LANDSCAPE OF LIFE

OSANNA was certainly one of the Italian prog bands of the 1970s that stood out for its eccentric approach for crafting quality prog. By blending a mix of hard rock, folk, blues, jazz and Mediterranean folk flavors, this band not only stood out from the crowded scene with its eclectic hard driving idiosyncrasies but was known for putting on wild theatrical shows that actually predated Genesis with all the face paint stuff. The band was equally known for its fiery performances which placed them in the forefront of Italy's explosively creative progressive rock scene of the early 1970s.

Since the band's formation in 1970, guitarist / keyboardist / vocalist Lino Vairetti and his buddies found that perfect middle ground between the world of early heavy rock, progressive folk and the more pastoral Genesis inspired symphonic prog but always had a knack for inserting bizarre avant-garde outbursts which made these guys one of the most unpredictable bands that was a crowd pleaser for the intensity in the live shows and was a favorite at events such as the Avant-garde Music Festival and New Trends in Viareggio.

The band catapulted to the top of the Italian scene with its first two albums "L'uomo" and the unfinished soundtrack music of "Milano Calibro 9" but with the third album "Palepoli" which showed the band firing on all prog firepower, OSANNA crafted one of the most stunning masterpieces of the entire progressive rock scene of the 70s much less that of Italy. The album has well stood the test of time and remains highly influential for its audacious approach of fusing the local folk flavors of its native Napoli into the incessant prog workouts with hard rock heft however it seems the band wasn't destined to carry on such greatness and began to falter with its fourth album LANDSCAPE OF LIFE which followed two years later in 1974.

This was a tumultuous time for the band as the various members started to squabble over the direction of where the music should go and therefore instead of crafting a proper followup to the perfection prog known as "Palepoli," OSANNA retrograded back to the less progressive hard rock band that incorporated jazz, blues and folk flavors on LANDSCAPE OF LIFE. Luckily the band hadn't quite lost all its creative mojo yet and was still able to craft satisfying prog rockers that implemented all the tricks and trinkets of heavy guitar riffs alternating with more pastoral symphonic prog sounds along with jazzy saxophone squawks, folky flute runs and plenty of organ, piano and mellotron.

While clearly a major step down from "Palepoli," LANDSCAPE OF LIFE isn't a terrible album in its own right and more comparable to the band's debut "L'uomo" only a little looser and less cohesive in quality. Unlike its predecessor that featured two side-swallowing single tracks and only a short intermission to separate them, OSANNA's fourth album is a collection of seven shorter tracks that rely on hard rock compositional dynamics as the blueprint to build upon. There seems to be two versions with the same tracks but different track order depending on if you have the original vinyl LP or the CD reissues and i have to say that it was wise to change the order because opening with the mopey pastoral title track belied OSANNA's rock and roll energetic drive.

For the most part LANDSCAPE OF LIFE is pretty good with only a few clunkers like the short but pointless "Promised Land." There is definitely a feeling of devolution on this album though as it's a weak followup to "Palepoli" and it certainly took a while for this one to sink in but after more careful attentive listens, LANDSCAPE OF LIFE is a decent album albeit in a more straight forward hard rock style with a few proggy moments as opposed to the unabashed prog jugular of the predecessor however it was clear that OSANNA had lost its momentum and it would only get worse from here.

3.5 but i'll round up cuz damn this is OSANNA!