REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA

Forged from the somewhat successful 60s beat / folk band I Fholks, REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA was the result of four of the members carrying on together and joining the ranks of the then current prog craze sweeping Europe in the early 70s. I Fholks had the opportunity to open up for both Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix in 1968 Rome but for whatever reason only released one single and called it quits in 1971. Of the five members of I Fholks, drummer Ruggero Stefani went off to join L'Uovo di Colombo while the other four members: Henryk [Enrique] Topel Cabanes (vocals), Federico Troiani (keyboards), Pierfranco "Piero" Pavone (bass) and Pericle Sponzilli (guitar) formed REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA. Joined by newcomer drummer Roberto Senzasono and keyboardist Federico Troiani, the band released its debut in 1972, the year when the world of prog was arguably at its very peak and therefore the band's album went virtually unnoticed given that many bands were jumping on the prog bandwagon and vying to be heard with bands like PFM and Banco garnering the most attention.

Existing somewhere between the pastoral folk sounds of Le Orme and the more symphonic prog rock heft of bands like PFM and Banco, REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA (Royal Academy of Music) delivered a middle of the road approach that offered equal playing time between the softer and energetic aspects of the Italian prog scene. While not exactly the most original sounding band even at this stage which is considered the band's pinnacle moment, nonetheless REALE ACCADEMIA DI MUSICA delivered an outstanding set of six tracks that offered the entire prog enchilada by infusing the operatic vocal led symphonic prog style typical of 1970s Italy with a gloomy melancholy courtesy of sombre piano rolls and oft mopey lyrical deliveries. Like many Italian bands of the era, this was targeted towards the homeland and exclusively performed in the Italian language.

Starting off clumsily with the super pastoral "Favola," the album takes its sweet time in getting started but the second track, the 9-minute plus "Mattino" showcases the band's ability to navigate the complex soundscapes that wend and wind through various movements like the big boys of prog. The album alternates with simpler tracks that bookend the longer more progressive workouts. "Ognuno" reminds of The Beatles in many ways and evokes a 60s sunshine pop vibe with so me great honky tonk-like piano rolls. The near 9-minute "Padre" takes another peek into prog paradise with a dreamy mellotron-rich opening sequence and that classic prog build up that screams epic. While building up a hypnotic groove with keys, guitars and bass, the track adds a vocal line and offers a brooding mellotron accompany a rather lugubrious vocal delivery. After a slow transition the track adds a mysterious choral break and then lets the guitar off its leash. The track only rocks in space rock mode (think Pink Floyd) but is quite effective in its approach to deliver a darker than usual take on the Italian prog scene.

"Lavoro In Cittá" provides the album's heftiest guitar rock riffing and as one of the shorter tracks is more direct without the expansive exploration of the longer tracks but does completely metamorphose into a more pastoral slower paced rocker. The closing "Vertigine" provides the most fast-paced prog track on the album with a dominant feisty organ sound with a quickened pace throughout the track's seven minute run. The accompanying bass, drums and guitar are also more pronounced and set to rock mode than the majority of the album. Considered the best release this volatile band put out, most critics agree that the particular style laid out here is considered more mature and polished than the more dramatic PFM, Banco, Quella Vecchia Locanda or Il Balletto di Bronzo from the same year. While this band wouldn't stick around for too overly long after this brief moment of glory, the album has gained a bigger audience as the ensuing decades has reevaluated it as one of the great Italian prog albums of the era. While not the pinnacle IMHO, still nevertheless an excellent slice of it.

In 2014, after a concert at Progressivamente Festival in Rome where he played with some old friends of the Roman prog scene of the early seventies, Pericle Sponzilli, original member and part of the creative core of Reale Accademia di Musica, decided to come back to music with a new band. Since he felt that over the years the name of Reale Accademia di Musica had been improperly used on projects with a different style, he took over the old brand for what, in his opinion, should be considered the authentic second album of the historic band. After a long, hard work the new album, entitled "Angeli mutanti", was released on the independent M.P. & Records label with a line up featuring Pericle Sponzilli (vocals, guitars), Fabio Liberatori (piano, keyboards), Erika Savastani (vocals), Andy Bartolucci (drums) and Fabio Fraschini (bass) plus the guests Gianfranco Coletta (guitar), Nicola Di Staso (guitar) and Fernando Fera (guitar). According to the official website, "the group works like an atelier, a school, an academy" and the art work by Daniele Massimi underlines the link with the past bringing back to light the band's logo that you can find on the 1972 eponymous album but also suggests a touch of modernity and the evolution of the overall sound...

