ROCK PROGRESSIVO ITALIANO

The music here is a nice mix of Italian folk prog utilizing mostly acoustic guitars with frequent keyboards. The music isn't really heavy in the prog department, but there are places where there are tricky meters in certain songs, the proggiest of which are "Creuza de Ma" and "Nei Miandri dell'Alba". The vocals are all in Italian and are quite pleasant sounding, supported many times with background singers and possibly even a small chorus of singers.

The individual tracks tend to be inspired by folk dance styles and a few lean towards a ballad style like "La Guerra di Piero", which is led mostly by piano, or towards a pastoral sound as in "Giordie", which also features a female vocalist and a lovely orchestration of acoustic instruments.

The music is nice and mostly pastoral, the vocals don't really change much as far as timbre is concerned, but Lombardi doesn't stretch beyond his capabilities and the songs are interesting enough to help carry the variety in style. But, he isn't a bad singer either and is quite confident in his sound. The occasional female vocals also help add variety. The instruments are pretty much mostly acoustic with the only track with discernable electric guitar riffs is the final track. So, this is a good album for those who like their music on the folk side, pastoral in sound with occasional hints of progressiveness.

This recent release offers something new, ie. previously unreleased material. P.F.M. is without a question the most notable of Italian prog bands, and the first one to reach wide international success. The ELP fellows Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield were to thank for that; in December 1972 Lake witnessed PFM's homeland gig and invited them to England, and Sinfield wrote English lyrics for them and produced albums released via ELP's own label Manticore. The whole history of PFM is once again told (by the label boss Mark Powell) in the liner notes of this 2-CD.

The end of 1975 saw the Italian release of the album Chocolate Kings with the new vocalist Bernardo Lanzetti (formerly of Acqua Fragile), and Manticore's UK/USA release followed in April 1976, coinciding with a UK tour. This particular gig was held at the University of Nottingham, and it was captured on tape by Manticore Records and broadcast on a local radio. The line-up is Lanzetti, Flavio Premoli (keyboards), Franco Mussida (guitar), Mauro Pagani (woodwinds, violin), Patrick Djivas (bass) and Franz Di Cioccio (drums). I haven't listened to the mentioned studio album, which contains five tracks, three of them included here. The set opens with 'Paper Charms', a 10-minute piece of Yes & King Crimson influenced intense prog rock in which Lanzetti's vocals come and go. His raspy voice has always reminded me of Family's Roger Chapman. On the heavily extended version of 'Four Holes in the Ground' (originally from The World Became the World, 1974) Pagani plays both flute and violin. The energy of the band at the top of their game is strongly felt. In fact for a large part Lanzetti, fluent enough in English but not very brilliant vocalist technically, remains in a pretty small role, which is actually positive. As he raises his voice he sounds also like the rockiest voice in Gentle Giant (whichever Shulman he was, Derek?).

The third track widens the dynamics towards the more delicate end of the spectre: 'Dove... quando' is on PFM's debut album Storia di un minuto (1972) an acoustically oriented, calm and folky song, and pretty well its thoughtful spirit was captured in this gig too, although I think that for example the electric piano makes it a bit different. 5-minute 'Acoustic Guitar Solo' proves that Franco Mussida's competence doesn't badly pale in comparison to Howe or Hackett. The 1st disc is finished by two further Chocolate Kings tracks. There are effective riffs and strong playing, but all in all I'm missing the Mellotron-contained, more pastoral prog style of PFM's earliest albums.

Two further early tracks come on 2nd disc, the jolly near-instrumental 'Celebration' and 'La Carrozza di Hans' which are to me more rewarding in this set than the "thicker" Lanzetti-era material. The live sound is relatively good, just slightly stuffy, but the live energy makes up for little imperfections. This is a fairly recommended release if you're a fan of PFM and especially if you're fond of live albums in general. 3½ stars.

are on par with the debut album. The first track certainly matches them - it provides the needed instrumental complexity.

The second track is also adventureous but has the unfinished feel. I'd like to highlight the work of the drummer here which is put quite heavy in the mix.

