DOLCE ACQUA

This is the first Delirium's album, but for many people this is most of all the first album of Ivano Fossati, the Delirium's singer, guitarist and flutist that left the band after "Dolce acqua" was released and that is now one of the most influential and successful Italian singer-songwriters. Anyway, "Dolce acqua" is an amazing work: it's a kind of concept album about human feelings and the music is a mix of progressive, folk, jazz, classical influences and poetry.

Just the sound of the flute, then an acoustic guitar. "White houses kissed by a sun without light / Strange sun / Cosmic trains set off and don't come back anymore / From that sun. Hot shadows that burn the air above us / From that sun / Cold hands opening from our ruins / To that sun / The fear runs within me since I know / All that will remain of us is a bonfire. Spring, if you ever pass around here / You will bring with you a little part of me". The delicate opener "Preludio" is about "Fear" (Paura) and it's a dreamy ballad with the vocals of Ivano Fossati and Mimmo Di Martino that interact very well. Than the rhythm goes up with the following "Movimento I", about "Selfishness" (Egoismo). "I haven't got father / I haven't got mother / In my life I never loved anyone but me". "Movimento II" is about "Doubt" (Dubbio) and it's another ballad with poetic lyrics and a classical inspired outro. "To Satchmo, Bird and other unforgettable friends" is a jazzy instrumental chosen to represent "Pain" (Dolore).

Side two begins with the brilliant instrumental "Sequenza I e II", about "Hypocrisy and Truth" (Ipocrisia - Verità), introduced by an acoustic rhythm guitar and a with a catchy melody that melts into a weird jazzy sound after a short drum solo break. The following track "Johnny Sayre", delicate ballad with an interesting instrumental passage and change of rhythm , is about "Forgiveness" (Perdono). "Padre tu non sai l'angoscia del momento / In cui la ruota di quel treno fu su di me / E ti chiedo perdono.": the lyrics are an adaptation of Edgar Lee Masters' character Johnny Sayre from the "Anthology of Spoon River". "Father, thou canst never know / The anguish that smote my heart / For my disobedience, the moment I felt / The remorseless wheel of the engine / Sink into the crying flesh of my leg / As they carried me to the home of widow Morris / I could see the school-house in the valley / To which I played truant to steal rides upon the trains / I prayed to live until I could ask your forgiveness / And then your tears, your broken words of comfort! / From the solace of that hour I have gained infinite happiness / Thou wert wise to chisel for me: / Taken from the evil to come" (well, sometimes I think that poetry is music and vice-versa.). The following "Favola o storia del lago di Kriss" is about "Freedom" (Libertà): it's an acoustic ballad and the lyrics tell about a lake that would like to go out from its shores to explore the world of men. The final "Dolce acqua" is about "Hope" (Speranza), almost completely instrumental with a beautiful melody introduced by the flute and a "crescendo" with a good vocals and piano work: "The storm isn't gone yet / But I can see sweet water". The last one is perhaps the best track of the album.

On the CD version there's also a bonus track, "Jesahel", that was released as a single in 1972 (a very successful one indeed) and didn't appear on the original version of the album. It is the most known song of the band but it has nothing to do with the concept of an album that is one of most interesting in the progressive scene of the early seventies in Italy.

If you like this album I suggest check some of the solo works of Ivano Fossati (for instance "La pianta del tè", "Macramé" or "L'arcangelo"); though not exactly prog I think that the music of Fossati is worth listen to.