SALIS

It would take still another five long years for the band to reinvent itself into the quartet of Francesco Salis (guitar, vocals), Antonio Salis (bass, flute, vocals), Antonio Lotta (keyboards) and Antonio Sardu (drums) with an emphasis on dreamy symphonic jazz rock that offered beautiful but complex acoustic guitar moments, vintage keyboard sounds, classic era Italian prog compositional fortitude and an overall epic sound. While mostly an instrumental a few vocal moments are scattered about and after existing as a simpler pop based band for its entire career, SALIS had finally become a fully indoctrinated progressive rock band. DOPO IL BUIO LA LUCE (After The Darkness There Is Light) came out in 1979 when progressive rock bands in Italy were abandoning all traces of complexity and simplifying their style into catchy pop music.

Undeterred SALIS generated an interesting style of progressive jazz rock with symphonic touches that evades any true comparisons with other artists. A nice mix of keyboard driven melodies with electric guitar lines and off-kilter time signature patterns that evoked the symphonic prog craze of the earlier part of the decade. The album featured eight tracks at just under 42 minutes with most hovering around the 5 to 6 minute range. The lengthy title track at nearly 8 minutes provided the most stellar prog workouts, the most mood shifts, strange motifs and an overall airy breezy vibe. The album as a whole is more on the mellow side although Francesco Salis' guitar workouts can get a bit fiery. Tracks like "Diablo" show great contrast between vocal-driven symphonic prog in the vein of classic PFM or Banco but showcases the band's ability to break into heavier outbursts and then jump right back into the sophisticated vocal-driven symphonic prog again.

Lots of keyboards layered on this one upping the dosage of symphonic possibilities but another unique feature is the interesting guitar style that adds bizarre contrapuntal aspects thus making DOPO IL BUIO LA LUCE sound nothing like the band's previous efforts but also gives it a unique sound that is unlike pretty much any other Italian band that came before. As far as the mellow nature of this perhaps it would appeal most to those who can appreciate the subtleties of Locanda delle Fate's late to the prog game 1977 effort. The track "Inquinamento" showcases some English Canterbury jazz flavors. Overall this is interesting album that stands on its own two feet. Sadly the prog scene had completely vanished by 1979 and as a band SALIS called it quits the following year. While not the cream of the crop of the burgeoning 70s Italian prog scene, DOPO IL BUIO LA LUCE is nevertheless yet another excellent slice of Italian prog that went completely unnoticed.

Its value as a "prog" album was never its point in 1974, to be sure. Hence, to judge it within that context is surely insufficient.

This is an album full of gorgeous songwriting that will please just about any fan of acoustic guitar based rock songs. Backed by a fairly typical '70s arsenal of sonic goodness like organ, elec. piano, string synth, flute and restrained, melodic electric guitar, the thing here is the *songs*.

And the songs are damn good.

Very much rooted in the Italian song traditions that often seem to make the Italian scene so much deeper than what might be filed under "prog" decades after the fact, this is an album that shifts through a variety of moods with a logical flow that makes it album listening. However, I will say that the opening track, "Salis Adios," is positively addictive and might yield more repeated spins than the album as a whole. In fact, this album would probably be right on the 3.5 stars line for me and a debate might ensue as to whether 3 stars is a sufficient rating, but that opening track just crushes down any barrier and pushes it well toward a more appropriate 4 star rating.

Available from BTF and packaged in one of their mini lp sleeves, tapes are presumably lost as this is nicely mastered from vinyl. And it really sounds quite nice. Great, laid back listening.

Surprisingly the album contains all the basic fundamentals of the Italian Prog scene despite being release at a time when Progressive Rock was just shadow of the past.The style is split between great Symphonic Rock passages and virtuosic Jazz-Rock performances, being largely instrumental with only some space for vocals on ''Diablo'' and the closing ''Yankee Go Home''.''Dopo il buio la luce'' offers plenty of great breaks and technical interplays, heavily based on Lotta's keyboards and Francesco Salis' guitars with an alternation between parts with a romantic flavor and professional music textures with a technical diversity.The guitars have a strong jazzy taste overall with some fantastic solos througout, while Lotta is willing to offer a varied work of jazzy electric pianos, symphonic moog synths and great piano interludes.Especially the rich interplays follow one another with a termendous ability by the group to create memorable tunes, often supported by an orchestral grandieur.The overall sound of the band resembles to the lines of acts from early to mid-70's and a mix between the aesthetics of FOCUS, GENESIS, BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI and RETURN TO FOREVER seems like a good description.

Salis did not escape the luck of all those late-70's progressive groups and split up a year later.The two brothers continiued being part of the music industry and also released the tape ''Signora del porto'' in 1988, featuring re-recordings of old compositions, along with a brand new CD work in 2003 entitled ''Statue e fiori''.Unfortunately death would separate them, as Francesco sadly passed away in 2007.

Among the greatest Italian Prog material ever to be recorded during the second half of the 70's, ''Dopo il buio la luce'' is an album full of great inspirational moments and different imaginative colors, always stuffed with the familiar Italian atmosphere.Highly recommended.

On this site here not to be rated higher than "for collectors only"!

A STRONG AND CAPTIVATING ALBUM, FORZA ITALIA!