KUNDALINI SHAKTI DEVI

During the 70's Italian Roberto "Paramhansa" Puddu was playing the sax in various Pop/Dance bands, but at the same time he was intrigued by the fascinating sound of the Italian Prog bands of the era.So, he decided to gather some musicians together and compose music in a similar vein.The procedure was quite hard, most of the members, who eventually helped him had a background in Classic Rock and Puddu had to reveal their more experimental side in order to fully capture the spirit of the project.With him on sax, flute and lead vocals and Massimiliano Moretti, Gianni Lecchi on guitars/vocals, Claudio Capetta, Alfonso Oliva on bass, Enrico Radaelli, Tony Ognibene on keyboards and Ampelio Biffi on drums the team managed to record three tracks in 1974 , but failed to convince any label to sign the band.40 years later the music was discovered by AMS' Mathias Scheller and an archival release under the name of Kundalini Shakti Devi was launched without second thoughts in 2013, both on CD and vinyl formats.

Not only was Puddu fascinated by the progressive trend of the time, but he apparently made on attempt on the more difficult side of Prog Rock, composing long tracks with multiple influences.His self-confidence as a composer and player are evident already from the opening 19-min. ''Flash'', an excellent take on soft Symphonic/Jazz Rock with slight psychedelic elements on the organ-drenched parts and the singing lines, a loose feeling on the instrumental parts and obvious Classical inspirations on the flute/keyboards interactions.A very nice long epic with some dramatic keyboard and guitar work, smooth lyrical moments with a mellow jazzy background and good pastoral soundscapes with lots of flute.''Museo galattico'' is about 15 minutes long and comes closer to the dark Prog vein of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR and compatriots OFFICINA MECCANICA, it's mostly jazzy Prog Rock with again some singing psychedelia and a vastly more experimental sound.Symphonic elements are not absent either, especially during the synth-led atmospheric passages with the romantic vocals, but the major length is dedicated to mid-tempo instrumental flexibility with lots of sax, organ and guitar.The 14-min. ''Sensitivita'' closes the album in a more symphonic style with discreet jazzy elements.The music is somewhere between ALPHATAURUS and IL VOLO, jazzy-spiced Symphonic Rock with the standard Italian romanticism, based on great organ parts, lovely guitar work, melodic saxes and peaceful synthesizers, the atmosphere is absolutely great and the arrangements sound more refined than raw.

An archival, almost classic work of 70's Italian Prog.Excellent document on how many unsigned bands were playing with a free spirit around the time, this is some serious Jazz/Sympho Rock with elegant sax and flute work and numerous guitar and keyboard dominations.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars,