LA PULCE D'ACQUA

A year passes and a new album comes for Angelo Branduardi, this time it will be 1977 and the title would be ''La pulce d'acqua'' (again on Polydor).The line-up of the album has strong connections to Italian Prog: Maurizio Fabrizio on piano and guitar, ex-Il Paese dei balocchi and Il Rovescio della Medaglia Franco di Sabbatino on keyboards, Roberto Puleo, who plays the bouzouki, was a later member of Murple, drummer Andy Surdi had previously played with Salis.The album was recorded at the studios of Fonit-Cetra in Milano.

Long tracks are pretty rare in Branduardi's discography, so the 7-min. ''Ballo in fa diesis minore'' needs a honorable mention, being a nice collection of modern Classical Music and Mediterrenean Folk sounds, showered by poetic Italian vocals by Branduardi and highlighted by an excellent Bruno De Filippi on ocarina, definitely a good turn by Branduardi regarding his conventional material.The rest of the album is typical of Branduardi's repertoire.Mostly sweet Chamber Folk songs with the standard aura of the Mediterrenean tradition, featuring lots of wind and string sections and the gentle, pastoral acoustics of Branduardi's guitar.The nice opener and the prog-inclined line-up may give hopes for some sort of a different style compared to the previous releases, but I guess 1977 was a hard year to start any musical experiments.The man still keeps a high quality on composition and orchestrations, maybe too many tracks sound like Orchestral Pop ballads in here, but the harmonies are lovely and the execution is flawless.Not much of a progressive content though I am afraid, ''La pulce d'acqua'' is closer to the Italian Singer/Songwriter stylings with elaborate melodies and a heavy acoustic sound leading the way.

I could actually write many lines for Branduardi.He released a ton of albums over the years with a Pop flair, always flavored by his love for Folk and Orchestral Music and adding experimental touches, while participating in many other albums be several artists.One of the charismatic figures of contemporary Italian Music without question.

''La pulce d'acqua'' follows the trends of his 70's steps.Acoustic, semi-orchestrated Folk with imaginative soundscapes and romantic singing.Recommended.