CITTA' DI FRONTIERA

Familiar 70s style prog from this Italian five-piece, a group that is fine with the notion of taking from ELP, Yes, Camel and most major Italian Symph acts of the period without any sense of shame. And why not-- if you're gonna steal, steal from the best. Other than this shortcoming of originality, Calliope is a very decent band with plenty of energy and a proud sense of the past. Rinaldo Doro's Arp, Moog, Hammond, Leslie and GEM come in good use and he cracks alive with Mario Guadagnin's nasty hard metal guitar. 8-minute 'La Prova' is promising but ultimately too long for its own good, 'Sarajevo' is better and more complex. But the commercial aspect of this band peeks its ugly head out frequently, cheapening otherwise perfectly fine prog. Weepy ballad 'Margherita a Rodi' is no fun, 'Terra di Nessuno' is a confusing pop-fusion amalgam I would - save a few moments - really only want to hear in a Milan nightclub, and a solitary nylon string guitar piece finishes the first half soothingly. So goes this mixed bag, unpredictable but not in a good way. When they're good, they're good. When they're not, they kinda stink. 'Windsor' starts on an exciting triplet and revels in sounds of the past but once again is sabotaged by this group's tendencies toward self-destruction, torn between cheesy symph-metal and thoughtful music. Not recommended to anyone in particular, but not bad.