COLLAGE

It is very good to talk about what is my cup of tea. Rock Progressivo Italiano, extremely melodic and with strong instrumental passages, really deserves all respect Progressive Musical Community pay for it.

I don´t know Le Orme first effort so I will consider this Collage their first musical work that sowed their fascinating sound mark. Some people here say they are strongly influenced by Emerson,Lake&Palmer . I agree with this point only until the statement that they are a prog trio based on keybords, bass and percussion, with some acoustic guitar here and there. Everything else is so much apart and different !

Le Orme has a musical mark that is related only to them. Experimentalisms and heavy sound offered many of the times by ELP are absent here. What we have is a melodic and soft sound, with superb musicianship, based strongly on organ. They are only three guys yielding great music from a small amount of technical resources, number of musician and instruments. Admirable !!

College first three songs are almost perfect. A classical music taste appears in the opener which is also title track. A normally do not like the fusion between classical music and progressive rock, this is why I am not a The Enid fan for instance, but here things worked properly. Evasione Totale is also another highlight here.

After all, this is a strong four stars album. Not a masterpiece, Collage presents the band not mature as musicians at that time. But it would come very soon as we can see in the next two albums.