ANIMA TERRA

I confess this has been a secret fave for so long, I have kept in the closet for so many years, mainly because of a few quirky aspects but really because I wanted selfishly to keep all the pleasures for myself. There are 7 tracks on "Anima Terra" but for some odd reason all CD players show only ONE very long 52 minute track, so I can't really chop it into sizeable bits for recording purposes! Knowing full well how Machiavellic my Italian pranksters can be, I would be surprised if not done on purpose. Buffoni! First some facts, Bondage is a one shot wonder from 1996, reissued in 2000 with beautiful artwork (i have the old blue one), great production and in a reversal of the usual form, has a dramatic vocalist that has to be one of the most fascinating operatic voices you will ever hear anywhere! Angelo Calleri is a Venetian Christian Décamps (Ange is one of the very few prog bands that can claim to have a primo spotlight vocalist) who can actually sing, laugh, wail and emote with anyone out there, using the entire emotional spectrum of the Italian language (is there anything more exalted than Italiano?), with massive doses of dramatics, theatricality, spoken word dialogue and assorted mouthed noises, giggles, snorts and angered cussing ("sporco, farabutto, bastardo"). The keyboards are classical in tone with plenty of piano passages, the guitars alternate between crisp and crunch, the intricate bass keeps the story route lit and the frenetic drums set a torrid pace, varying speeds and rhythms according to the urge of the moment. At the circa 18 minute mark, there are some playful Gentle Giant instrumental moments, goofing with plenty of twists and turns, humping organ dog fighting with wah-wah guitar, totally unpredictable, completely bizarre and utterly enjoyable! This is great music but the first truly heavenly moment comes with the "Vagabondo" chorus passage: the highly expressive vocals are sheer genius, imagine early PFM led by a manic Decamps like vocalist in Italian! It is a very rare event when Progland can ever boast of world class singing, in any language but this album is the little rebel lung that could! The next and even more touching epiphany occurs at the 38 minute mark, a section titled "Cantico Dei Tempi: Il Menestrello" (the Minstrel) that has a "Lie-lah, lie-lah" repeated chorus that should leave one assuredly breathless, a modern-medieval operatic prototype that is just pure fun, as only a Gondolier, gently swaying to the oar-led beat, can come up with, Bloody Tourists, indeed! "La-la, la la la, Lie-lah, lie-lah": No wonder they disappeared from the scene, this was so original that it could not be bettered! The last piece, the sinister and somewhat lugubrious "Canto all' Insistenza Della Morte" has some devilish inflections from Angelo since the theme covers that good old tried and true fave Mediterranean subject: Death! Sounds almost like a funeral procession gone awry, with another brief but raging wah-guitar whirlwind, before a sleek bow and a silent "ciao, bello". Sadistically tasty and a true Italian unknown classic. Find it, buy it and be selfish. Five leather straps.