MICHELE CONTA

After Locanda delle Fate's split up in 1980, the band's keyboardist Michele Conta completed his medical studies and focused his energies on his career of physician. Anyway, his passion for music didn't die and after a long time he pulled out of the drawer some of the pieces he composed during the years and gave a definite shape to his sketches with the help of sound engineer and arranger Simone Lampedone and guitarist Ermanno Brignolo. After a long, passionate work in 2019 he finally released a solo album, entitled Endless Nights, on the independent label AMS Records. Along with Michele Conta (piano, keyboards) and Ermanno Brignolo (guitars, vocals) the recording sessions involved many guest musicians such as Max Arminchiardi (guitar), Gianni Branca (drums), Gavin Harrison (drums), Lele Melotti (drums), Segio Pescara (drums), Gianni Cicogna (bass), Effe Quartet (strings) and Leonard Plumbini (cello). The result is absolutely worth listening to...

The instrumental opener 'E' nell'aria' (It's in the air) begins by the sound of a storm in the background and a dynamic piano solo passage, then the other instruments come in bringing a change in rhythm and atmosphere. It's an excellent piece that mixes frenzied, heavy electric guitar riffs with calmer, dreamy sections dominated by piano and keyboards and that could recall the old pieces of Locanda delle Fate with an updated sound...

'With You On The Walk Of My Life' is a calm, romantic track featuring English lyrics about the importance of a long lasting relationship and the good luck you have finding someone who can help you in times of trouble, support your dreams or simply hug you when you come back home. It's another track that recalls Locanda delle Fate but the vocals in my opinion are not completely up to the task... Then it's the turn of the dreamy 'Notte infinita' (Endless night), another excellent instrumental track that alternates delicate, relaxed atmospheres with more livelier moments and soaring keyboards flights...

The following 'Growin' Up' takes us back to the times of Locanda delle Fate. In fact, this is a new version of an old track of the band, 'Crescendo', that was not included in the 1977 album Forse le lucciole non si amano pi' and was not officially recorded in studio until 2012. The lyrics deal with the passion for rock music and the experience of being part of a band... In a rehearsal room the notes of the instruments are like atoms moving in a perfect chaos that match, crash and collide providing an incredible energy. Unfortunately, again the vocal parts sung in English are not up to the beauty of the music and I miss Leonardo Sasso's operatic exuberance.

The reflective, melodic 'In riva al mondo' (On the shore of the world) starts by a sound of church bells, the nocturnal atmosphere is calm. The music and lyrics (in Italian) evoke visions and memories inspired by the view of a sleepy city from the window of a room, in the middle of the night...

'Fiori nascosti' (Hidden flowers) ends the album alternating a first part characterized by a soft, mellow mood with a more varied second part where there are sudden surges of rhythm and joyful flights of notes. The short vocal part (in English) invites you to look around and start searching for the beautiful things that are so close to you but the hectic rhythm of live can hide from your sight... You'd better find them before it's too late!

On the whole, a good work with a strong nostalgic vein.

[Originally published at The Progressive Aspect]

It feels a little odd to be almost halfway through 2020, and reviewing an album from the tail end of 2019, but perhaps it is almost appropriate, given that Michele Conta's debut solo album seems to have been in gestation for 40 years or so. Plus, with the world still in a strange state of limbo, I have plenty of time to look back on albums I may have missed at the time but feel are worth pointing out a few months later. These days of lockdown seem endless, and Endless Nights could well be an appropriate soundtrack.

Michele Conta, for those who don't know, was the composer and keyboard player on the quite wonderful Locanda delle Fate album, Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Piu. Actually, three members of the band played keys on that album, but it was Conta, particularly on piano that provided the starring role. Forse? was the first Italian progressive rock album I ever bought, and remains one of my most favourite to this day. The drums of Giorgio Gardino, and the keys of Michele Conta have always been my favourite aspects of Forse?, so Conta's solo album was always going to be of interest for me. Having parted from the band in 1980, it's perhaps surprising it's taken this long for Conta to provide us with this solo album, but as the saying goes, good things take time.

