ROCK PROGRESSIVO ITALIANO

Mr. Ian Gillan is an excellent musician. As a singer and front man, he is one of the best; second IMHO only to Mr. Robert Plant. When you hear songs like "Fools" (Fireball), "Place In Line" (Who Do We Think Think We Are), or "Mitzi Dupree" (House Of Blue Light), you see he is able to elevate songs quality; an average one turns into excellent. Few more singers are able to do this; ones like David Coverdale, R.J. Dio and Bruce Dickinson among them.

In the realm of hard rock, a front man is essencial; this is a kind of the style demanding it. But in the progressive rock, it seems that technique rules. You can see introspective guys singing in excellent ways, no screaming, no sexual energy being set at audience disposal. So, we speak less about front man here (does not matter if Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin are in this site; they are prog related), we see less bands where the singer is crucial. Spock´s Beard, Marillion, Genesis, a lot more changed front man and in one way or another, quality was still present. Ok, Ian Anderson is a fantastic front man, but I guess his voice is not above average.

Now that we reached this point, what I woud like to say is that in progressive rock I don´t find exceptional singers as much as in hard rock. One example here is, of course, Jon Anderson, of course, but I don´t know if he is human or an Angel.

Then I found Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso. Everything I want from a front man I found in Francesco Di Giacomo; and I mean that skill of "elevating" song´s quality. He has an operatic way of singing, and although I cannot appreciate opera, the fusion he performed mixing this style with progressive rock was very well performed. The band, of course, has others qualities. The doubled keyboard players (the brothers Nocenzi); and the crucial capacity of writing excellent melodies turns them into one of the "sacred three" most known Italian progressive bands (Le Orme and Premiata Forneria Marconi being the others two).

I won´t talk about details in this album, other reviewers performed very well this task. I only would like to call attention to their singer, the fantastic Francesco di Giacomo, who unfortunately passed away few years ago in an accident, I suppose. He is one of the core reasons for this album (and the others two next), deserving a five star rating.

Arguably the defining album of the Rock Progressivo Italiano scene, and you can definitely tell - every one of the hallmarks of that sound is here in abundance, from the dancing keyboards to the impassioned vocals to the long solo sections. And like a lot of RPI, I respect it, but I stop just short of truly liking it. It certainly attempts to put a bit of passion into what was a very pompous and occasionally soulless subgenre, particularly outside of the big names, but the overt instrumental showiness is still there, as is the aversion to anything remotely memorable or catchy. It's well performed and has an endearing conviction to the long-winded jam sessions, but it doesn't resonate with me much beyond surface level.

5.8 (3rd listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction

Almost 50 years after the release of its first and only solo album Dedicato A Giovanna G. (from 1972) Hunka Munka (the nickname for keyboard player Roberto Carlotto) is back, and this time it is not a quirky, Hammond friendly blend of prog, rock and pop, but vintage keyboard drenched 24-carat prog!

Most of the 9 compositions deliver bombastic mid and up-tempo beats, featuring cascades of Hammond, Minimoog and Mellotron, some heavy guitar leads, pleasant Italian vocals, and a powerful rhythm-section. Often Dutch Trace and Japanese Ars Nova and Gerard come to my mind. Especially in La Dama Della Foresta (from church Hammond intro and dazzling Minimoog flights to majestic Mellotron choirs, topped with rock guitar riffs and propulsie drums) and the epic titletrack (between mellow and bombastic, from dreamy piano to orchestral keyboards and lots of Hammond). The shorter tracks are instrumental sound collages, with piano and celestial female voices in La Solitudini Delle Stelle, and atmospheric in L'Uomo Dei Trenini and La Stanza Dei Botini.

A strong and varied track is I Cancelli di Andromeda. It starts with a slow rhythm and soaring Hammond, then powerful drums, spectacular Minimoog, in a bombastic up-tempo, and finally a heavy guitar solo.

But my highlight is Idee Maledette. The intro features an awesome Mellotron choir sound, then a sumptuous mid- tempo with rock guitar, Minimoog and slightly theatrical vocals, next a break with sensational synthesizer sounds, and in the second part again that awesome Mellotron choir sound, blended with rock guitar riffs and flashy Minimoog flights, wow!

My rating: 3,5 star.

New interesting Italian prog that is not on PA: Unalei, Blind Golem and Alessandro Corvaglia (ex-Delirium).

I am not familiar with this band but I am a huge fan of Italian prog since I started to listen to PFM and Banco in the late Seventies. Especially the last two decades I have discovered many gems from the Classic Italian prog era (from Museo Rosenbach to Le Orme), and listened to tons of new Italian prog bands. I am fascinated by the blend of skills, adventurous minds and variety in the music in so many Italian bands, old and new. Listening to Il Paradiso Degli Orchi I quickly conclude that this is a typical interesting Italian prog band: adventurous and varied, good musicians, and lots of tension and dynamics in the music. It will not always be everybody's cup of tea, but for adventurous prog minds there is plenty to enjoy.