The excellent opener "Angeli mutanti" (Mutant angels) conjures up in music and words some strange creatures, nameless shapes that can fly under the radars without wings and feathers, emotionally charged but innocuous, invisible demons without a plan... The vocal style of Pericle Sponzilli and Erika Savastani is very different from that of the original vocalist Henryk Topel Cabanes but the result is good anyway.

The following "Alba" (Dawn) tells of a metaphorical quest for the rising sun and a better day, beyond time and space. The music and lyrics show the way out from a dark landscape filled with lies... Then it's the turn of the melancholic ballad "Johnny e Adele", featuring the guest Gianfranco Coletta on guitar. The music and lyrics here evoke a beautiful girl dancing on the beach on the notes of a guitar and the dreams of a guitarist in love...

The dreamy, melodic "Cosa nascondono le nuvole" (What the clouds hide) features the guest Nicola Di Staso on guitar and tells of far horizons hidden by the clouds, white mountains hanging over the sea, far rocks that seem too steep for climbing. Then the clouds are blown away and a pure sky reappears, the obstacles melt, there are no more steep rocks to climb up and you can have a new start... Next comes "The Beat Goes On (Come la canzone)" (The beat goes on - As the song), a piece veined of nostalgia featuring Fernando Fera (from another historic Roman band, Alberomotore) on guitar who also wrote the lyrics. It's an acoustic ballad in a singer-songwriter style about the magic of music and its power to take you back in time and stir emotions...

"Tempo" (Time), according to the liner notes, was inspired by "When Marnie Was There", a 2014 Japanese anime psychological drama film written and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. It's a beautiful track evoking lakes, islands and exotic landscapes blurred by time and vivid memories of someone you can't forget... Here the music every now and again could recall Genesis and Pink Floyd.

"A dritta San Salvador" (To starboard San Salvador) is another dreamy track where the music and lyrics evoke a romantic adventure on the Caribbean Sea and conjure up black sirens and wild dances on a beach, emotional shipwrecks and dark magic... Next comes the ironic, carefree "Una sola immagine" (A single image) featuring lyrics written by Italian pop singer Nada Malanima, an old friend of the band, dealing in a light way with loneliness and time passing by.

Introduced by an almost solemn marching beat, the following "Io sono qui" (I am here) is a piece full of positive energy that depicts an experience of daily rebirth made with the help of a sensei, a spiritual master whose words are like a chant to follow in the morning light... Then beautiful instrumental "La pista e il miraggio" (The track and the mirage) closes the album mixing vintage sounds and exotic atmospheres.

On the whole, an excellent good album, even if very different from the sound of Reale Accademia di Musica eponymous debut work.

What a beautiful piece! Before I listened to it, for some reason I sensed that I was in for a wonderful album with music full of life and memorable harmonies. This is another album that I would use as an example to prove that the definitive year of progressive rock is 1972. Italian music of the 70s is full of gems. They all have their originality even though the Italian progressive trend has many characteristic features, but the albums I like the most (and the ones I consider the best) are the ones that know how to leave out national influences and trends when necessary and not make the album a forgettable copy. Bands like RADM, Museo Rosenbach and Area are great examples of creativity and self-improvement. This homonym album contains pieces of vital beauty.

"Favola" is a chimerical opening that seems to have been taken out of a tale about love and green nature, and its brief duration gives way to what may be the best song on the album:

"Il Mattino". A 9-minute piece that starts peacefully with beautiful singing, but unexpectedly opens up to a beautiful sequence of interludes, cadences, plucks and multi-instruments of another level and another universe! All the instruments come together to create a classical and renaissance sound. It is necessary to say that the fusion of symphonic rock and classical music on this album is one of the best ever.

Here's an interesting conjecture: I think that half of this album ("Ognuno Sa" and "Padre") is probably heavily influenced by Argentine folk rock. There are segments that due to their chords and interpretation are inevitably comparable to bands like Manal, Vox Dei or Almendra.

"Lavoro In Città" returns to the 100% progressive sound, starting with darkly hopeful vocals and lyrics, like that hardened pessimist who despite his firm despair, deep down knows that somewhere there is light (the pessimistic person is precisely so because at some point he had a lot of hope that was soon devastated). When the voice leaves the field, a jazzy piano begins to play, feeding the song along with a bluesy guitar pluck. There is a lot of diversity in this song.

