CAMERE ZIMMER ROOMS

Picchio Dal Pozzo´s debut album was a wonderful album in the Canterbury style. One of the better in that style if you ask me. Camere Zimmer Rooms are songs recorded live in the studio between the release of the debut in 1976 and their sophmore release Abbiamo Tutti i Suoi Problemi in 1980. The songs were released in 2001 as Camere Zimmer Rooms. I expected some strange experiments and some below standard songs as that is usually what comes out of rehearsels, but I was dead wrong. Camere Zimmer Rooms are just as good as the debut from Piccio Del Pozzo and some places even better.

The music is strongly rooted in the jazzy Canterbury tradition, but with italian lyrics. If you consider this to be a problem, try this out and you´ll be proven wrong. I know I was. The music is pleasant yet complicated enough for prog heads to enjoy. Il Presidente starts the album of with a vocal part that put me of at first listen but has grown on me. The rest of the song is just an instrumental excursion of excellent ones. Il Mare D´Irlanda is the song on the album with the strongest emphazis on vocals. It´s a really pleasnt song with a great melody line and some nice background synths. La Cittá and Pinguini are pretty complex mostly instrumental pieces with lots of solos and improvisation.

All musicians on this album are outstanding and they are the main reason why these songs sound so cool and tight. With two sax players in the band they are pretty dominant of course. Don´t expect wailing sax solos though this is much more subtle and pleasant. The typical warm Canterbury sound. If it is right that this is recorded live in the studio I´m really impressed as the perfomances are flawless.

The production is fantastic and warm. You can hear every instrument clearly in the soundscape. Again I am stunned. How can you create this kind of sound from rehearsel tapes ?

This is an excellent release from an excellent band. Picchio Dal Pozzo rule the Canterbury style. Highly recommendable album that I will rate 4 big stars. I might upgrade it to 5 in time though.