The first two tracks (between 4 and 6 minutes) turn out to be 'trademark' Il Paradiso Degli Orchi. Introinduzione delivers a dynamic sound with fiery guitar and powerful flute, in between a break with jazzy guitar, mellow flute and hypnotizing percussion. The Italian vocals are strong. Then the track Slowgun, also dynamic but more varied, from rock and mellow to experimental, embellished with pleasant work on flute, guitars, keyboards and powerful vocals,

Next the long titletrack Samir, the Arabian name is the inspiration for a captivating sultry atmosphere with Middle- East sounding flute, percussion and synthesizer. This strongly reminds me of the Arabian side of my beloved Rock Andaluz (like Azahar and early Medina Azahara). I am delighted about the rock guitar (including wah wah), in combination with sparkling flute and theatrical 'churchy' vocals, unique and exciting prog!

Now Mente, the most alternating and adventurous composition. From sumptuous with sparkling flute and heavy guitar to mellow with soaring flute, in between parts that sound experimental and psychedelic. In the end the music builds to a compelling and bombastic closing section with rock guitar and powerful vocals, like the climax of a rock opera.

Finally the track Ali Di Gabbiano, another strong example of the bands its varied and adventurous musical attitude. First tender classical piano runs, then slow rhythm with a tight beat, melancholical vocals, freaky synthesizer and soaring flute. Then a part with slightly distorted vocals. Halfway a break with Floydian slide guitar, followed by tender piano and flute. In the end a compelling climate featuring flute, rock guitar, freaky synthesizer, wonderful Italian vocals and delicate piano. What an interesting prog this new Italian band delivers!

Well, most of the 10 melodic and harmonic, very tastefully arranged compositions (between 3 and 7 minutes) shift between mellow atmospheres and slow rhythms. At some moments the climates changes into bombastic eruptions or powerful accellarations. The music is wonderfully embellished with varied work on keyboards and guitars: from swinging piano and pitchben driven synthesizer to soaring Hammond and majestic Mellotron violins, and from tender acoustic guitar runs to sensitive ? and fiery rock guitar. I am also very pleased with the vocal contributions of the different singers, all in the beautiful Italian language, a big bonus!

My highlights.

The instrumental Il Gigante Del Nilo. First a slow rhythm featuring moving guitar runs, and a fiery solo (jazzrock inspired). Then sparkling piano play and pleasant synthesizer flights, in the end a dreamy with echo guitar.

Il Sorriso Del Re. The music alternates between dreamy and a slow and compelling rhythm, topped with an awesome Mellotron violins sound (evoking King Crimson and Anekdoten), strong vocals, a moving guitar solo, and a fluent rhythm-section, top notch symphonic rock!

La Curva. A mellow atmosphere delivering tender piano and vocals, gradually the sound turns into more powerful and emotional, with acoustic guitar runs. Halfway a lush and compelling sound with strong vocals, followed by a churchy Hammond, a long and strongly build-up, very moving electric guitar solo, and an acoustic guitar solo with soaring Hammond. In the final part first a slow synthesizer solo with again soaring Hammond, and then acoustic guitar runs, a warm and pleasant variety. Variety rules in this mid-long composition.

And La Città Perduta featuring a dreamy climate with acoustic guitar, then a slow rhythm with moving electric guitar, moving vocals, and powerful guitar leads. Again the band uses very subtle dynamics.

My rating: 3,5 star.

The return of Classic Italian Prog.

The Trip released four albums in the first half of the seventies. The eponymous debut LP (1970) and Caronte (1971) contain a blend of rock, prog and psychedelia, with a lot of harder-edged guitar and powerful organ. On the third effort entitled Atlantide (1972) The Trip plays as a trio without a guitar player. The eight songs sound pleasant and varied with decent English vocals and strong work on keyboards (The Nice and ELP inspired). Their final effort Time Of Change (1973) is jazzy oriented with ELP sounding keyboards. In 2010 the reunion of the 72-73 trio line-up took place, then The Trip performed at the Prog Exhibition in Rome. This event was released in a lush 7-CD and 4-DVD box set, entitled Prog Exhibition ' 40 Anni Di Musica Immaginifica ( also featuring bands like Banco, PFM, Osanna and La Maschera Di Cera). In 2011 The Trip played in Japan, the death of Andersen in 2012 and especially the lost of Vescovi in 2014 (another original member Billy Gray had passed away in 1984) marked the end of this highly acclaimed formation. In 2015 The Trip only original member drummer Pino Sinnone continued the rebirth of The Trip, and one year later Black Widow Records released the CD Live 1972, recorded at the legendary The Piper in Rome. The new line-up since 2019 still includes only one original member, drummer Pino Sinnone. In 2020 The Trip released a new version of the 1971 Carone album entitled Caronte 50 Years Later.