Claudette has, despite poor sound quality, nice keyboard layers and emotions.

This album has three stars but if the recording quality were better, add another half-star to it.

However, guitar is more present than on a typical RPI album.

Three compositions reach over 9 minutes and the band have enough space to develop the music ideas.

Vocals remind me of early Kaipa because of the expression and voice colour. Guitar player is skilled and shows inclination to hard rock. Keyboards are almost always present and creative, from piano, organ to synthesizers.

The bass and drums greatly support the leading instruments.

My favourite parts are instrumental sections when the whole group shines on and these is evidenced in each song.

The first track sums up the band skills and inspiration. Changes of dynamism won't allow listeners to rest on laurels.

"Dopo l'uragano" has a more rock/hard-rock flavour than progressive rock but can be called anthemic. "Croma" is probably my favourite section on the album because it is so symphonic and solemn with keyboards in the foreground.

"La mente vola" has a nice vibraphone-sounding solo and a clear melody heavily dominated by keyboards.

"Ombra muta" is instrumentally the most complex song with plenty of interactions and it could have been more coherently done without brief vocals.

A good addition to anyone's RPI collection.

The album starts with 2 of the shorter tracks. "When Love Dies" is an instrumental that starts peacefully with piano and flute playing a pastoral ballad with acoustic guitar joining later. At 2 minutes, keyboards and a more traditional rock feeling comes in with drums, but it remains soft and melodic. Intensity comes in later with guitar and then synthesized vocal effects as the band reaches into its Floydian bag of tricks. "Lost in the Sands of Time" starts quite mellow with atmospheric guitars and processed percussion before vocals come in. The band comes in later with a driving rhythm and synth riff and vocals become more intense. The track is fairly typical however, not really offering much and sounding a bit forced as they try to get in a progressive sound in the time allotted one way or another.

The first epic is over 17 minutes. "La Chanson de Jeanne" is a 3 part suite. It starts with a guitar intro with the full band behind before the vocals start. Later, guest vocalist Ludovica Strizoli sings the 2nd verse. As the track continues, it seems quite shallow and the keys sound dated. The only real good thing here is the guitar solo, but it is played against a boring background. After 5 minutes, the 2nd part begins with a minimal keyboard playing sustained chords and other effects. Spoken word vocals echo in the background for a short time. Finally, after 8 minutes, soft flute and guitar stars and the guest vocalist sings a lackluster part that is supposed to have that prog-folk feeling, but unfortunately, there is hardly any feeling there at all. The beat finally picks up with the regular singing and a lilting flute. Again, there is still no real heart in the music, it feels flat and the playing seems canned as keys and guitar take turns at solos. The 3rd part begins about 14 minutes in with organ and strummed guitar supporting a synthesizer melody and guitar solo then a pastoral flute ending with fade out.

"The Call of Cthulu" is another 3 part suite lasting about 12 minutes. It starts out a bit more heavy when the guitar comes in with drums playing a more solid beat. As the instrumental beginning continues, organ, synth and so on play their parts as this track promises to be a bit better. Before the 4 minute mark, things get eerie with dark and mysterious sounds, which is expected considering the subject matter, then the ominous organ comes in preceding vocals. The vocals are much to mellow however and bring the believability down a bit. A steady, moderate beat begins, more vocals, then guitar. At 8 minutes, the rhythm becomes slightly more complex and the vocals a bit more intense, but then everything is lost when this stops and the 3rd part begins. Cue the final guitar solo, then more eerie atmospherics. At the end of it all, you realize that even at almost 12 minutes, the development still lacks because it just seems like a lot of little parts that had to be put in here or there, everything had to be in its place that there wasn't any room for development anywhere.

Next, there is the 3rd short track "Last Train to Atlana". This is again another pastoral instrumental with flute and acoustic guitar (with squeaky strings) with some light percussion. The flute melody is quite uninteresting though.

