BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO

Much like Gentle Giant who were an inspiration, the Italian group BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO (Bank Of Mutual Rescue) was founded by musical brothers, in this case Vittorio and Gianni Nocenzi. In the early 70s at the peak of the first golden age of progressive rock but unlike many contemporaries who needed an album or two to get their feet wet, these guys hit a major home run on their eponymous debut album in 1972, which has become one of the most revered albums in all of progressive rock and for good reason. This album is absolutely BRILLIANT!!!

Although they had already formed in 1969 they found no reason to revisit the psychedelic 60s and instead channeled their energies into a highly artful form of symphonic prog that not only borrowed some of the lightness from Genesis, but also included energetic keyboard outbursts like ELP as well as the folk inspired sounds from their homeland inspired by Jethro Tull as heard on clarinet and a kind of trumpet called the clarino. BANCO adeptly blended acoustic and electric instruments with daring vocals in Italian and mastered the art of lulling you into an addictive melody that simultaneously hooked you in while stunning with sophisticated musical wizardry. This album delivers the absolute perfect ratchet effect and never lets me drift away for a second.

This is a highly complex album delivering classically derived compositions put entirely into a rock context. Massive sprawling tracks like "Metamorfosi" and "Il Giardino Del Mago" are so stuffed with musical ideas that they never let the listener's attention stray from their path. While BANCO does let loose on occasion and really rock out, they are much more adept at spending long periods of time with subtleties and delicate passages that take their time to make the journey an interesting one before coming to a conclusion.

This era of Italian prog is notorious for poor production and i highly advise getting one of the newer remastered versions of this release, for even on these it is not perfect but a huge improvement over some of the weaknesses of the original, however it is the music that overpowers any production complaints. This is one of those few touched-by-God albums where unearthly energies conspired to make something magnanimous beyond the sum of the parts. I have tried and failed to find any flaws in this music. It is a timeless as a Mozart symphony, as daring as "Dark Side Of The Moon" in a totally different way and although many a prog band would borrow from this style, BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO was revolutionary when it was released easily separating itself from contemporaries like PFM.

Wending from sophisticated piano runs to complex guitar runs, BANCO delivered an outstanding debut album that is one of those albums i can really put on replay and never tire of. If you're new to this band, this is the perfect place to start but don't expect to be able to take this in quickly because the true beauty of this album is how it unfolds slowly and demands that you put it on again and again. Don't waste your time on all those fraudulent derivatives and mortgage scams, put your money in an investment of greatness that delivers musical satisfaction time and time again.