Early Seventies Hammond drenched prog, re-recorded in 2021, what an interesting combination! The 8 compositions deliver a pleasant variety. Psychedelic in the short instrumental opener Acheronte. Bombastic and dynamic with The Nice inspired Hammond work and fiery guitar in Caronte 1 and II. A ballad with piano and decent English vocals in Little Janie. Heavy guitar and swirling Hammond like Atomic Rooster, topped with strong Italian vocals and a boogie woogie piano in Una Pietra Colorata. And a blend of Seventies Uriah Heep and early Classic Italian Prog with slightly theatrical Italian vocals in Fantasia.

My highlight on this album is the longest track L'Ultima Ora E Ode A Jimi Hendrix (10 minutes). First a slow rhythm featuring soaring Hammond and powerful vocals. Then the music turns into bombastic and compelling, with dramatic vocals and lush Hammond. The sound reminds me of Seventies Uriah Heep. Halfway a wonderful Hammond solo, followed by an accelarion with lush Hammond and powerful drums. Next a fiery guitar solo and a Hammond solo with strong classical hints. The second part is a warm tribute to Jimi Hendrix, translated in a moving way by howling electric guitar runs, very intense.

Good job by this new The Trip line-up, fuelled by only original member drummer Pino Sinnone. Especially keyboard player Andrea "Dave" D'Avino colours the The Trip sound in an exciting way with his mighty Hammond."

Better than I was expecting - Italian symphonic prog in the 2000s didn't exactly give me high hopes, but I checked it out regardless. This is a little bit removed from the original Italian symphonic sound, with some Pink Floyd influences parts cropping up, and an impassioned vocalist who reminded me the most of Sylvan's Marco Glühmann. Some nice melodies crop up, but it is still too much in the mold of tired old progressive rock clichés to get a ringing endorsement from me.

5.8 (1st listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction

The sound on this new Celeste album is similar to the previous effort from 2019, but the saxophone has a more important role. Most of the 7 compositions deliver the distinctive Celeste pastoral prog: very melodic and harmonic, dreamy atmospheres and slow rhythm, warm male and female vocals, and wonderfully coloured by often the flute, acoustic guitar, Mellotron violins, spacey synthesizer flights and tender piano. Some tracks contain a folky flavour, due to the use of the duduk and tin-whistle, a pleasant variety. The most dynamic track is Il Passaggio Di Un Gigante Gentile: it starts with classical piano, then a slow rhtyhm with mellow saxophone and the duduk, gradually the music turns into more lush featuring a fluent rhythm-section. The highlight on this new album is the epic L'Ultimo Viaggio del Principe (close to 25 minutes), it contains a wide range of instruments. From twanging acoustic guitar, flute, piano, string-ensemble, Mellotron violins and the duduk to a sparkling violin solo, a male choir singing in Latin, a female opera voice, saxophone and violin. In the final part soft synthesizer drops and acoustic guitar, the soaring string-ensemble sound, and in the end intense Mellotron violin work, simply wonderful.

If you are into laidback prog (like the mellow side of early Genesis and Camel) this new album is a pleasant musical experience.

My rating: 3,5 star.

1. "L'Ultima Spiaggia" (13:15) jumps out to a fast, though stop-and-go, start with electric guitar and saxophone playing lead over the very busy, driving rhythm section. At 1:15 things slow down--check that, the bottom drops out- -and we're left with a very spacious section of several individual inputs: mainly clarinet, double bass, flute, and trombone. Very cool; very classical sounding. The music then transitions into a nice, slow section of beautifully picked electric guitar and busy electric bass over which vocalist Rocky Rossi unleashes some very dynamic singing. At 4:40 we shift back into the more classical-yet-this time jazzier section, keeping the electric guitar and electric bass. Eventually the drums and sax and electric guitar join the bass in not one but two little sections of interesting Crimsonian RPI. The sax play in the second half of the seventh minute is almost that of a rhaita (Morrocan oboe). At 7:15 there is yet another shift, this time into a groovy jazz section in which bass and electric guitar get busy running all over their respective fretboards while drummer Rubino Colasante keeps a solid time. At 8:38 another shift into a rapid speed CHICAGO-like section with saxes and guitars trading aggressive ejaculations with singer Rossi. Long sax solo is finally coerced into a slowdown section with bass keeping the song going as Rocky sings his heart out over the top. Very theatric vocal performance--here with an aggressive whisper voice doubling him up. Sax joins in until 11:30 when distorted rhythm guitar strums bridge into a kind of circus tent of disorganized sound before a chord hit allows a brief drum solo which the whole band then joins for the rock ending. Pretty amazing and complex composition! (28/30)

