GUERCIA FIGURA GOFFA

La Guercia Figura Goffa was an Italian band from Ravenna, active in the 70's but, as with many Italian acts of the time, unlucky to release an album during the prog heydays.The line-up consisted of Vittorio Bonetti on keyboards and vocals, guitarist Giuliano Pantoli, bassist Adriano Tarroni and Daniele Ferretti on drums, vocals and guitars.Only in 1982 with the name shortened to Guercia this group released a self-titled private vinyl.

Much of the band's inspiration has gone in 1982, while the period of the release was just not aprropriate for trully progressive experiments, so Guercia's overall style was now a bit softened like a mix of 70's Progressive Rock with light Pop/Rock aesthetics, while the production has a certain 80's feeling.However the prog elements really exceed in this album and the tracks have a nice number of shifting moods despite the careful, non-risky performances.From the smooth guitar playing to the symphonic synthesizers, from some keyboard acrobatics to the fair dose of breaks and from the sensitive Italian vocals to the jazzy electric-piano instrumental sections, Guercia was a good and tight prog group, no question.But as the time had moved on, all these good elements were often mixed with some straightforward rock tunes and light poppy breezes, which spoil the album's cohesion at some point.

In 1999 Mellow Records re-issued the album in CD format, including 4 tracks from the band's early years.Obviously these tracks sounds more progressive and additionally they are quite long, like the 11-min. ''L'omino delle candele'', which is very complex Progressive/Folk Rock with numerous complicated parts and vintage flute work.''Mosaico'' and ''Nascere pazzo'' sound quite similar and they are also great, a mix of Heavy Rock with Symphonic Rock with nice work on piano and electric guitars, again La Guercia Figura Goffa deliver an alternation between hard and softer beats through a number of sudden breaks.''Astrobarca'' is a live track with a dramatic opening keyboard section, which turns into a Heavy Rock monster with guitars in evidence, still piano and synths play a dominant role towards the lighter ending theme.

Guercia kept playing in the 80's and appear every now and then with some brief reunions during the millenium.Keyboardist Vittorio Bonetti released a personal CD in 2002 under the title ''Anime marine'', same situation with drummer Daniele Ferretti, who released a solo work in 2006 under the name Gil'O.

This is among the hidden little treasures of the past prog scene of Italy.Melodic still challenging Progressive Rock with this lovely Italian flavor, which needs to be discovered by a wider audience.Recommended, as you go for the CD reissue, which seems a bit more interesting and of course easier to find than the very rare vinyl.