featuring a high quality reproduction of the cover art and gatefold design. Honestly, while the Japanese minis are killer, Vinyl Magic is no slouch either and someday these Italian minis are going to have as good of a reputation. In some ways I prefer the Italian release because, as here, they throw in a very nice booklet with nice band history (in English and Italian) along with lyrics, many photos, and a reproduction of the original vinyl center labels. Vinyl Magic gives you the quality content of a Musea release but in the format of a high quality mini. Very nice. The sound quality of the CDs has surely been cleaned up, but don't expect miracles. The sound is actually in the "fair" range at best, certainly listenable to many of us, though it will not please everyone. Proceed with caution if you are finicky about your sound quality. I am certainly happy to get to own a unique historical album like this but I can't recommend it widely. It is for fans of the Italian genre and for fans of 60s/early 70s hippie rock in the style of the bands I mentioned. I would only say that if you are interested, get this nice 2-disc edition before it presumably changes to a jewel-case version down the road or goes out of print altogether. For me personally this is a 3 star album but I have to give 2 for the wider site, not to degrade them, but because I'd have to say this album is "for fans" of a certain time and style only.

A one-shot Italian act from Bergamo, established in late-60's and led by bassist/singer Franco Mussita.They released a few singles and only one full-length album on the obcure Bentler label.At the time of their sole work Mussita was surrounded by Angelo Sartori on keyboards, Angelo India Serighelli on guitar and Romeo Cattaneo on drums.Under the title ''Il lungo cammino'' this was released in 1971.

The opening side of the original LP possibly contains the best tracks of the release, like the long ''Donna hai ragione tu'' or the short but haunting ''La nostra verita'', two good pieces of downtempo Heavy/Psych/Prog Rock with dominant use of Hammond organ, full of scratching guitars and irritating vocals, either in sung or narration forms, and a quite dark atmosphere, a bit similar to GLI ALLUMINOGENI or HUNKA MUNKA's more psychedelic moments.The next two cuts find I Raminghi still heavily influenced by the 60's, having a groovier and definitely poppier sound with commercial leanings and an uninspired style many bands have played in the past with more success.On the flipside the crime has come to an end.The absolutely hillarious and uninteresting ''Every day Jesus'' and the early NEW TROLLS-inspired ''Non Moriremo Mai'' with the cheesy polyphonic lines make the listener think that another band is performing on the B-side.''Buio mondo nero e giallo'' sounds extremely influenced by JIMMY HENDRIX with the strong guitar work of Serighelli, but the non-existent variations and the catchy chorus are not really representitive of the Italian Prog movement.A melodic but rather mediocre ballad under the title of ''Guarda tuo padre'' will close the album with the smooth vocal lines and the mellow piano/harsichord parts.

I Raminghi disbanded during the second half of the 70's, while some good musicians had passed by their line-up, like Titta Colleoni and Michele Capogrosso, both of Perdio fame.From the band members Mussita had a good collaboration with Antonius Rex on the ''Zora'' album, while Serighelli had a decent solo career with a full-length album and a few singles, followed by his Hard Rock act Wizard since 1985.He sadly passed away in 2008.

I Raminghi were a band with an experimental mood, but apparently to come up with a full-blown Psych/Prog album was too much for them.Their sole release is a below average Italian Proto-Prog/Pop Rock affair, exculively heading to starvers of the style.The BTF reissue contains also a 1975 live performance of the group, which I have not heard, but reputedly finds the band in full shape.

Beginning in Bergamo, Italy in the late Sixties, I Raminghi were an interesting group that mostly played in a psychedelic rock-inspired beat style, with slight embryonic early progressive elements also gentle emerging. Between 1970-75, they released three singles and this one full-length album `Il Lungo Cammino Dei Raminghi' in 1971 on the Bentler label, and while their career was not overly influential or particularly important, there's little traces of more ambitious progressive qualities on their debut that many Italian bands would go on to hone and perfect further as the decade moved forwards. Led by bass player and vocalist Franco Mussita, they were influenced by various Sixties pop groups, acid rock bands and acts like Vanilla Fudge and Uriah Heep, so that meant a heavy guitar sound with lots of organ, but often also containing strong pop sensibilities.

