SAMADHI

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Typical Italian prog of the era. Never far away from the ugly pop song (Fantasia) and full of the cliché of their peers. Passagio dI Via Arpino is however a great Jazz-rock number and the Ultima Spiaggia ( the longer track ) are from far the stronger numbers on this album. I did not detect a real reason for the eastern sounding name and art work on the cover.

A forgotten classic

"Samadhi" has to be one of the best kept secrets of the classic Italian scene. This album is so fantastic to me: it has everything I love about music. It puts melody and emotion above forced complexity, the playing is very good but not excessive, and there is variety is spades. Samadhi was the short -lived project of some big names on the scene, described by some as a "super-group" it featured two members of Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno, one from Teoremi, one from L'Uovo Di Colombo, and one from Kaleidon. Luciano Regoli and Nanni Civitenga began the formation of Samadhi when RRR fell apart looking to take things in a completely original direction. Keyboardist Stefano Sabatini and Aldo Bellanova were the main composers with quality lyrics created by poet Enrico Lazzareschi. The album was recorded and mixed in Torino in the fall of 1973. Fonit released this fine album in 1974 and as with the fabulous Alusa Fallax, promptly chose to ignore it in favor of promoting the Osanna offshoot Uno. The band would split up shortly thereafter.

The sound of Samadhi takes the "standard" Italian prog sound in some new directions, some old ones, and delivers a strange concoction that just makes me feel good. There is a bit of a happy 60s psych feel at times, some ripping rock guitar, some jazzy excursions, and wild surprises served up with a crisp bit of "Yes Album" enthusiasm to the sound. Scented Gardens describes the album as "marvellous songwriting, veering between the classic old pop music tradition and jazzy progressive rock..happy songs with a sunny Mediterranean feel, high-pitched lead vocals, fine vocal harmonies, lots of keyboards, laced with guitars and phased drums..great arrangements for strings and brass..even had the bassoon playing an important role..radiates friendly, human warmth and is recommended to those who like the second Procession album." It certainly is an uplifting experience to me with each element coming and going at just the right moment to keep things exciting. Stefani's outstanding keyboard work is the heart of the album to me while complementing the flute and brass sections. Throughout is stellar drumming and joyous guitar lines perfectly layered with the keys. There is even a big send-up of prog-funk that sounds like Nucleus found their way into the studio one day. On the whole it's a good example of why I often prefer the music of this period to today's albums which people claim sound so much better. No way. This music has warmth and more importantly space to hear each instrument breathe on its own. There is no dense wall of oppressive machine-sound to an album like Samadhi but more of an organic feel. "L'uomo Stanco" starts with a sunny pop feel and a strange effect on the percussion that throws one off-kilter but the organ is instantly likeable. The second track "Un Milione di Anni Fa" is where it gets very cool with this very Yes-ish guitar/drum feel and of all things a bassoon creeping around the edges. Sabatini's instrumental "Passaggio di Via Arpino" is another highlight morphing jazzy e-piano with funky brass and some blistering guitar, chilled out with flute and hand percussions. Hell yeah! Side two starts with "Fantasia" which is a pleasant pop-prog track with great bass and flute, very upbeat stuff. "Silenzio" starts quite pleasantly but drifts into strange territory with oddly distorted sounds and otherworldy voices in one spot topped by more fine leads from Civitenga. The album ends on a high note with the longest track "L'ultima Spiaggia" at over 8 minutes. This is pure Symphonic beauty like only the Italians can do it with passionate vocals that reach for the sky in a few places. The piano and bass playing are so gorgeous as they slowly wind into these mystical choired voices that crescendo to the heavens.

The album will take hits from people for not sounding cohesive due to the explorative nature, others will diss the singer's high register pipes and still others might find the playful pop elements in a few tracks unforgivable. I find Samadhi to be absolutely rewarding and a must for anyone who enjoys early '70s progressive and doesn't mind non-English vocals. The BTF gatefold mini-LP sleeve edition is fabulous with remastered sound and a nice booklet with photo and history. 8/10

This is the little silent record from the glory years of the Italian School of Progressive that garners not only scant attention but hardly even a whimper of anything. I am glad that I clued Finnforest onto this because it is really deserving of some serious applause. Yes, Finnforest aptly relayed the brief history, one shot in the dark status (which doesn't always help in getting noticed), sort of a lesser known Maxophone. . Save for the finale ,most tracks are short by prog standards between 3 and 6 minutes . "Uomo Stanco" (Tired Man) starts off the festivities with Luciano Regoli's fascinating vocals leading the way, in a jazzy romp featuring some airy melodies well anchored by the typical ace rhythm section of bassist Aldo Bellanova and drumster Sandro Conti. This solid confidence gives soloists Stefano Sabatini on keys and the reputed guitarist Nanni Civitenga room to lay down some seductive lines. The following piece "Un Millione d'Anni Fa " is an absolute highlight with serious symphonics pushing the pleasure zones, with some whimsical oboe work and a main theme that is sheer beauty and passion. As good as anything by the other ISP big boys. "L'Angelo" concentrates on showcasing the broad range of Regoli's voice and Nanni's cyclonic guitar, acoustic and harsher electric grooving with some ornate piano work as well. "Passagio di Via Arpino" dives into more flute-led jazz areas (fine e- piano, brass blasts and slick drumming) , this is clear-cut jazz-rock that will please even the tightest critics , Sabatini's keywork in particular is scintillating, passing the torch to Civitenga's wah-laden, chugging guitar phrasings that exude not only technique but a slight sense of mania that is most pleasing, finishing the comp off with some more flute explorations, another first rate track. "Fantasia" serves up some more upbeat rhythms, the bass meticulously leading the way, more swooping vocals and criss-crossing melodies, very cool and elegant and the flute again adding that touch of "légèreté" that is instantly appealing. "Silenzio" is more experimental, much less conventional colorations, with the guitar as the main protagonist, keeping things actually simpler and more linear (some nice Eminent - String synth like instrument- work from Sabatini), with dashes of creative oddity. The 8 minute finale really is the main jewel here, simply exposing all those traits that make ISP so attractive, heavenly melodies, glorious inspiration, technically superb playing by all , all presented in a chiseled and structured package, piano leading the way, each instrumentalist interfacing with their own expressions of style and craft, hinting at early King Crimson territories but with that definite Italian feel, constantly seasoned with some new and unexpected quirk, extraordinary vocal choir work that is simply hair- raising, ripping with unabashed passion again the flute soothing things out nicely. Great percussion work throughout, by the way... The final three minutes are symphonic bliss at its finest, on par with anything by anyone, ever, building slowly to an impossible crescendo Madonna mia ! No ISP collection is worthy without this fine single jewel ..Una vera bellezza ... 4.5 solitary stars

