TRASPARENZE

Although nominally a Malibran album, it's probably more correct to think of Trasparenze (2009) as a Giuseppe Scaravilli solo project. In fact, it's even sub-titled 'A new musical project by Giuseppe Scaravilli from Malibran'. Having said that, four members of the original band play on the album and Malibran is still on the go so I don't believe Scaravilli warrants a separate database entry on Prog Archives. The other members of Malibran, past and present, that feature here are Alessio Scaravilli (drums), Jerry Litrico (guitar) and Giancarlo Cutuli (saxophone). Guest musician Toni Granata also plays violin on three tracks. Giuseppe handles the vocals and plays all other instruments... guitars, bass, keys, flute.

Trasparenze is classic '70s-inspired RPI and Giuseppe himself believes this to be his best work to date. The cd booklet contains lyrics and lengthy sleeve notes for each song, one song to each page. Although this text is in Italian, the production information is printed in English. Strange. This album is heavier in places than other Malibran discs, with the usual Camel and Jethro Tull stylings seemingly absent. However there's still plenty of acoustic stuff , mostly around the middle of the album, and Genesis remains a strong influence.

Giuseppe Scaravilli composed all the tracks, although Jerry Litrico collaborated on the two long songs that bookend the album. The first of these, the title track, is over 13-minutes long and consists of numerous ideas that involve all the classic Malibran ingredients; moody intro, funky drum rhythms, majestic main theme accompanied by flute and acoustic guitar, electric guitar solos and hard rock riffs. Excellent. Pensieri Fragili also tops the 13- minute mark and is even more complex. There are many twists and turns that help to maintain interest and fans of classic Genesis should surely enjoy this song. So the two epics at either end of the album are excellent but what of the rest?

Well, In Un Attimo and Nel Ricordo are briskly paced songs that, although pleasant enough, don't exactly set the heather on fire. Vento d'Oriente is the first song on the album to feature Granata's frenetic violin and this is much better. The heavy riff and oriental sound make it reminiscent of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. A definite highlight. Presagio starts out as a fairly typical Malibran song and also features the first synthesizer solo on the disc. However we're then treated to a blistering guitar solo, heavy riffs and galloping drums. This isn't too far from Black Sabbath territory.

That run of acoustic tracks I mentioned starts with the flute and violin interplay of Proggia di Maggio. This is a lovely instrumental that livens up near the end with what is the only other synthesizer solo of note on the album. La Marea is another melodic soft rocker/ballad and is one of my favourites here. The mellow introduction of the instrumental Volo Magico soon gives way to an agitated, scraping violin and funky drums. There's a bit of a Mediterranean folk influence on Promesse Vane thanks to the acoustic guitar, although Steve Hackett also springs to mind. This song shifts nicely from slow and mellow to brisk and bright. The short instrumental Gioco di Specchi also has strong shades of Hackett, this time with electric guitar and accompanying eerie sound effects.

Trasparenze is a long album that clocks in at 78-minutes, so you get your money's worth. There's not even much filler on it, with maybe just a couple of slightly weaker songs. My one criticism is that the album is a bit light on keyboards, but the loads of great flute you usually get with Malibran offset this. Trasparenze is an excellent album although I'm not sure if I agree with Giuseppe that this is his best work to date, as I have a soft spot for Malibran's Oltre L'Ignoto. RPI fans should of course have both these albums!

By 2005 the degradation of Malibran was completed.Giuseppe Scaravilli was practically the only remaining member of the band, but -instead of calling it quits- his desire for progressive music led him to the Tower Hills Studios in Belpasso at the end of 2006 for the recordings of a new album.Former members Jerry Litrico, Alessio Scaravilli and Giancarlo Cutuli helped him on some tracks along with Toni Granata, who provided violin duties in three pieces.The whole process ended in 2007 and all liner notes were written by Giuseppe Scaravilli in the same year, but the album would not find a release home until 2009, when Electromantic Music decided to give Malibran's new effort a chance.The man handled most of guitars, keyboards, flutes, bass parts and vocals in this work.

This was definitely Malibran's most uneven effort ever, no wonder with Scaravilli being the left-alone person for this whole work.The compositions date from mid-90's unreleased stuff to tracks written during the period of the recordings.Musically this is a weird album.The two longest pieces, the eponymous one and ''Pensieri fragili'', co-written by Jerry Litrico are good, old Malibran at their very best.Folky Symphonic Rock with sensitive Italian vocals, laid-back tunes and pastoral flutes, occasionally interrupted by nice electric guitars and atmospheric keyboards, creating emotions somewhere between melancholy and drama and a fine balance between melodious and atmospheric soundscapes with smooth interplays placed here and there.The rest of the album finds Scaravilli in a bit of confusion.Most of them maintain the folky atmosphere, flavored by more Singer/Songwriter stylings and less proggy influences, based on mellow acoustic lines, flutes and poetic vocals.These pieces though are often colored by sax, violin and keyboards for a more artistic approach.CELESTE are among the groups to spring to mind.Malibran were not known for massive electric riffs, but a few tracks in ''Trasparenze'' display the more attacking side of Scaravilli with powerful guitars and strong rhythmic tunes, definitely the less interesting material of the album.The man though has done a great job overall to keep the spirit of the band alive along the lines of Classic Italian Prog ala PFM and LOCANDA DELLE FATTE, even if the folky side is more pronounced.

