PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA

The first time I heard about PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA, I expected another Italian one hit wonder PFM clones, so when discovered in Prog Archives it was a Japanese band, my surprise was huge because even when the RPI influence in Japan bands is important, it's not the main element, so this should be interest

But this wasn't all, checking the credits I discovered names as Megumi Tokuhisa and Motoi Sakuraba (TERU'S SYMPHONIA and in the case of Megumi also MAGDALENA) ; Katsuhiko Hayash (MUGEN; Tomoki Ueno (MARGE LITCH, Deja Vu); etc. This was impressive, not only because we are talking about a Japanese super-group, but also because this guys were playing with two organs, two pianos and a Mellotron simultaneously in some parts of the album...This was a revelation, I had to own a copy of Pazzo Fanfano di Musica, so bought it immediately and must admit I'm addicted to it.

Normally Japanese bands take a bit of RPI, some 70's Symphonic, a bit of Jazz and lots of AOR, but PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA took elements from PFM and BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, blended them with Baroque violin and Harpsichord"a la Vivaldi", added some pastoral flute with lyrics in Japanese and created a delicate fantasy without any trace of AOR that left me speechless...Why did I never heard about this album?

The record is opened by Prelude, a nice guitar (sounding like lute) intro that places the listener into Medieval territory announcing that this album will be something special and a great introduction for the extremely beautiful Fiori Per Algernon (Flowers for Algernon). Based in the short story and subsequent novel by Daniel Keyes.

This song is clearly dominated by the magic violin of Takashi Kawaguchi (OUTER LIMITS), first sweet and nostalgic, but as the song advances, the interplay with piano, percussion and vocals becomes haunting and extremely complex, with some Avant Garde touches. But what impressed me more are the vocals, because Megumi Tokuhisa's voice is extremely acute (Like in anime music), to the point that in some passages is almost painful, but in this album she controls the range making a sweet interpretation (first time i don't care for the lyrics in Japanese, she's so expressive, that i don't need to understand the words). A wonderful song that has everything a Proghead could expect.

Sospiri del Fiore (Sighs of the Flower) is a sweet pastoral song now dominated by the flute of Kazuhiro Miyatake (PAGEANT & MR SIRIOUS) and the acoustic guitar of Takashi Aramaki (Outer Limits) that takes us to Medieval territory, this track flows gently from start to end as a reliever between two powerful songs.

La Dolce Follia (The Sweet Madness) is simply breathtaking, from start to end keeps the listener at the edge of the seat, the once soft violin jumps from melodic and clean to frenetic and aggressive, this is pure Prog Rock in the vein of King Crimson, at least until the piano enters and leads to a weird baroque choir with a magnificent Hammond display, really a weird but passionate song.

As usual, after a strong song PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA relaxes the audience with Agilmente (Gracefully), a beautiful Baroque inte4rlude in the vein of Vivaldi, now performed by violin and harpsichord, followed by the even softer guitar based Intermezzo I .

Affetuoso (Affectionate), is a nostalgic song with a breathtaking violin, but despite the beauty, what amazed me more were the vocals, being that Megumi Tokuhisa offers one of the weirdest performance, seems like a Baroque Orchestra and vocals sung in Japanese, absolutely mind-blowing that works better because it's followed by Fragoroso, a pure Prog track with frenetic rhythm where the drummer Nobuyuku Sakurai works as a human metronome, perfectly supported by Tadashi Sugimoto in the bass (both from OUTER LIMITS), of course before the song ends we have several radical changes, plus excellent violin and piano passages that improve the listening experience even more.

After Intermezzo II that brings a bit of Japanese experience comes the formal and dramatic Onde (In order to), where the interplay between violin and piano gave me goosebumps, extremely beautiful.

The album ends with the 10:35 minutes mini epic Anniversario and the turn of Megumi Tokuhisa to take us through a mystical voyage, everything is calmed and soft until the seventh minute where the full bands enters into unexplored territory hitting us with everything they have and the most spectacular Hammond performance, a brilliant ending for a brilliant album.

After writing this review is clear that I consider this album a flawless masterpiece without any weak moment and gives us the chance to listen one of the very few (if not the only one) Japanese super-group that worked perfectly. So I will rate it with 5 solid stars that I give without hesitation.