QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA

Quella Vecchia Locanda's debut album is quite an energetic offer, full of electric fire, which comes from both the rock and the blues area, and yet, their style can't be labelled as hard prog (more suitable for Metamorfosi, Biglietto, Museo Rosenbach.). Sure these guys can rock, since there's plenty of highlight space for the guitar riffs, and there's also furious drumming and mean bass lines along the way; but regarding the repertoire as a whole, you can tell that the presence of recurrent baroque motifs, as well as some passages full of Mediterranean romanticism (tracks 3 and 8, by he way, a delicious closure), keep the sonic balance in favour of the achievement of an overall symphonic prog sound according to regular standards. At this point, the general reminiscences may be accurately referred to PFM, though by no means is QVL to be considered as a clone. The vocal performances are somewhat relevant in QVL's repertoire, though the lyrics are not precisely too abundant: yet, the two lead singers the flutist and the guitarist) alternate their different ranges for good effect, and there's also a bunch of enthusiastic choral parts. The violin is the most prominent lead instrument, since it not only serves as a basis for all those classically inspired intros and interludes, but also appears as a complementary companion to the electric guitar parts in most of the heavier parts: straight examples of this are incarnated on the first two numbers, though QVL shines in its most explosive levels on tracks 4-7. These ones really show you that Donald Lax, despite being the last to enter the band, became te main muscal focus for the sextet. The flute passages add some excellent colours into the varied musical pallet created by QVL (lovely lines on track 3), while the keyboardist makes tasteful use of chords on the piano, the pristine harpsichord, and the aggressive organ, as well as mesmerising ambiences on mellotron and some occasional solos on synth. Tracks 6-7 are my favs when it comes to appreciating the most inspired level of interplay among all six musicians. 'Quella Vecchia Locanda' is a real Italian prog gem, that should have deserved a better sound production; sure some of the material could have actually benefited from a little more consistency in the arrangements department, but all in all, it is a stunning piece of prog music.