The last track is another epic at over 14 minutes. "The Hum" is a 5 part suite. This one shoots for a more progressive sound in the introductory section with tricky rhythms, organ and guitar. Later, a slow piano section brings in the vocals for a ballad style section. The organ, piano and guitar in the instrumental break are nice and the melody here is probably the most heartfelt. After this, the complexity returns with a more progressive section, but this ends too quickly as things get quiet except for tolling bells and atmospherics. Then the flute carries a melody with a soft orchestral effect. This is interrupted after the 10 minute mark with the complex progressive sound coming back as the full band kicks in but soon settles into a steady beat with the flute still leading the way, but this time with a little more intensity. After a while, the guitar takes the flute melody and runs away with it.

For the most part, this album seems to try to be more than what it really is. Yes you have the long epic songs, but, other than "The Hum", which is the highlight of the album, they just seem too forced and lack emotion. The shorter tracks don't really help to bring it all together, and in the end it seems a bit disjointed. For the most part, unless they are playing a solo, the musicians just seem to be there playing automatically. Other times, it seems they are in a hurry to fit everything in and end up without developing anything. What makes "The Hum" more interesting is for some reason, there is more heart and soul in the song, but even it has it's problems, it's just that it is a more interesting track too. The music could stand to be somewhat looser and emotional and not just playing for the sake of playing. The album squeaks by with a 3 star rating, but only because of the last track.

One thing to point out about RanestRane immediately is that the group are as far from the RPI/Rock Progressivo Italiano sound as possible, as there's none of the classical or theatrical touches that are often signature components of that tag (mind you, several members of RanestRane have also pulled double duty as members of reworked versions of legendary vintage Italian proggers Il Rovescio della Medaglia!). Instead, RanestRane have a firmly modern sound that shares much more in common with the most dramatic Pink Floyd moments, Marillion, as well as little touches of Riverside and Aryen Luccassen's Ayreon projects without merely lazily resorting to the heavier guitar riffing. RPI or not, it really makes no difference, because RanestRane are an exceptionally skilled and exciting band who deliver a first-rate album here with their latest effort.

Opener `L'insieme delle Cose' is a reflective soft rocker that grows in power as it progresses, full of icy Neo-Prog-like synths, the chiming guitars of the Hogarth-fronted era of Marillion and some frequently recurring wordless sighing harmonies. The tune, sung in Italian by drummer Daniele Pomo with a great and weary dignity, ultimately proves defiant with victoriously chest-beating moments. Instrumental `Do You Read Me H.A.L.?' is a space-rock sound collage interspersed with soundbites from the movie that borrows greatly from Pink Floyd's `One of These Days', all slide guitar and shimmering organ slivers (and the CD booklet even cheekily refers to it as the `Meddle Variation'!). `Ambasciatore delle Lacrime' is a tougher rocker with plenty of moody guitars courtesy of Steve Rothery but a more relaxed chorus, and `Sognero Mai' shakes things up with some colder electronics, gloomy organ and snarling guitars that bristle with desperation before a haunting acoustic climax.

Very few prog albums are without their longer epic, and the near-fifteen minute `Stargate' certainly delivers, with three of its four sections being fully instrumental. Combining everything from lulling piano interludes, heroic guitar passages and deep- space synth journeys, there's also breathless up-tempo sprints powered by coursing bass and touching acoustic breaks. The various segments all flow together effortlessly, and this multi-part piece is full of warmth and carries a quietly powerful beauty. `Prometeo tra le Stelle' is more of the same, perhaps just a little unengaging and probably could have been left off altogether without lessening the disc, but a fancy harpsichord-like break in the middle is likely the closest the disc comes to a teasing RPI-like moment here. The short `Abandoned' is then a pristine and sobering electric piano ballad finale given a stream-of-consciousness narration from Steve Hogarth, and the overall piece probably wouldn't have sounded out of place on any recent Marillion album.