"Vertigine" finishes off the album with defeatist lyrics and melodies, with a warrior organ that fights to the end and percussion and bass that create a final battle atmosphere.

All the harmonies are beautiful and precise, the album is carried out with a lot of hierarchy and musical maturity, and the production achieves the vintage sound I love so much.

In and out of emotions, this is a well done work.

"Tempo senza tempo" is the second and last album by the line up gathered in Sardinia by Adriano Monteduro under the name Reale Accademia di Musica. It was released in 2009 on the independent label Delta Italiana and the line up is the same of its predecessor, "Il linguaggio delle cose": Adriano Monteduro (music, lyrics, arrangements, keyboards, vocals), Giuseppe Aramo (vocals, percussion), Antonello Monteduro (piano, keyboards), Manuel Muzzu (bass). The overall sound is more varied than on the previous work and, in my opinion, the quality of the compositions is better but it a has nothing to share with Reale Accademia di Musica 1972 eponymous debut...

The ethereal opener 'Latenza sogno' evokes falling thoughts that at night get lost into a dreamy blue sea... Then it's the turn of 'Caccia alle balene' (Whaling), a piece against whale hunters, that starts by annoying drum machines and a macarena rhythm and then, luckily, turns into a passionate, melodic environmental declaration inviting you to listen to the beat of the heart of Moby Dick...

On 'Paranoia (D'j' vu)' you can find electronic touches and drum machines that contrast with vintage keyboard waves while the lyrics tell of the inner duality hidden inside every person... The following 'Vulcano' (Volcano) tries to describe in music and words the feelings and the reflections of a man who, during the night, admires the fiery force of a volcanic eruption...

The lively 'Atomo' (Atom) is a short instrumental track with a good interaction between bass and keyboards that leads to the long, evocative 'Sogno (Compagno di sempre)' (Dream, companion ever) where music and words paint blurred images, lights and shades, labyrinths of memories drifting away on a misty sea towards never-land...

'Thin Colours' is a calm, short instrumental track for bass and keyboards while 'Get Back' (despite the English title the song is sung in Italian) mixes tango and electronica to depict a sensation of fulfilment and spiritual tiredness. Next comes the delicate 'Tempo senza tempo' (Timeless time), a reflection about time and its abstract relativity...

'Merlino (Mirddyn)' was inspired by the mythic character of the Arthurian legends. The musical landscape and the subject matter could recall the atmospheres of Alan Stivell's album the Mist Of Avalon (in particular, Le chant de Taliesin) as they try to conjure up the imagine of the old enchanter and wizard running again through the forest of Kelyddon... The following 'African Oldoway' is a nice instrumental track that takes us in another direction (the title refers to the Oldoway human skeleton of the type of homo sapiens found in Tanganyika Territory, in 1913). Then 'Attimi' (Moments) ends the album with a reflection about time and space where single moments resound like bouncing pebbles on the waters of life...

On the whole, despite the large use of drum machines and electronic effects, I enjoyed the album. Nonetheless the name Reale Accademia di Musica that Adriano Montedurro decided to revive might be misleading for prog fan. Some members of Reale Accademia di Musica's original line up did not appreciate this operation and Adriano Monteduro dropped the name after this work releasing other albums in the same style as a solo artist, albums that could be of some interest for prog lovers...

In 1974 Adriano Monteduro released an album with Reale Accademia di Musica, then, after a single in 1978, in the eighties he left the music business and relocated in Santa Teresa di Gallura, in the province of Sassari. In 2008 he exhumed the name of the historic Roman Italianprog band for an album entitled "Il linguaggio delle cose" that was released on the Delta Italiana label with a line up featuring, along with Adriano Monteduro (music, lyrics, arrangements, keyboards, vocals) also Giuseppe Aramo (vocals, percussion), Antonello Monteduro (piano, keyboards) and Manuel Muzzu (bass). There are no founder members of Reale Accademia di Musica involved in this project and the overall sound is very different from that of the 1972 eponymous album of the band. Here the music is closer to new age than prog while the hermetic lyrics deal with philosophical issues...

