VOLO

So, the dreaded `black sheep' of the Goblin family gets to join the rest of the clan at the Devil's banquet table! One of the last Goblin-related releases to arrive on CD thanks to the Cinevox label, the notorious `Volo' from 1982 is now reissued, very likely to the (excuse the pun!) horror of the true Goblin-ites! The Eighties was not a banner year for much of anything prog-related, and with bass player Fabio Pignatelli the sole founding member here, he's joined by a mix of related ex-Goblin members and session players, and together they delivered a sleek set of pop/rock/funk pieces very much in the manner of the popular commercial styles of the time.

The first seven tracks offer a variety of straight-forward poppy tunes sung in Italian, with most of the pieces revealing some brief little interesting musical idea or soloing spot for a few fleeting seconds, and admittedly the album is made more enjoyable by Mauro Lusini's warm lead vocal. Opener `Polvere Blu' sets an early template, a solid polished driving pop-rock song with a catchy chorus and strong melody that can quite easily become lodged in your head, and the sax/keyboard/piano solo spot in the middle is a highlight. `Fortuna' is a breezy tune with male and female vocals and a very Brian May-esque guitar solo in the middle, the highlight of `Giornata Isterica' is the gently murmuring bass and tasty guitar soloing, and the charming romantic `Agrodolce' has a lovely melody, sweetly sighing group harmonies for the chorus and the briefest of whimsical keyboard soloing.

The upbeat piano-driven `Armonia' opens the second side with softly funky bass and the obligatory feel-good sax solo, the up- tempo and foot-tapping title track `Volo' boasts one of the better keyboard solos of the album and comes complete with hand- claps and some vocals that briefly call to mind Phil Collins and the emerging poppier Genesis pieces of the time. `Punto di Rottura' is a little more restrained but is still a fairly bland pop tune at heart, but thankfully the album ends with an instrumental `Est', apparently a leftover from previous recording sessions and a piece that would later be reworked for the `Notturno' soundtrack. It's unsurprising to find it's far and away the best moment on the album, and the eerie synths, murky soloing bass and drifting faraway sax brings plenty of atmosphere, and the piece would be warmly received on any other Goblin album.

So the question comes down to this - if you're an obsessive prog or Goblin fan, do you commit to collecting just the key albums, or are you happy to add the less special or even average to bad albums to your collection for completest reasons? While it's mostly a world away from the darker horror of their defining soundtrack albums or even their pure RPI gems like `Roller', `Il Fantastico Viaggio del Bagarozzo Mark' or even the peppy `Reale Impero Britannico' album, `Volo' can at least claim to be a melodic, undemanding and well-played surface level pop album at best.

Two stars for a competently made and enjoyable pop/rock album, but only really of interest to the Goblin completest.