The amount of variety and alternating vocal/instrumental passages means `Starchild' keeps constantly surprising. Just when the disc seems like it's settling into a song-driven format where the tune is the priority, the band break out a gorgeous instrumental passage, or subtly incorporate everything from electronic, spacerock and ambient styles into different corners of the album. Add in charismatic vocals that hold a very seasoned and dignified rasp, and you have a superb all-round progressive rock band making greatly inspired music, and `Starchild' is a very grand and rousing Italian highlight of 2018.

Four and a half stars.

(Note - well done to Ranestrane including English language translations in the CD booklet for all the Italian lyrics. This is something that many more bands from that country should do, as it provides a welcome entry-point for a wider range of worldwide listeners!)

The first piece, "Sospesi nell'Incredibile" (Suspended in the Incredible), almost nine minutes, the only long track in the whole Lp, is an absolute masterpiece (vote 9), thanks to the technique of the three musicians and the compositional skills of the trio (always helped by the master G.P. Reverberi). Pagliuca bases an engaging melody, playing, in some passages, four types of different keyboards (I suppose: organ, synth, electric piano, mellotron), two for each listening channel. After about three minutes comes the voice by Tagliapetra to introduce the theme of the concept album, centered on the two planets of Felona (always illuminated) and Sorona (always in the darkness). First there is a strophe and then a progression that leads to a more acute melody, which would be the refrain if it were not that "Le Orme" don't respect the conventional song, preferring to give space, in this first track, to instrumental excursions and in fact after the singing by Tagliapetra comes a melody dictated by his bass, which is deep while De Rossi performs a work of absolute value, unstable, to the drums. Finally comes the synth by Pagliuca that plays a variation on the theme, which slowly fades, leaving space to the gigantic work of De Rossi, uncontanaible. Masterpiece.

Following are three songs linked together (Felona; La Solitudine di Chi Protegge il Mondo: The Solitude of the One Who Protects the World; L'equilibrio: The Balance; overall score 8). The first starts with the party bells, it's a simple folk acoustic ballad dominated by guitars. "Donne e cicale discorrono d'amore": "Women and cicadas talk of love", is a phrase that well represents the piece. After about two minutes there is a melodic passage on keyboards that leads to the next song, with a very dreamlike atmosphere that soon gives way to a melancholy melody; after another two minutes the fourth track arrives, which involves an aggressive rhythm, like the initial one, to underline the void between the two planets, the abyss that separates the two worlds. The music is perfectly in line with the text. This section lasts almost 4 minutes and has a beautiful instrumental tail, first conducted by the synth, then by a classical piano, then again by the synth, until the melodic, angelic part of the ending arrives. End of the first side. Applause.

The second side opens with another short piece (Sorona, two and a half minutes), which with a sad, subdued tone, talks about the death of wheat and plants on the planet Sorona. The austere, almost church-like vocals by Tagliapetra gives a sound that is always very Spartan, Catholic, to the piece. It looks like a litany of a penitential act. Mixed to this ethereal mood, comes a more aggressive sound to the keyboards, "Attesa Inerte" (Inert Wait) withot a melodic development. The sequence of these two tracks is the weakest of the album (vote 7+). It joins an atmospheric piece ("Ritratto di un Mattino": Portrait of a Morning: vote 8), suffused, in which the voice of Tagliapetra sings the maximum of the album: "La Felicità non puoi trovarla in te ma nell'amore che agli altri un giorno darai: You can'not find happiness in you, but in the love you'll give to others one day" followed by a melodic piece in solemn, triumphal "crescendo", with lots of final bells. The piano finally mixes this track with the next one ("All'Infuori del Tempo: Outside of Time", vote 7,5) "that overlaps with the acoustic guitars reminding the second song for arrangement and mood and melody, which is serene but less festive. Again it's an acoustic folk ballad. The voice tells the happy ending: "Due Mondi Felici Vibrano Insieme Nell'Arco del Cielo e Del Dolore Non c'è Ricordo, Soltanto Oggi Comincia la Vita: Two happy worlds vibrate together in the sky and there is no memory of sorrow, only today begins life"... Then the music stops, the acoustic guitar starts again and the bitter end arrives: "but while it still rejoices Sorona, Felona begins the Slow Inexorable Decline the Night Goes Down and the Balance Soon Ends, the End is the Circle, the Circle is Life, and is Destroyed and then Build Always Waits for Our Day, Doesn't Change Anything Outside of Time". Very inspired lyrics. The last part is narrated with the same serenity of the beginning, as the end of a fable, which however bitter must be accepted knowing that life is a circle where it is destroyed to rebuild. Final moment with keyboards and bass. The ninth track, "Ritorno al Nulla" (Return to Nothing/Nowhere, vote 8+), is a titanic final piece, to seal the return to nothingness. Led by Pagliuca with the synths, without the beating on the snare, it seems the end of the world is coming... And in fact it's an end of the world!