The calm, reflective opener "Genesi" conjures up the imagine of a bonfire breaking the darkness to let you see the unknown and give breath to the truth... Then "Uomo-Terra" (Man-Earth) every now and again could recall some pieces of Franco Battiato from the eighties and deals with the duality of life and the relativity of time and space. "Il linguaggio delle cose" (The language of things) evokes the mysteries of cosmos and life and in some melodic lines reminds me slightly of Bob Seger's We've Got Tonight...

Despite the English title, the following "Dance With Me" and "Homeless" are sung in Italian. The first one tells in music and words of a moonless night and of the desire to dance cradled by the sound of the sea waves, in harmony with the world, the second one portrays a storybook of wrong choices, dreams of freedom, shadows and lights...

Next comes the ethereal "Infinito" (Infinite) invites you to the show of creation in a timeless time pulsing in the veins of eternity... The closer "La pace nelle biglie di vetro: un mondo nuovo" (The peace in the marbles: a new world) is a very long track (more than 18 minutes!). It's a piece about the need to push the limits of what human beings can achieve without surrender in front of the raging waters of sea of Life, in a game of atoms where the future runs free... Here the music flows away at a slow pace and the rhythm never takes off.

On the whole, a good album with a slow pace and refined electronic arrangements but beware! It could have a strong soporific effect.

In 1974 the same team of musicians that contributed to the recording sessions of the album credited to Adriano Monteduro and Reale Accademia di Musica, with the exception of Carlo Bruno on bass and the help from Pericle Sponzilli and others, recorded for the RCA label another album, "La cometa", that was supposed to be the first solo effort of Reale Accademia di Musica's vocalist Henryk Topel Cabanes. Nonetheless, during the seventies it was never released and the tapes got lost. As told by Henryk Topel in a 2013 interview for the site italianprog.com, the band split up soon after the release of their first eponymous album and they tried to survive in the music business as session men? "La cometa was recorded for RCA in 1974 soon after the record we made for Monteduro. The record company gave us much money for it and each of us decided to try his own solo career, some even took off for exotic countries and everything ended...". Before parting ways, the musicians from Reale Accademia di Musica contributed to the recording sessions of the 1975 album entitled 1930: Il domatore delle scimmie for the Italian pop singer Nada... Then the curtain fell.

It wasn't until 2010 that a tape with La cometa sessions re-emerged from oblivion and was finally digitally released under the name Reale Accademia di Musica on the Pinball Music label, as recalls Henryk Topel Cabanes in the aforementioned interview: "the master, whose only copy was kept by my old friend Stefano Fournier (who also took part in the recording) laid forgotten for many years. Not long ago I requested the rights to Universal, owner of all the historic material of RCA, and they told me they didn't have anything left, so I had the old tape remastered and brought it to light again...". Then, in 2013, a physical, remastered edition on CD and vinyl was released on the Poliedizioni label with a different art work. So, now we have the chance to listen to it...

The opener "La cometa" is a blues-rock piece inviting you to ride the tail of a bizarre, shining comet of sugar and silk, capable to transform every man into a poet and to change his mentality... Then it's the turn of "Nenae", a nice acoustic ballad with a dreamy atmosphere and romantic lyrics portraying a beautiful girl running free with bright, dancing colours in her hair. She leaves behind her mystical traces of love...

"Quando morirò" (When I will die) is a lively country rock piece. The lyrics evoke happiness and joy, the right song to play during the funeral of the protagonist, a man always ready to have fun... Next comes "Aereoporto" (Airport) that depicts in music and words the feelings of a man who is going to take off on a nightly flight...

"Makumba Hotel" is a beautiful instrumental track with an exotic atmosphere full of nocturnal suggestions. It could be a perfect score for an Italian film of the seventies... Then the calm "Oratorio" (Oratory) evokes memories from a childhood spent in a Catholic institute underlying the contradictions of a religious education.

"Una canzone" (A song) is a different version of a piece about the healing power of music recorded for the album Adriano Monteduro e Reale Accademia di Musica. The following "Uomo rosa" (Pink Man) could recall The Beatles of "When I'm Sixty-Four" or "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and describes a peculiar, unreal character, a kind of erotic reverse of real people who dances for a while and then melts into the night? The short instrumental "Topolino Topel" (Mickey Mouse Topel) ends the album with a light touch and a rag time pace that could recall a silent black and white comedy film.

On the whole, an uneven work containing some interesting pieces and weaker ones but that is worth listening to.

