RITRATTO DI UN MATTINO

Now we have the chance to listen to this nice Italian band on stage, it is always cool to know both sides of a band, I mean, live and in studio, the sound will not be the same, sometimes it sounds better on stage, others on studio, so in a way we can compare and make some decisions.

Ritratto di un Mattino release in 2005 a live album and a demo, this time I am reviewing the first which is actually a very short live concert where we can enjoy some of their representative songs, along with one cover that let us know their roots.

This live album features 4 songs (that could be 6) and a total time of 27 minutes, opening with their classic and favorite "Il Cimitiero delle Fate" which is an excellent symphonic-eclectic song that shares a dark atmosphere at times produced by those bass notes, the vocals are very good and I have to say that the guitars and keyboards play a wonderful role here, this is a very strong and complete song which sounds excellent on stage.

Next we have "a) La Stranza Vuota / b) Oltre le Stelle" which are two different songs actually but shorted to one that lasts 8 minutes. The sound is very good, there are some moods and rhythm changes, the bass lines are always great and the keyboard as leader or as just background does a great job.

They wanted to play a cover of one of their inspirations, and now we have "Celebration", yeah that original song from PFM now performed byt Ritratto di un Mattino, they do it very good actually, the thing I don't understand is why they didn't sing it in Italian (E'Festa).

This live album finishes with another two on one song, "a) Canto Dispari and b) Perché, another 8 minutes of excellent music from their debut album, the music here is great, challenging with amazing instrumental passages, I like the way the keyboard changes from being the leader as a supporter, the mood created is also cool, sometimes dark and sometimes warm, this was a nice way of ending this short live album.

After this, I would attend to a Ritratto di un Mattino concert, they did it well and I enjoyed listening to this, what a pity is lasted less than 30 minutes; anyway my final grade will be 3 stars, a nice way to get into this band.

Enjoy it!

As you can imagine, this band took its name from a classic Le Orme song, so it is not strange to see they were inspired by them (among other RPI dinosaurs), however, this band has managed to create their own compositions and sounds. Ritratto di un Mattino released their debut album back in 2004, a very promising one with excellent symphonic compositions, one year later they recorded both a demo and a live album; now I am focusing in the earlier.

This band led by talented musician Stefano Spataro decided to put a demo where one can appreciate probably their most representative songs, two of them were not included on their debut album Almeadon, and the other was actually included but here we can notice it is an alternative version of it.

The first song is "Il Cimitiero delle Fate" which let us know their style, symphonic at most but with a dark atmosphere, great bass lines and cool keyboards, more than a symphonic band I would say they fit in eclectic, though the end of the song is a bombastic keyboard solo. This was a classic song on their repertoire.

Next is "La Stranza Vuota" starts with some spoken words and then turns into a dynamic song, nice keyboards a constant drums and excellent bass sound, I would like to recall Stefano Spataro is the man who sings and plays the bass, so he is doing a great job. After that dynamic start the song slows down and continues like this almost all the song, there are some nice guitars.

Finally "The Long Tomorrow" this is a second version of the one that was featured on Almeadon, opening with some spacey synth, bass lines that make a dark sound and nice vocals, this is actually the song I like the least on this demo, however the use of synthesizer make it special.

Very nice 14-minute demo, though I would say it deserves 3 stars, my final grade will be 2 because it is very short, just a slice of their music and not a full-length album, as I usually do with singles or demos, anyway if you have the chance listen to it, but better get their debut album.

Enjoy it!

Being part of a sensational site like progarchives is, we have some advantages regarding the discovery of new bands, and some older bands that we didn`t know but thanks to the site and its members we do now. Another advantage is that, as a member of a Genre Team, i have had the opportunity of listening to several unknown bands which are actually really good, one of them is of course Ritratto di un Mattino. I listened to their myspace songs and liked it a lot, so i was really interested in listening to a full lenght album and dared to write to the band in order to get them, fortunately, Stefano Spataro (leader of the band) kindly answer to my mail and sent me Almeadon which is the album i will review.

The band was formed back in 2002, they had some songs and demos, and on 2005 they released their first album called Almeadon, being a 4-member band with Stefano Spataro on bass and vocals, Dario Cozza on keyboards, Andrea Gemmato on guitars and Francesco Morrone on drums. The album feeatures 12 songs with a total time of 50 minutes of excellent music, believe me.

We both, the RPI and Eclectic team decided the band would fit better into the Eclectic genre, since their music is varied from symphonic, electronic and of course eclectic sounds. The album kicks off with Il Regno dei Venti, a very nice and strong opening song, showing the progressiveness since the very beginning and with the addition of the Italian flavour, making a more pleasant sound, in particular to me, with good guitar riffs and keyboard sound. Almeadon the title track is athe follow up of the previous song, some nice bass lines and the synths making some space-electronic sounds, the sound of this is not the typical RPI sound, but we can find some form of it within the album, this is also the longest song of the album. Vento Malinconico is a softer song, we will notice it since the start with the guitar chords, then some flute making some kind of mellow sound, a catchy and enjoyable song. The Long Tomorrow is if im not wrong one of the first songs they created, it would be a classic Ritratto di un Mattino song, and as you can see by the name, a song sung in English the only one of the album, a mid tempo song with a prominent use of the synthesizers and the wah wah in the guitars, this is a very nice song with a dark feeling. Risveglio, notice immediately the bass lines, not my favourite song at all, but still good, this song as well as some other is an example of why we decided eclectic would be better place for the band, since the specific symphonic sound is not which predominates their sound, in this song we will listen to female vocals, sadly i dont know whose voice is it. La Processione we are now in the half of the album, so far really good, one of my favourite songs here, starts again with the synths sound with some space effects, the music is very cool after a minute the vocals enter with a softer background made by the slight guitars and constant keys and drumming, a pleasant listening without a doubt. Spirito di Conservazione a funky guitar sound throughout the song, some great riffs here and there and the always great keyboard sound, this is another one of my preferred songs, this is a mix of various styles, which make it better in my opinion. Il Drago is another song that shows the prominent keyboard sound on it, this song has a taste a bit heavier than the other ones, you can notice it by the rythm when the vocals appears, the bass playing is really good. Rinascita Presso il Ruscello returns to the calm and softer side of the album, a slow tempo song which has as an addition, the sound of violin. Preludio the shortest of them all, a pleasant instrumental passage reminding me a bit of some 70s bands Intenzioni del Principe now features acoustic guitar with an spanish flavour on it, with the italian vocals, a nice couple! , this song for some reason also reminds me a bit to the latter Le Orme, there are also some good guitar riffs and nice bass lines. Perche is the one that finishes the album, another short song which is kind of a prologue, it starts with the bass then drums and keys appear, and finally the guitars, a pretty good instrumental song, that closes a very nice album.

I found this band very talented and promising, this was a great debut album which i will grade with 3 stars since i particularly enjoy it a lot and i think it may be a very nice addition to any prog lover, if you like Italian prog, then try this, though their music is not the typical Rock Progressivo Italiano.

Enjoy it!