Certainly their most impressive studio composition is the intricate nine minute opening track `Donna Hai Ragione Tu', a deliciously plodding down-tempo psych brooder full of mystery, atmosphere and build, with only brief up-tempo bursts here and there. Franco delivers a powerful sorrowful croon, Romeo Cattaneo's drumming is steady yet lively when needed, Angelo Serighelli's guitar drones with drifting mystery (yet erupts with splintering little cuts in fleeting passages), and Angelo Santori's restrained Hammond organ is subdued and sombre. The raucous finale is a taste of things to come, so `La Nostra Verita' has a constant pounding drum beat and pumping bass line with maniacal spoken-word wailing behind fuzzy psychedelic outbursts, gutsy pop-rocker `Cose Supperate' is soaked in scorching Hammond organ and dirty electric guitar grinding, and `Partire' jumps back and forth between energetic up-tempo acid-rock fire and a joyous beat-pop chorus that's hard not to love.

Side B's opener `Every Day Jesus' is a groovy if fairly tedious pop rocker with just a call-and- response chorus and fiery acid guitar fills (it's unclear if they want to fill their life with Jesus everyday, or they are bombarded with talk of him everyday, as the title of the song is the only lyric in the entire piece!), and `Non Moriremo Mai' is a dreamy pop piece with shimmering Hammond organ and sighing group harmonies. `Buio Mondo Nero E Giallo' is the second longest piece on the album at just under five minutes, a frequently jamming smoulder with a Doors-like seductive vocal, relentless grooving strangled electric guitar, rattling drumming and whirring organ assaults. Album closer `Guarda tuo Padre' is simply a pleasing pop piece, lovingly performed with warm vocals and tiny hints of ravishing instrumentation buried behind the importance of the actual tune.

If you decide to look into the album, go for the 2005 Vinyl Magic Mini LP CD reissue that includes a second bonus disc of an entire live concert from 1975 that is far more interesting and challenging than the studio album here. It features a reworked line-up around Franco Mussita, and while the sound quality is not perfect, the music itself can be heard to be more improvised, wild and daring. There's even an early interpretation of a piece entitled `Mi Svegliai al Mattino' that would end up on dark Italian group Antonius Rex's quirky `Zora' album in 1977, unsurprising as Mussita would collaborate with Rex dark lord Antonio Bartoccetti on that same album.

It's best to look on `Il Lungo Cammino Dei Raminghi' as a curious stepping stone in the development of some directions that the Italian progressive music scene would head in, before truly symphonic qualities and artistic, sophisticated arrangements really took off. Perhaps it now sounds quite dated, but it still remains an enjoyable and rather cool album, and the Raminghi band and their debut disc sit nicely alongside the earlier works of many established RPI groups that first delivered very Sixties-flavoured rock/pop albums before moving more adventurous directions, so it's well worth a rediscovery.

Three stars.

This group It was an Italian underground Psychedelic rock band in the late sixties and early seventies with great live consents.

With new lin-up changes the band is consecrated with the name ''I Raminghi'' in 1970 led by bass player and vocalist ''Franco Mussita'' and begin their road.

''I Raminghi'' landed in 1970 in a small Italian records relabel called ''Bentler'' owned by ''Gualtiero Guerrini'', ''I Raminghi'' released before one single ''Come Viviamo'' B side ''Vedi Tuo Padre'' (1970).

The song ''Vedi Tuo Padre'' will be included on their album ''Lungo IL Cammino Dei Raminghi''(1971).

In the same year (1971) another single ''Buio Mondo Nero E Giallo'' B Side ''Partire'', both extracted from their album.

The album is quite Psychedelic sound with Progressive rock elements and arrangements of the early 70s that characterize the songs and also with tipical italian atmospheres and melodies which makes the album difference ferent from the British bands of the same genre Psych/Progressive where ''I Raminghi'' took inspiration.

This album is quite original even though the band is still influenced by the psychedelic fuzz sound of the late 60's but that's what characterizes their sound.

Unfortunately the band did not have the right promotional support by the small records label ''Bentler'' and its limited edition of the album making the band ''I Raminghi'' unnoticed to the big audience and specialized critics of that time.

The band released a new single in (1975) and ''I Raminghi'' will continue their career live until the second half of the 70's and then slip up the band.

''I Raminghi'' was a band that deserved to make a second album and solidly define their trademark in the Progressive scene, but anyway ''Il Lungo Cammino Dei Raminghi'' it remains in times like a good Progressive albums.

Three and a half Stars, (***1/2).

Very beautiful the new Italian vinyl reissue from ''Vinyl Magic/btf.it'' in a faithful reproduction of the original release, with a 30x30cm mini-poster, 180g trasparent LP and a bonus track, completely unheard song, "Non Farlo".