CRISI

The year is 1972, Prog Rock is still in diapers specially in ITALY, where most of the people was so impressed with GENESIS, that became their first main influence, but at the same time an unknown power trio called EXPLOIT was releasing their first and only album called "Crrisi", a release that I discovered recently when getting information for an article and immediately loved.

Being a keyboard, bass and drum trio, it's most likely to believe that ELP must have had some influence in them, and when you listen this album for the first time the supposition becomes more than obvious (At least in side "A"), but as in most Italian Symphonic bands, they mix this influence with their own unique melodic sound that softens the rigid and strong sound of ELP.

The keyboardist Carlo Crivelli (who also sings), is a real virtuoso with the organ and unlike Keith Emerson, he adds some hints of late Psychedelia to make the combo richer. It's also quite interesting that he sings some tracks in Italian and others in English with a strong accent, but the important issue is that the guy has an excellent range that is somewhere between Jim Morrison and Aldo Tagliapietra singing of course much better in his native language.

The bass an drums in charge of Enzo Cutuli and Aldo Pignatelli are simply powerful (well this is the least yo can expect from a Power Trio) and have a transcendental role in the sound of the band, specially because Pignatelli's timing is impeccable.

Unusually for a debutante band, the album starts with a 20 minutes epic called "Crisi Suite" and is divided in three parts (Speranza, Crisi and Pazzia) taking all side A and it's simply breathtaking. I always believed that ELP and the bands that follow their style are obsessed with the late Romantic and early Modern, classical eras, but CRISI is much closer to late Baroque and early Classical era, making their sound much more melodic than I expected. A great opener for a great album.

Now comes the real surprise, side "B" seems like performed by a different band, because it consists of six shorter tracks with a radically different sound, here they leave ELP and play some sort of late Psychedelia as in "Anche Se Ho Sbagliato" with a killer Hammond performance, blues oriented like in "Un Bambino" or simply experimental as L'Anima Nuda", that reminds me more of KING CRIMSON with a frenetic guitar than of any other band.

Despite the hints of Italian POP in "Giochiamo Insieme" and "La Tua Pelle Scotta", the band always takes good care to keep an interesting and adventurous sound, even when they perform a couple simpler songs.

I simply can't believe that such an excellent band wasn't able to release a second album, but more surprised that "Crisi" remains so unknown for most Prog fans, including some of the best informed.

Four stars for an excellent album that doesn't deserve to fall into oblivion as it has for several decades.

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