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Pazzo Fanfano Di Musica - Pazzo Fanfano Di Musica CD (album) cover

PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA

Pazzo Fanfano Di Musica

 

Symphonic Prog

4.36 | 79 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
4 stars As progressive rock's heyday of the 70s faded to black and left only a small scattered determined musicians latching onto its demanding musical challenges, the nations that missed out the first time around caught the bug and were inspired to reinterpret their favorites of the 70s with their own unique spin. Just one of many such interesting outfits was PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA (Crazy Fanfano Of Music, a Fanfano apparently being a nonsensical term) who took a keen interest in the Italian scene and despite emerging from half way around the world in Japan, crafted a musical style, album cover that paid homage to their favorite musical export. Although the song titles are written in Italian, once experienced in musical form it's quite apparent that this was not a group of Italians honoring their own history but foreign fans worshipping their heroes in this unique one-shot that came out in 1989 just slightly before the new golden age of prog revival would begin.

While touted as a progressive rock band, PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA was more of a chamber rock orchestra with more influences from European classical music from the 17th to 19th centuries than prog rock itself, however there are the clear symphonic rock elements of English artists like Genesis, Steve Hackett and the romantic symphonic prog that the majority of Italian prog implemented. The project although a one off commissioned by King Records was a huge undertaking in scope which rounded up the talents of ten Western classically trained musicians that borrowed members from various prominent Japanese bands including Outer Limits, Sirius, Vienna, Magdalena, Deja Vu, Teru's Symphionia amongst others. Instrumentation on this deluxe classical rock extravaganza included a guitarist, two organ / Mellotron / harpsichord players, two pianists, a violinist, a flautist, a bassist and a drummer.

The one and only PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA album is essentially a tribute to Western classical / Italian prog rock scene and carries on through its eleven track run with mostly instrumental tracks and the occasional vocal performances that include both Italian and Japanese lyrics. While it may sound like the band was trying to completely fool an unsuspecting public, it was all done in good spirit that despite the Italian imagery and imitating factors, PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA show a few signs of their true origins especially in the vocal style of Megumi Tokuhisa, whose vocals resonate a Far East aura that sound extremely Japanese as well as certain instrumental sections that throw in snippets of Japanese folk music that emerge which i assume was intentional but possibly not.

The members of PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA really did their homework putting this tribute to Western culture together. The track "Fiori Per Algernon" is a reference to the literary work of the American writer Daniel Keyes referring to "Flowers For Algermon," whereas "Sospiri del Fiori" assumes a calming bucolic period piece from the Italian Renaissance. "La Dolce Folla" exudes Baroque influence whereas the violin and flute driven "Agile" were inspired by Arcangelo Corelli. "Affetuoso" sounds inspired by J.S. Bach with Vivaldi and Corelli stylistic changes which are found throughout the album. While most of the album is more classical chamber rock than prog, the album ends with a true symphonic prog rocker called "Anniversario" which is actually music from the band Teru's Symphonia which shares the lead singer. This is when the distorted rock outburts interrupt the classically driven blast from the past most often.

While PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA may not excel in the creativity department due to their strict adherence to past glories, they more than make up for this with a stellar command of the musical developments. These are top notch musicians tackling all the intricacies of a demanding classically infused symphonic prog album that runs the gamut of European classical and symphonic prog worship. While not completely convincing of its chameleonesque attempt to become Italian, the band do a pretty great job tackling all the sophistications that make or break an album like this. The only problem i find with this album is that it seems a little lopsided and bent towards unadulterated classical music with only random rock elements emerging in oddball moments. While i don't believe PAZZO FANFANO DI MUSICA outshine the Italian greats, they did an excellent job at imitating them on this one and only album.

siLLy puPPy | 4/5 |

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