A new album is yet to be desired.Malibran remained active for sometime regarding their live performances and the driving force named Giuseppe Scaravilli reputedly had tons of material ready to be released, but their absence from the recent scene make it rather questionable.

''Trasparenze'' finds Malibran reduced and generally more relaxed, even if the addition of a pair of heavier tracks is also displayed.Pastoral Symphonic/Folk Rock, based mainly on acoustic guitars, keyboards and flutes.Smooth, emotional and recommended music.

Trasparenze is the fifth studio album by Malibran, a band from Catania whose roots date back to 1987. It was released in 2009 on the independent label Electromantic, more than seven years after its predecessor Oltre l'ignoto. Although it was originally conceived as a solo project of the leader and multi-instrumentalist Giuseppe Scaravilli, later other members of the band joined him during the recording sessions and eventually this excellent work was released under the name Malibran with a line up featuring Giuseppe Scaravilli (vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, flute, bass, keyboards), Jerry Litrico (guitar) and Alessio Scaravilli (drums) plus the guests Giancarlo Cutuli (sax) and Toni Granata (violin). Of course, here composer and lyricist Giuseppe Scaravilli does the lion's share playing almost all the instruments but the result is in perfect continuity with the band sound. In the booklet you can find extended liner notes that explain the genesis of each track while the art cover is taken from a painting by Karl Friedrich Schinkel that in some way describes the spirit of this work...

The opener is the title track, "Trasparenze" (Transparencies), a complex suite with many changes in rhythm and mood featuring some passages that could recall Genesis or Jethro Tull. It's about the passing of time... All along your life there's something or someone that attracts you and shows you the way you have to follow with its perfumes and its fire. You have to go on and on as your age flows away like a short poem, between dreams and reality, led by your will and by the flames of that fire...

Next comes the dreamy "In un attimo" (In a while). It starts with strummed guitar and flute, then the music and lyrics conjure up a long awaited, timeless moment of peace. You have in front of you a white canvas that your are going to fill with the colours of your dreams... You are painting a magic landscape and your soul is flying over there. Your troubles are left behind and you can smile, forgetting for a moment all the problems of everyday life, your mind is already over there...

"Vento d'Oriente" (Wind from the East) features a mysterious, exotic flavour. Heavy electric guitar riffs are mixed with Mediterranean influences while the music and lyrics evoke distant deserts and ancient sands, lost identities and empty realities. Listen to the voice of the wind blowing from the East, it carries echoes of ancient songs and whispers mysterious charms...

"Presagio" (Omen) alternates calm, pastoral sections to heavy riffs and Latin rock passages. It tells of obscure presages looming on the horizon like the thundering sound of the rapids ahead while you are swimming on the calm waters of a river, cradled by the current. Well, you've better keep calm and fight against all the adversities of life without fear...

"Pioggia di maggio" (Rain of May) is a beautiful, dreamy instrumental track full of soaring, delicate melodies. It leads to "La marea" (The tide) that tells in music and words of the contrast between the need to go away searching for a better way of life and the responsibilities that prevent you from leaving, keeping you tightly bound to your routine. You know you have to stay but you feel a strange emptiness growing inside you, maybe one day or another you'll turn your glance back and you'll start running after an idea, following dreams and ideals, drifting with the tide towards new horizons...

"Nel Ricordo" (In the memory) is about the power of fate. Your future turns around you like a dark shadow from whom you can't escape, you'll soon forget who you are because you're already changing and moving forward, you can't help it! The days and the nights you spent are like circles in the water that soon will fade away, the past is going to melt in your memory, you can't cheat on destiny...

"Volo Magico" (Magic flight) is a short instrumental track that conveys a strange sense of mystery. You can hear the sound of the bumblebees around you as you're flying from flower to flower under the charm of exotic perfumes and colourful landscapes... It leads to the nocturnal atmospheres of "Promesse vane" (Vain promises), a piece about a man who feels like an eternal boy and finds difficult to accept his everyday life and the burden of time passing by. Where are the promises of his childhood, what is left of his old dreams? He's burning out and nothing but his fantasy and imagination can set him free from the metaphorical chains of reality and make him happy, at least for a while...

The short, dreamy "Gioco di specchi" (Game of mirrors) is a nice instrumental track that introduces the wonderful suite that closes the album, "Pensieri fragili" (Fragile thoughts), a long, complex piece that every now and again recalls Arti & Mestieri and begins by the sound of a pouring rain... Here the music and lyrics take you back in time to World War I, in a trench along the front between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Under the rain the thoughts of a young infantry soldier unfurl while the water washes away a desperate night of waiting. Around the soldier there is nothing but mud and fog but he dreams of enchanted valleys and smiling faces that now seem just faded memories... A thousands eyes observe the human fragility from the sky, the soldier feels that the real enemy is inside him, he wants to give up not because of cowardice but because he feels that this war is not his own business. He doesn't care about honour and glory and in the fog he gets stealthily out of his shelter and runs for his life, disappearing in the rain...

On the whole, I think that this is a wonderful album without weak moments that will not disappoint Italianprog fans...