DONNA PLAUTILLA

Maybe that it was a good moment to release such a compilation since the band produced some extremely poor albums during this decade (the eighties). But these songs really sound outdated and little interesting. Just old Italian rock music.

The poorest ("Piazza Dell'Otro") will be mixed with the best ("Ed Io Canto") which is a fully psychedelic track and very much early Floyd oriented.

If you feel that there is something weird with this release, don't look further : the lead vocalist is not yet the great Francesco. So don't expect any great and passionate vocals on this album. Just average ones. Like the music featured.

It is superior to any "Banco" album of the eighties (but doesn't actually have nothing to do with them; only the release date). This sounds as a childish late sixties / early seventies album. Anecdotal. If it weren't referenced as a "Banco" album, I guess that no interest would raise (and even as such, there are extremely few reviews for this release. And when you would listen to it, you might understand why.

"E Luce Fù" is probably the best song from this release. The most "Banco" one. Complex structure, jazzy parts, beautiful vocals (probably the only song featuring such ones). I would have liked to get more of this type. "Mille Poesie" starts on a jazzy mood for a minute but shifts to a really beautiful and melodic song. Keyboards sounds really old but it is another of the good song. The childish chorus is also typical of these psychedelic years. Pleasant. These are the two best songs from "Donna Plautilla"

This album is more a curiosity than anthing else (but there are apparently very few curious guys when I count the "many" reviews for this album : three (including this one). This is a collector item. Very little inspired songs and almost no premonitory signs of what will come next. Two stars.