ZARATHUSTRA'S REVENGE

This is a four disc recording released in 1997 honouring the seventies greats from Italy. Mauro Moroni from Mellow Records who released it calls it his masterpiece and that it was 3 years in the making.The cover-art and liner notes are all so beautifully done.There are six pages of what i'm thinking are people's opinions of this recording in the liner notes but it's all in Italian except for Scott McGill's brief comments.There are pictures of the bands who are covering these great tracks as well. I'm going to talk about the songs that are the highlights for me.

Disc one has maybe my two favourite tracks on this whole recording, but first i'd mention SEA REACH & FRIENDS' cover of CELESTE's "Principe Di Un Giomo". Just a beautiful version here with the keyboards and vocals standing out, it does get fuller before 3 minutes though with drums and guitar before settling back.Tasteful guitar late to end it. I also like the PROWLERS' version of "L'ultima Ora E Ode A J. Hendrix" originally done by THE TRIP.The female singer has such a fantastic voice and there's lots of guitar and organ too. Killer tune. As for my two favourites ? Well the first is HOSTSONATEN's cover of an Alan Sorrenti track called "Vorrei Incontrarti". Simply beautiful. My God this is gorgeous. The other is by FINISTERRE as they cover PFM's "Alta Loma Five Till Nine". Just an incredible instrumental display on this one.

Disc two has two songs that really stand out for me. Marco Masoni's Franco Battiato medley is amazing and without question one of the highlights of this recording. It has a heavy intro as the vocals join in. It turns experimental and I mean if your into adventerous music this is incredible.The other song is by ALTERA and it's a cover of QUELLA VECCHIA LOCANDA's "Prologo" from the debut. Atmosphere to start as the rain comes in with strummed guitar. It kicks in around a minute and vocals arrive after 1 1/2 minutes. I like when it settles back and the guitar grinds away.

Disc three is weaker than the first two discs but I do like GERARD's version of "La Conquista Delle Posizione Eretta" by BANCO. It kicks in with organ right away and we get violin too and upfront drumming. Nasty stuff. Also ARS NOVA's version of IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO's "Epilogo" is killer. Mellotron in this too.

Disc four is the weakest but Phil Beane's cover of PFM's "Via Lumlere" is well done as is EFTUS' cover of a CELESTE tune.

Obviously the originals are the way to go and i'm thankful to own a lot of the tracks here by the original artists, but I know there are those who would be blown away by this.This is very well done.