As Finnforst and Tszirmay have indicated already in their reviews this is one of those albums that really makes you feel good. The vocalist Luciano Regoli has one of those voices that simply makes me smile, he sounds so good. Luciano was in a band with Claudio Simonetti years before this, when that band broke up Claudio went on to form GOBLIN while Luciano went on to form RACCAMNDATA RICEVUTA RITORNO. After one album RRR broke up and Luciano and RRR's guitarist Nanni Civitenga went on to form this band SAMADHI. This had been described as sort of a super group as the others in the band also came from other known bands from that time. The majority of these tracks were composed by the keyboardist and bass player. Jazz-Rock was starting to spread throughout Italy at this time and so the band steered itself in that direction on this their only release.

"Uomo Stanco" is a top three track for me on this album. Strummed guitar to open as organ joins in. A full sound comes in with vocals. I was instantly drawn in by those incredible vocals, how can you not smile ? Nice bass lines throughout. Guitar 2 minutes in is pleasant. Excellent organ to end it. "Un Milione D'Anni Fa" has a bit of a classical vibe because of the strings and bassoon. The vocals are great. A fair amount of piano too. Pretty cool track. "L'Angelo" opens with acoustic guitar then electric guitar, piano and drums take over. Vocals and bass follow. Fantastic guitar after 1 1/2 minutes. Vocal melodies and horns follow. "Passaggio Di Via Arpino" features percussion early as flute comes in. This song becomes the jazziest tune yet when the piano, light drums, sax and bass take over. Some outstanding guitar follows. Great section before 5 minutes with flute. I like this instrumental a lot.

"Fantasia" is another top 3 song for me. It opens with organ,a full sound follows. Love the vocals before a minute. Some good organ and flute in this one, piano late. "Silenzio" is mellow to start then strummed guitar and piano follow. Electric guitar and vocals after a minute. The guitar 4 1/2 minutes to the end is a treat. The previous two songs bring PFM to mind at times. "L'Ultima Spiaggia" is the longest song by far and my favourite. Piano intro as reserved vocals join in. A full sound before 1 1/2 minutes with flute. Check out the vocals 3 minutes in as he brings some passion in his singing. Some beautiful piano melodies later then we get deep male vocal melodies joining the piano, drums and bass.This goes on and on and it's so moving.

I know this could be said about a lot of Italian bands but it's too bad they only put out one album. I'm just glad I own it.

I'm afraid that I can't share the enthusiasm of my fellow reviewers on this one (but it is not the first time). Comparing this work with some of the genuine ISP is something I wouldn't do.

Most of the songs available have little to do with the great ISP i love. They are simple in structure, at times just basis pop-rock sung in Italian ("L'Angelo", "Fantasia").

The second half of this album is definitely better and shows a more prog angle to their music. Still, the jazzy instrumental "Passaggio Di Via Arpino" is not my cup of tea. After having pressed next to avoid the weak "Fantasia", I was reaching the first very good song ("Silenzio").

To be complete, I would add that the closing number (over eight minutes) is a fine ISP song with excellent piano and fine vocals. But these two good songs aren't enough to make a good album. At least to my standards. Two stars (you can add another half one).

After the split of Raccomandata Con Ricevuta Di Ritorno, let's call them RRR (as they are often referred too), vocalist Luciano Regoli and guitarist Nanni Civtenga formed the short lived Samhadhi, another Italian prog band that only released one album. The band also included former L'Uovo Di Colombo drummer Ruggero Stefani.

Perhaps in response to the lack of success received by RRR, Samhadhi went in a more mainstream direction showing far less of the diverse eclectic nature of their former band and it has to be said as a result it's a less interesting album. Nevertheless it's still respectable enough, though not a classic of the RPI genre by any means. Sometimes the music even drifts into pop but fortunately there's enough going on to keep the listeners interest to more than a passing glance. Along with the pop influences, there's the occasional jazz touch like on Passaggio Di Via Arpino which makes considerable use of brass. Symphonic and acoustic elements also feature along with some orchestration. They save the best and longest until last. Some very good Piano dominates the sound of L'ultima Spiaggia, a song of greater diversity than most of the songs here. A lovely fluid bass shines through and it closes with a long repetitive choral section.

While the sophisticated pop vibe of some of the material doesn't over-excite me Samhadhi produced a good album, nothing less, nothing more. Worth your investigation then, after you've finished with the more essential RPI titles.