In 1974 some members of Reale Accademia di Musica worked along with other musicians as a backing band for an album of singer songwriter Adriano Monteduro. The line up featured Adriano Monteduro (acoustic guitar), Henryk "Enrique" Topel Cabanes (vocals), Federico Troiani (piano, keyboards), Roberto Senzasono (drums, percussion), Franco Coletta (electric and acoustic guitar, vocals), Enzo De Luca (vocals, acoustic guitar), Dino Cappa (bass), Tony Mimms (vocals), Michela Grandi (vocals) and Roberto Rosati (timbaillas). What resulted from the recording sessions was a nice collection of songs with soft rock arrangements, very different from the symphonic style of the Reale Accademia di Musica eponymous album. Nonetheless, the album was entitled "Adriano Monteduro e Reale Accademia di Musica" and co-credited to the band. It's a concept album where all the songs follow a common thread ad tell of a psychedelic dream, in some way captured by the colourful art work by Fausto Di Landro...

The opener "Buongiorno nel bosco (Il canto del sole)" (Good morning in the wood - The song of the sun) is a folksy ballad based on an acoustic guitar arpeggio. The lyrics and music conjure up the image of an enchanted wood at dawn: under the faint light you can see a hollow tree, three dark pandas, a sleepy red deer and a gnome who is carving lilac marionettes. Then the gnome starts to dance happily because he knows this is a holy day to celebrate on the banks of the river, under a magic oak tree. It's the wood of fantasy and other gnomes row merrily on their small pirogues to reach the place of the ceremony... Next comes "La favola del guardiano del bosco" (The tale of the guardian of the wood) that tells in music and words of the birth of the magic wood. Once upon a time an illuminated man came from a far violent place, he lifted his arms up to the sky and turned himself into the wood creating a paradise and setting everything in peace and harmony with a miracle of love...

"Mezzogiorno" (Midday) paints in notes and words a peculiar hippy style tableau with people running barefoot on the grass under a blue sky. The sun is shining, the bees are busily flying from flower to flower and your thoughts can follow the music and singing of wind and creeks... Then "Le figlie dell'erba (Festa magica)" (The daughters of the grass - Magic party) marks the arrival of some beautiful girls carrying baskets full of fruits and magical mushrooms. The dance is going to start, a band of old dwarves is going to play and everyone will be happy... Well, just a metaphor of the pop festivals of the early seventies!

The reflective "Viaggio libero" (Free trip) describes a trip through the magic wood where you can breathe freedom and happiness under the moonlight while the following "Le montagne nel tramonto" (The mountains in the sundown) reminds you that you are just living in a dream. The mountains at dusk are like shadows of faceless knights asleep and you fear that tonight they will ride away... Ghosts are hidden in real life all day long and you are aware that when the new day will rise the dream will fade out and reality will take over again...

The dreamy "Preludio a..." (Prelude to...) is a beautiful instrumental track that leads to "Una canzone" (A song), an acoustic piece about the healing, anti-depressive power of songs, friendship and love. When you feel that illusions, happiness and dreams are going to melt into a bleak daily life, just try to sing along some piano chords or a strummed guitar pattern (with a little help from a pinch of magic grass) to have a new go! Then "Suoni di umanità" (Sounds of humanity) ends the album suggesting that this was a fairy tale that could come true. Fantasies of a timeless world without cities while you are surrounded by the sounds of civilization... Why not?

On the whole, I enjoyed the album although I fear that many prog fans could find it a bit disappointing.

Rising from the ashes of popular 60's band I Fholks, two better known second tier RPI bands sprang: L'Uovo Di Colombo and Reale Accademia Di Musica . R.A.M. released their low key eponymous album in 1972.

Opening song Favola sounds like some of the lower energy acoustic material from Nursery Cryme or Trespass, melancholic and very low key piano, acoustic guitar and light mellotron. Il Matino starts to build some steam from a similar slow beginning and starts to get somewhere leading to a spirited romp that must have been a concert barn burner. Electric guitar tries to grab it and take it further, but is generally buried too low in a slightly murky mix. Soon the song returns to a langorous piano/acoustic guitar/vocal with strings to fade out. Bits of an Italian version of Barclay James Harvest are reference points on side one. Oguno Sa starts with a promising and catchy riff, but slips away in favor of an anonymous early 70's pop song that could have come from any number of UK or American radio friendly acts of the era. So far, the excitement level is pretty low barring a good chunk of Il Mattino.