The concept album structure makes "Felona e Sorona", compared to "Uomo di Pezza", and especially to "Collage", an album much more narrated by the voice of Tagliapetra, formed by so many short sequences that don't leave much room for long instrumental digressions, which only focus in the last and in the first piece. The Lp almost seems like a theme music (Hector Berlioz) or a symphonic poem (Franz Liszt), where the lyrical part is sung. In any case, compared to Collage, what "Felona e Sorona" loses in surprise and originality and musical improvisation, it gains in homogeneity of arrangement and in the synergy of the union between lyrics and music that is really inspired and completely in unison. This album is the second small masterpiece signed "Le Orme".

Medium quality of the songs: 8. Vote album: 9. Rating: Five Stars.

Track 1, "Far from the Madding Crowd" (2:56) sounds like disc 2 of David Sylvian's "Gone to Earth" with slower sections/interludes similar to Rick Wakeman's "Six Wives of Henry VIII." (8/10)

Track 2, "Lakeshore" (6:01) opens sounding like something from Hans Zimmer's "The Last Samurai" soundtrack before moving on to emulate violin-dominated work of Peter Gabriel collaborator SHANKAR on "The Last Temptation of Christ soundtrack," the work of Canadian electronic violinist Hugh Marsh with Bruce Cockburn in the 1980s and solo thereafter, as well as the work of many prog electronic artists including STEVE ROACH, ROBERT RICH, and YVES POTIN (JazzComputer.org). (9/10)

Track 3, "Overwhelming" (4:58) sounds as if it could come from PULSAR's "Halloween" as well as some of KLAUS SCHULZE's 1970s and soundtrack music. Mostly sound effects, creepy voices, and distorted sound until the symphonic second half. (8.5/10)

Track 4, "Echoes from the Undertow" (6:10) This one sounds like music from Belgian masters of cinematic music, BATTLESTATIONS, with the addition of treated trumpet á la Kenny Wheeler, Mark Isham, or early Jon HASSELL with DAVID SYLVIAN. GREAT song! It's only flaw is it's lack of dynamic development over its six minute course. (9/10)

Track 5, "The Cold Time of Solitude" (5:37) cello and viola over progressive electronic music alternating with primo STEVE HACKETT electric guitar soloing. Great tension and engaging melody (á la Maestro Hackett) throughout. (9.5/10)

Track 6, "Descending Mist" (a 20 minute epic!) (20:28) could come straight out of the musical repertoire of ALIO DIE, ROBERT RICH, STEVE ROACH, early TANGERINE DREAM and KLAUS SCHULZE, as well as so many 21st Century Prog Electronic songs and artists. Cool, eerie song! (34/40)

Track 7, "Homeward Bound" (5:38) is interchangeable with any symphonic cinematic concept album outro, like from the SEVEN REIZH albums, FREQUENCY DRIFT, LEBOWSKI, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, MY EDUCATION, even Genesis artists' solo albums (HACKETT, BANKS, RUTHERFORD, COLLINS). (7.75/10)

Four stars; a collection of great cinematic music in the tradition of such masters as PULSAR, TANGERINE DREAM, STEVE HACKETT, PETER GABRIEL, LEBOWSKI, KLAUS SCHULZE, and even GOBLIN. An excellent contribution to the progressive electronic subgenre!