SMOGMAGICA

Around mid-70's Le Orme have established themsleves as one of the best Italian prog bands with releases ranging from very good to excellent quality.In 1975 it was time for a new Le Orme LP,this time the band travels to Los Angles for the recordings,while in the line-up the one-shot guitarist Tolo Marton was added.Reasonably anyone was prepared for some change in the usual process...but it was'nt for good.

''Smogmagica'' is simply a very uneven album with an excellent track,a few good ones but lots of plain moments as well.The ''Los Angeles'' opener is absolutely amazing and among the best Le Orme compositions ever despite its average starting gears,especially the vocals and the keyboard-based middle section is amazing,close to early ELOY.A few soft prog tracks like ''Amico di ieri'',''Laserium Floyd'' or ''Immensa distesa'' hold some interesting moments with nice synth work and good vocals,but unfortunately the rest of the album is very boring,just straightforward rock with Marton given a basic role,but without any sufficient or memorable playing,while listening to Le Orme performing that kind of music is like a fish out of the water...it doesn't match at all.

The album is not a total waste of time,about just a bit less half of it is worth the band's legendary name but compared to their earlier works it loses the battle by a mile.If you ever run through this band's 70's era,''Smogmagica'' should rather stand as last in line.