CORTE DEI MIRACOLI

...and so Italy persisted in searching other new bands that were able to re-capture the magic of the fabulous prog's first hour. The Italian mid-seventies are very interesting for any good prog lover for there are ones of the most prodigious prog bands ever and almost all have in common the fact they were one-shot bands: 1975 was the year of Maxophone and Apoteosi, 1976 of Celeste and Corte dei Miracoli, 1977 of Locanda delle Fate and Riccardo Zappa (who is not a band at all but an artist who graced us with his many solo albums...).

Of those bands Corte dei Miracoli and Locanda delle Fate seem to be very similar at first look. Both for that peculiar double-keyboards composition of the the line-up. Notwithstanding very different for that's the first looks more toward the ELP's experience while the second to Genesis's delicious sound. Electric guitar on Corte dei Miracoli is only on the first track "... E Verrà l'Uomo" (...And Then Man Will Come, 7,00 mns), as the precious contribution of Vittorio De Scalzi (New Trolls and New Trolls Atomic System, a mastermind of italian progressive sound) as a guest musician. And how exciting is the intro of that opener! The arrangements are all well elaborated in the usual italian mellow flavour which, you know, does not mean lack of complexity! It's an inceasing alternating between faster and slower parts, even if not up to pure virtuosism. Vocals provided by Graziano Zippo are an interesting mix between Le Orme (Aldo Tagliapietra) and Banco (Francesco Di Giacomo), the most related italian classic bands.

The ambitious project of the boys from Liguria (the region of Genua) seems to show us that the band's members knew perfectly where they were trying to focus their skills: on a genre near to fall, under the irresistible pressure of labels and commercial discography. In the few liner's notes on this Vinyl Magic reissue, they explain the meaning of the choice of name "Court of Miracles": it was the term used by Victor Hugo in "Notre Dame de Paris" to describe that group of marginalized people, talentuous but ingenuous...

So that's why of the longest track titled "I Due Amanti" (The Two Lovers, 13,40 mns)...this is not but the story of Quasimodo and Esmeralda!

P.S. The general rating of this album should be above the four stars!