ESSERE O NON ESSERE ?

There was back in the 70s a band called Il Volo that released just a couple of albums, while the first one (self titled) is more melodic with some mediterranean touch and with actually some popish moments, the second one (Essere o non Essere) besides the symphonic music and classical italian style, has that jazz feeling which makes a kind of a mixture that would make an album called unique.

Il Volo sadly split up after this album released in 1975, this band was actually a super-band whoch featured trained members of others great and popular RPI bands, just to name a couple of them, Alberto Radius (the legendary Alberto Radius from Formula 3) and the awesome bass player Bob Callero who used to play with both Osage Tribe and Duello Madre formed this band.

Essere o non essere is a beautiful album but sadly very short, i think they could have created a couple of songs more without a roblem and the album would have been as good as it is, it features 6 songs and a total time of 30 minutes. Gente in Amore is an awesome track, it starts soft but at the same time showing some strange noises, then it becomes heavier and we can notice the great musicianship that the band had, after a minute we will listen to acoustic guitars and some vocals over there, not lyrics just the voice, then it has the electric guitars just in order to change to a jazzy oriented style with slight symphonic moments due to the keyboards, the percussion and bass are great. Medio Oriente 249000 tutto compresso starts with a guitar which makes a sound that transports me to the Arabia, the name says it, Medio Oriente so the music has to be with it actually, then it blends everything, jazz, rock and symphonic and again some vocals without lyric, a great track filled with what those excellent musicians can do. Essere besides being the shortest track, its the only one that has lyrics, of course italian lyrics which i love and personally is an extra point to me, there are two keyboard players in the band and we can notice it in this track, which besides the above mentioned symphonic and jazz style, it has some spacey flavour on it. Alcune Scene, so fast we are now in the second half of the album, its a pity they didn`t make more songs, the previous song was the shortest, on the other hand this is the longest track whose first two minutes are kind of a dark moment, after that passage the song turns jazzier (note the drumming) and after a short pause when we can listen to the guitars, it returns to that jazzy style, i love the bass Bob Callero`s work is always a guarantee of excellence. Svegliandomi Con Te Alle 6 Del Mattino is a delicious theme, very calm and soft music, delicate percussion and a comfortable guitar playing makes you feel pleased and relaxed, the second half of this song is a heavier with some jamming here and there, and again excellent musicianship. Canti e Suoni, well friends we are now at the end of the road, this is the last song of this beautiful album, it again features some vocals without lyric, and starts with a delicate sound, then it turs into a heavier song with some percussion that reminds me a bit to Santana, the keyboard background is very atmospheric and pleasant.

So this is it, i agree with the album`s previous reviewers that this is not the typical RPI album since it blends everything i mentioned before, anyway it was made by key musicians that played an enormous role in the developement of the Italian prog scene. This is a must having for anyone who likes this country`s prog, i personally dont give it 5 stars because i really would have loved to see the album filled with a couple songs more, i believe it would have been better. My grade is 4 solid stars, highly recommendable and of course an excellent addition to any prog lover.

Enjoy it!

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