With opening track, Ã? Nell'Aria, it's hard not to be struck by the same two aspects, as Michele Conta's playing is accompanied by no lesser drummer than Gavin Harrison ? who impresses as always. It's a brilliant beginning to the album, with many moods, and the way quite aggressive guitar is laid over the top of the calmer, classical keys is quite astoundingly well-done. It's almost like listening to two different songs at the same time, yet the pieces fit together perfectly. It's a trick played again, albeit in a slightly different manner and with far more subtlety, on the following song, With You on the Walk of My Life. The guitar adds just enough edge to keep this ballad from being too schmaltzy, providing accents rather than the attacks of the opening track.

This is one thing that I particularly like about Endless Nights: (despite the varying personnel, and that it does revolve around Michele Conta) it sounds like a band effort. Too often solo albums from keyboard players are too much about showing off the prowess of the player. Conta has given us a lush, symphonic album deliciously reminiscent of the classic days of '70s Italian prog, without sounding stale or dated, and allows the other players on his album room and space to elevate this beyond the stereotypical keyboard album. Ermanno Brignolo's guitar alone dispels the notion that Endless Nights is going to be a keyboard wankfest. There's no pretension or pyrotechnics, just very good and very enjoyable playing.

In fact, I can think of only two criticisms I might have about this album. One being that it took so long to eventuate, and the other being that of the four songs with vocals, only one is sung in Italian. This may well not bother some people, but for me the Italian language is such a naturally musical one, that it seems wrong to sing in English. I can't think of a single Italian band that has released albums with both English and Italian sung versions, where I don't prefer the Italian. Growin' Up, particularly, I can't help but wish were sung in Italian. It's the track most reminiscent for me of Locanda delle Fate, and it just feels wrong for the lyrics to sung in English. Still, it probably remains my favourite track on the album, and deserves its place as centrepiece.

The following In Riva Al Mondo is a slow and mellow song, with some beautiful guitar and keyboards building and falling throughout, before a very nice instrumental climax, and final vocal reprise. I do find that, if not superfluous, the vocals are incidental to the music. Endless Nights could easily be an instrumental album, with no great detriment to the quality and enjoyment it gives. If anything, I think a track like With You on the Walk of My Life (which, I hasten to add, I very much like) would be improved by being completely instrumental. There is so much going on in that song that I think the vocals somewhat distract from the music. This is borne out by the longest track on the album (at just over eight minutes), Fiori Nascosti, which saves its sole vocals for the last minute. Vocals are used sparingly throughout the album, but the music is so good, I think they could have been even more sparingly used.

That leaves me with only one thing left to say: don't leave it so long before your next album, Michele!

[For the purposes of rating at ProgArchives, I am slightly torn. This would easily be a four star release if the vocals were sung in Italian. It may seem petty, but for me this really does drop the album down to three stars. If you're not so worried about singing in English on an RPI album, then assume this is four stars.]

Conta will probably always be best known for being keyboard player with Locanda Delle Fate on their highly regarded debut 'Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Più'. That band broke up, reformed, and broke up again but Michele has now recorded since the first time that happened, back in the early Eighties. Given his history, it is perhaps unsurprising that what we have here is a perfectly formed Seventies album, even down to the running time of just under 40 minutes (for the uninitiated, and young, the best selling cassettes in the UK were 90 minutes long as you could normally get an album on each side of the tape). That this is the first new album involving Conta for more than 40 years is a real shame, as this album is a delight from start to end. The keyboards of Conta are placed perfectly against the superb guitars of Ermanno Brignolo (who also provides vocals), while included in the four drummers are Gavin Harrison (King Crimson, Porcupine Tree) and Lele Melotti (Fiorella Mannoia, Renato Zero, Zucchero).

This is a powerful album , and while it is bound to be linked to the RPI scene due to Conta's history, there is a freshness and lightness about it which is normally missing from that style of prog and there are times when it becomes almost crossover. The cellos make interesting contributions while the rhythm section keeps it all together, but it is the relationship between Conta and Brignolo which really sets the scene. There is a large usage of piano, as well as swathes of keyboards, but Brignolo is also not adverse to layering lots of guitars on top, while he also contributes his classical guitar as well as utilising sounds more often associated with either Hackett or Vai. One can only trust that this is discovered by fans not only of Locanda Delle Fate but by anyone into good honest progressive rock music which is rooted in the Seventies yet has been brought up to date. Let us hope Conta feels inspired to undertake another album in a somewhat shorter timeframe as I want more.