Side two (Padre) begins with a more traditional RPI organ and guitar figure that adds mid tempo drums and starts to build before settling into a slow organ blues (think some of the slower things on Badger's first album). An organ chorale interlude will remind some of a Pink Floyd Echoes/Saucerful of Secrets vibe. Lavoro in Citta starts with promising piano/bass/drums and the first focused use of vocals on the album. (Henryk Topel Cabanes is a talented vocalist that doesn't seem to be running on full power on most of the album.) The song then slides into a lazy mellotron and slow tempo drum and vocal section that could be interpreted by some as 'easy listening'. Sprightly piano riffs then resurrect the mood, and just as the guitar begins to bring that early Floyd vibe in, the song fades out.

The only song that will really please most RPI fans is the closer Vertigine, which opens as if right in the middle of a fairly energetic VDGG song. Topel's restrained vocals don't work as well here, and he pushes himself a bit more than usual but doesn't really cut loose and let it rip. A lower key section brings it back, but drummer Roberto Senzasono keeps slinging quiet bursts underneath instead of his normal simple backbeat, letting one know that they will be back quickly. Heavy organ and guitar dance with bass (with a tad too much reverb) in a burst of real jamming, sounding somewhat like the better rockier moments on Nursery Cryme. And suddenly, it's over. This is a maddening hint of what they are capable of and makes one wish they had a second album to develop further on. Three okay songs out of six is a bit disappointing, and some good ideas never get the development or couldn't organically develop into stronger pieces.

A guest orchestra on two songs doesn't get in the way, and guest mellotron by producer Maurizio Vandelli is unobtrusive (odd since keyboardist Troaiano is listed as also playing mellotron)

Frustrating for the minimal flashes of brilliance quickly getting run over by quieter introspective parts that don't always go anywhere. I don't mind RPI albums that don't have in your face rock flourishes and enjoy pastoral classical RPI when it is rich and complex. R.A.M. really lacks both ends on this: not much heavy, and too low in energy lacking complex arrangements in the quieter bits.

Laid back 1970-1 Pink Floyd mixes with 1970-1 era acoustic Genesis.

Fans of heavy guitar in RPI will find little here, as the guitar seems intentionally mixed low. Fans of early David Gilmour might want to check this out though. Interesting but not essential.

2.5-2.75 stars

Great album cover and decent vinyl repressing on Sony Legacy, as some of the Sony stuff tends to stifle the mix. (their Museo Rosenbach comes to mind) Full disclosure: I've tried really hard to like this album due the general overwhelming support it gets across the board. I even played it twice more after writing this review to see if there was something in thereI was missing. Alas, I couldn't find it.

A more folk-oriented progressive rock endeavor from these artists from Rome. Great first effort.

1. "Favola" (3:46) pretty folk-instrument song with a lazy, lead vocal from Spaniard Henryk Topel Cabanes. (8.25/10)

2. "Mattino" (9:19) cleverly effected piano is the dominant instrument of the first four minutes of this one. There is singing over the gentle opening minute or two before piano takes over, then there is heavier, more in-your-face rock section starting in the fifth minute. Very nice driving piano chord play in the sixth minute within which electric guitar, piano and organ share the solo duties. At 7:15 things shut down for a new, more delicate section (sans drums and bass) with acoustic guitars, piano and voice dominating. (17/20)

3. "Ognuno Sa" (5:19) opens sounding like a BEATLES or GEORGE HARRISON song despite (or because of?) the treated vocal. Very much a straightforward slow rock song that could have come off of any Clapton, Harrison, or Harry Nilsson album. (7.5/10)

4. "Padre" (8:41) opens with cool organ arpeggio which is soon joined by bass and guitar introducing themselves and the well-spaced syncopated chord progression that is going to follow. After two minutes we have the song's foundation well established and engaging our brain just as the band starts to introduce and support solos--first a nice rock electric guitar solo--but then everything quiets down save for a constant organ in the background over which Henryk sings. Two tracks of bluesy electric guitar interject emphasis points occasionally within the vocal section. The singing is adequate, suitably emotional, but never super-convincing. As a matter of fact, I find myself underwhelmed by Henryk's work throughout the course of this album. Toward the end of the seventh minute the music kind swells and a very nice doubled-up electric guitar solo ensues. The final minute returns to the slow bluesy spacious format for the singer to finish his story. (17/20)

