I Dik Dik are an Italian band with more than forty years of activity. They had been very in Italy successful during the late sixties and early seventies thanks to their collaboration with Lucio Battisiti and Mogol and thanks to the Italian version of songs like “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” by Procol Harum or California Dreamin’ by Mamas And Papas. They have always been just a beat and pop band and “Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa” is their only true progressive effort. The album was released in 1972 (a period when almost everybody in Italy seemed to go crazy for prog) but it was a commercial flop so, after this album, the band turned back into another musical direction.

“Suite per una donna assolutamente relativa” is a concept work featuring lyrics by the eclectic artist of Jewish origins Herbert Pagani. It was conceived like a musical and poetical journey through “planet woman”: the female body here is compared to an unknown world to explore, both physically and spiritually... The music was composed by keyboardist Mario Totaro and it’s an excellent mix of progressive rock and Italian melody.

The opener is the melodic and light “Donna paesaggio” (Woman Landscape)... A man is flying over a strange planet, “Woman landscape / I’m flying over you with caresses / And along my journey I can see lands, lakes, mountains and the mirage of my happiness / I will sing of you / Like a Greek poet of the ancient times... And my voice will be a hymn to your naked freedom”. The music is rich and features beautiful touches of church-like organ and mellotron...

On the second track “Il viso” (The Face) our “hero” comes down with his parachute landing in a forest of “hair-trees”, then he explores the brows surrounding “two lakes of blue water” (the eyes), then the nose, the ears... “I already can see your lips on the horizon / Your mouth is smiling to me / And your smile reveals a city / Atlantis of light that kills me... And to know a little bit more / I breath a while / Then I dive and go down”...

The sound of the moog marks a change of atmosphere that becomes darker in the next track “Il cuore” (The Heart). “Like a cast-away on his raft / I’m sailing down, along your veins...”, our hero is now flushed away by brooks of phosphorescent blood... “I hear the thunder of a factory / The central engine of the heart appears enormous to me / I can see red Niagara falls swallowing me...”. The rhythm becomes frenzy, the mood dramatic but our “explorer” awakes alive, wet and out of danger because the heart let him break through...

A short interlude leads to the “Cathedral Of Love”... “I’m climbing stairways of placenta / Like by magic I feel a body who is singing to me unknown Ave Marias / Cathedral of Love, cathedral of love / My heart beats fast but I go on...”. Well, the lyrics describing the womb are a little bit bizarre (to say the least!) but the music is really good, here almost mystic I dare say, featuring excellent harmony vocals...

“The earth is trembling / New danger / Legs of woman / White vertigo... When you walk in the city / It’s like a forest / That goes in a desert of concrete...”. “Gambe” (Legs), describes the dizziness provoked by a “walking continent” on the streets of a city. Here the rhythm goes up sprinkled with flashes of moog, than melts in a nice short pastoral interlude (the instrumental “Suite relativa”).

“Monti e valli” (Mountains and Valleys) is a bright and happy ballad and the subject matter is, as you can guess, the bosom... “I see pyramids and coliseums... Mountains and valleys of the youth / My hands are caressing you / Like ocean waves / My fingers are like horses breaking on gallop upon you...”.

Next comes the delicate and sweet “I sogni” (The dreams) that tries to describe in music and words the dreams of a woman like the souvenirs of the childhood, the nightmares of the war, the wounds of past lovers that the conscience tries to hide. “I dream your dreams...”. In my opinion this is the best track on this album.

Next track “La notte” (The night) tries to describe the act of procreation. Tense vocals soar over a beautiful piano pattern counter pointed by the sound of the moog... The poetry of the lyrics is perhaps a little bit clumsy and naive but the overall result is not so bad.

“Sintesi” is a reprise of the opening theme and it concludes a peculiar and interesting album... “Woman poetry / You are a miracle of rhythm and harmony / You are the most fragile fortress on earth / You resist to the world but love will open you / And from the country of your body new lives will blossom / Until life will be...”.

I don’t think that this is an essential album but it is a very good one and it would have deserved a better destiny. On the whole I think that this work is more ironic than pretentious, like the funny art cover, and it’s really worth listen to. It was re-released on CD in 2003 by BMG with a nice paper sleeve reproducing the original LP jacket and I’m sure that Italian prog lovers will love it.

Not quite the same...

Having purchased a compilation disc which featured the albums Concerto Grosso Per I and Per II it was a tough choice which album to start my adventure with the New Trolls. Having been more intrigued with the cover art for this, the second album in the series I decided to put this album on first, I have no idea why, since the first one was rated higher and to start the disc on track one would have been the normal thing to do, but no, I decided to start with Concerto Grosso Per II. I just about got rid of the disc on that first listen. Thank god I went back and discovered the majesty of the first album, otherwise I would have missed out on something really good.

This album is nothing that the first part was. While the first album had a rich and luxurious sounding progressive music backed by neo-classical stylings this one seems to have forgotten about the ''prog'' part and is just aimed at the neo-classical with a hint of commercial rock. Themes from the first album are recycled in the first movement of this album (which is considerably shorter, I might add, than the first album's concerto) and in general the entire thing sounds very flat. The synths which are used sound almost transparent and so cheesy in their sound that they sound like you should put on one of those old British wigs and start calling down the middle class. While the first album walked the fine line between pomp and pretentious, this album kicks that line, dances on it, and then goes running in a most comical fashion with its arms waving above it like some inflatable arm flailing tube man all the way over to the pretentious side. The last album sounded like intelligent neo-classical music for prog fans, this sounds like music that's ''better than you are'', making it highly inaccessible.

This doesn't stop at the end of the 3 part concerto, however. This album has a multitude of songs instead of two complex movements, and the rest of the songs find the band discovering what made Queen successful in the 70s. Most of the songs sound either like an Italian Queen or a Queen cover band. This even leaks into the concerto itself as 3° Tempo: Moderato (Fare You Well Dove) sounds like it could have come from Queen with its melodies and harmonized vocals. Other songs like Vent'Anni are pleasantly acoustic with Italian vocals. Quiet Seas suffers again from the Queen Syndrome, but the emotive vocals are enough to pull it through.

The problem here really isn't the apparent attempt to copy the band's earlier work, nor is it a problem that they seem to be borrowing from other bands, it's that there's nothing particularly memorable about the album. While the first album's two movements were full of bombast and incredible pomp this one seems lackluster, moving more for the accessible short pop-ish songs rather than the 20-minute improvisational instrumentals. The standout song on the album is likely the last tune because it's the only one who dares to be experimental and actually uses a very distinct melody. For that reason, and for its impressively fast playing and creepy vocals, Le Roi Soleil really is a classic track, but unfortunately the only one on the album.

This album is really just for the fans. You'll find it sew onto every copy of Per I that's on cd since there was enough room to remaster both of them on one disc - like some sort of two headed monster, one of which bows to your every need and the other is a zombie looking to eat your brains - but you can consider it a selection of off cuts that came years too late. Fans will appreciate it, and it's not painful to listen to, just forgettable. Don't start with this album if you're new to the band, or indeed, the scene. Per I was masterful, this is bleh. 2 stars, fans only.