2. "Il Soldato" (6:17) Starts out quite slow with gently picked and strummed electric guitar over which Rocky's distorted voice sings plaintively. Bowed double bass joins in making it a trio before the end of the first verse and is then joined by trombone in the second. Instrumental passage following the second verse features a complex, polyrhythmic weave of all three of these instruments with Rocky's alto sax. Quite lovely! The bowed bass and sax really have the lead as trombone fades out. Then we are left with only the double bass and beautifully picked electric guitar: Roby Grablovitz truly excels at this unusual skill! Rocky's treated voice returns with the guitar, bowed bass and trombone for another verse and then finally a chorus to end the song. Beautiful! And so unique and distinctive! (10/10)

3. "E" (3:57) opens with full band in full swing with electric guitar and sax presenting the rather complicated and fast-moving melody line over bass and drums. Sax gets a little more space and freedom to go off on his own over the first half of the song but then the guitar drops an octave and gets dirtier, louder, before switching to an awesome rhythm section in support of a sax solo. The rhythm section is so tight and the sax really good but this guitarist is mesmerizing! Great jazz-rock song with really tight band cohesion yet not as melodic as I'd like. (9/10)

4. "Io Robot" (7:41) clarinet and bowed double bass open this one and are rapidly joined by delicately picked and strummed jazz guitar and electric bass before singer Rocky Rossi enters with a powerful singing performance. Late in the second minute Rocky finishes and the band shifts into third gear with some really nice chord and melodic play before shifting again into a quick-time bass-led backed-off drums section in which sax solos wildly, testing the effects that can be made with breath. Roby drops his nicely strummed rhythm guitar in order to step in with some quite dynamic flute play before the band shifts into a bridge of crazed sound-making signalling a shift back to the quick-time bass and backed-off drum motif. This doesn't last long as electric guitar picking and cymbal play make room for Rocky to play some sax with a series of long held notes. Quite beautiful! Drums pick it up a bit as Rocky continues this remarkable display of breath capacity ... to the song's end. (14/15)

5. "Martino" (5:41) another song in which the band jumps in whole-hog into a fast-paced jazz-rock instrumental. A minute into the song everybody slows down into a kind of New Orleans funeral march--but this doesn't last long as the band recoups and burst down a side street so that Rocky can let loose with his powerful singing. What I find interesting is that by this point in the album I find myself getting a little bored or inured of the sound made by this band. There is a lot of repetition of form and sound and a lot of short shifts with sudden turns and not quite enough interesting melody for my tastes. Very skilled musicians with some nice creative ideas (that they can pull off!) but not always the most "pleasing" music to listen to. The chord and melodic structures of the second half of the song are more accessible and engaging than the first, which is nice. (9.25/10)

Total Time: 36:51

A/five stars; a masterpiece of dynamic and highly skilled jazz-rock fusion. Why people don't know more about this album I don't know, but they should!

The title track is a gothic piece, made even more obscure by the sadness of the organ (I think hammond): it is very reminiscent of the atmosphere of Profondo Rosso, but in my opinion it is more effective. "Aquaman" unfolds between acoustic arpeggios and a very intense central part, which is very reminiscent of the Pinkfloydian sound in the psychedic-dreamy atmosphere. "Snip Snap" is a more relaxed episode, and in my opinion it is a song in which the band shows great harmony: kitchen-scratch guitar in full funky style (wow!), Impeccable rhythm section, tasty space reserved for Guarini's electric piano . "The Snake Awakens" is instead a piano interlude enriched by numerous effects and by the intervention of the clarinet in the final part. "Goblin" is an ambitious, very long piece, a suite that presents different moments. The beginning is excellent, even if in the first four minutes the group in my opinion lacks a bit of virtuosity. The second part, on the other hand, is exceptional, the keyboard intertwining is spectacular and really creates a "spatial" atmosphere. I also find the final piece, "Dr. Frankenstein", excellent, which introduces us to a disturbing atmosphere through an original drumming style and a good use of electronic effects. In conclusion, in my opinion the album is original, in the sense that it does not take its cue from British bands in a manneristic way. Despite this, it is slightly reminiscent of Genesis in some more frenetic parts and has a mysterious atmosphere that can be approached to the contemporary debut lp of the Alan Parsons Project.

In my opinion, the Goblins are no longer able to make a work so free from the rigid schemes of the horror soundtrack, and I'm sorry. "Roller" is a disc rich in nuances, varied in settings and superbly recorded, thus making it very modern; excellent harmonies and a really mature use of the keyboards (many), without falling into the baroque style that takes away intensity from the composition. A cult for fans.