5. "Lavoro In Citta'" (5:56) has a very different feel and sound from the other songs--especially in the singing department. Still piano-based, this bluesy song is founded on the traditional bass-drums- and piano combo (the guitars are quite quiet). Very nice, engaging chord sequence in the middle half of the song with a nice multi-voiced chorus and professional caliber guitar solo. The final section sees another blues-based up-tempo section which plays out in an instrumental jam. (8.75/10)

6. "Vertigine" (7:11) sounds and feels as if ELP and BLUE OYSTER CULT had a baby. Nice musicianship and passion. (13.5/15)

Total Time: 40:12

Four stars; an excellent blues-based representative of the early 1970s Rock Progressive Italiano phenom.

What a confusing new work from Reale Accademia di Musica, a vintage Italian group that released a self-titled work back in 1972 that many RPI fans now rate as something of a minor classic. However, a soap opera drama revolves around two groups currently utilising the band name (the `other guys' as R.A.M releasing two albums a decade ago), but this one is considered the `official' version, even if it boasts even fewer original members, guitarist Pericle Sponzilli being the sole returnee here. But while it doesn't resemble the Seventies album at all, he and his assembled performers have delivered a highly respectable `comeback' in 2018's `Angeli Mutanti', one that can be considered a decent continuation or perhaps a very fine first effort from a `new' group!

On the surface, `Angeli Mutanti' seems like just a fairly safe and melodic collection of soft rock tunes and warm ballads sung in Italian, with Pericle taking up the lead vocals and constantly sharing the songs with stunning female singer Erika Savastani, and their voices blend together and compliment each-other beautifully. But if you're going to pass judgement on the disc and dismiss it after only listening to the first couple of tracks, you're going to miss out on several more adventurous and bigger proggier treats that are buried further into the disc that lift the album to greater heights. It even boasts guitar contributions from Gianfranco Coletta of an early incarnation of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Fernando Fera of Albero Motore and Nicola Di Staso of Libra.

The opening title track may be an undemanding pop/rock tune, but it's carried by Pericle's charismatic raspy croon and Erika's sweet soulful purr and taken higher with the lightest of Hammond organ touches and some tasty slow-burn guitar soloing to keep things interesting. `Alba' reminds of the male/female dynamic of fellow RPI comebackers Murple on their 2014 `Il Viaggio' album and fuses a bluesy danger to some icy Neo-Prog sounding synths, and ballad `Johnny e Adele' is a classy and embracing romantic duet. `Cosa Nascondono le Nuvole' is an sleek indie pop/rocker (and listen to that teasing P.F.M-sounding Mellotron-laced outro!) , and `The Beat Goes On (Come la Canzone)' is an elegant ballad with soft chiming guitars.

However, `Tempo' brings one of the more instantly exciting moments for prog fans, delivering classical piano races and dizzying synth spirals (a real showcase for keyboardist Fabio Liberatori here), Andy Bartolucci's snappy drumming, Fabio Fraschini's murmuring bass, twisting electric guitar reaches and soft reflective acoustic touches, and a doomed vocal from Erika laced with a gothic longing. There's a touch of Pink Floyd dramatic heaviness overall to this compact epic as well, and it might be one of the standout moments of Italian prog in 2018!

`A Dritta San Salvador' is a lightly melancholic comedown with plenty of trilling synths, `Una Sola Immagine' has a sprightly playfulness but the highlight is a gorgeously dreamy and unhurried electronic drift in the middle with hints of unease. `Io Sono Qui's contrasting acoustic verses with electric guitar drama reminds of British folk-proggers Mostly Autumn, and the group wisely close on eclectic instrumental `La Pista e il Miraggio', all shimmering guitars and swirling electronic washes full of mystery and ultimately bringing defiant hope and uplifting warmth.

Make sure to dig deeper into `Angeli Mutanti', as closer inspection reveals that even the more seemingly straight-forward tracks all feature colourful `proggy' touches and exquisite little details, even if it's just short but tasty keyboard and guitar solos. Fortunately this means that at just the right times the disc proves more surprising than it first appears, and there is no shortage of sophisticated tunes, tasteful playing, and superb singing throughout the entire set. It's a `quiet achiever' of an album deserving of more attention, and it's more than a worthy addition to any Italian prog fans collection.

Four stars.