BUON VECCHIO CHARLIE

One consequence of the sudden runaway expansion of the Italian prog scene in 1971-72 was the rise of what I think of as the "one album wonders" - bands who managed to produce one album, but because of the sheer oversaturation of the market ended up being completely overlooked. Buon Vecchio Charlie's sole album didn't come out until 1990 despite being recorded in 1971, and if I had to guess why it didn't find a publisher back in the day I'd guess it would have something to do with the album being quite good, but not *so* good as to have much hope of competing with the likes of PFM, Banco, and Le Orme.

Like the British second-tier prog band Beggar's Opera in their debut album, a lot of Buon's schtick revolves around playing proggy interpretations of classical music at breakneck speed, as in the opening track (a treatment of In the Hall of the Mountain King) - in fact, take Beggar's Opera, add Jethro Tull-esque flute playing, and you've more or less got the sound of the first track. The other two see a bit more of a Genesis influence creep in but don't really distinguish themselves. A good effort, but not quite enough to really have much hope in an overcrowded prog scene with at least half a dozen bands who could blow these guys off the stage without trying.