FORMULA 3

The second eponymous album by Formula 3 was released in 1971 on the Numero Uno label with a confirmed line up featuring Tony Cicco (drums, percussion, vocals), Gabriele Lorenzi (keyboards, vocals) and Alberto Radius (guitars, vocals). As its predecessor, the album was produced by Lucio Battisti but this time all the songs were signed Battisti-Mogol and interpreted by the band whose creativity was in some way limited. The overall sound mainly draws on psychedelic rock and Italian melody but the result is a far cry from the "Italian prog" of other groups of the same period, with simpler structures, lighter lyrical content and less adventurous solutions...

The long opener "Nessuno nessuno" (No one no one) is a good piece blending hard rock, psychedelia and Italian melody. The music and lyrics evoke a foggy motorway landscape... The protagonist is driving his car and the visibility is scarce, every now and again he can see the lights of other cars coming from behind and surpassing him, then vanishing into the white... He stops for fuel at a service station, pays and resume his journey through the Po Valley feeling lonely and sad...

"Tu sei bianca, sei rosa, mi perderò" (You are white, you are pink, I'll get lost) is a straightforward rock blues piece with a nice organ work and lyrics about an irrepressible, haunting passion. A man is trying and trying again to get the woman he desires and who is driving him mad...

The melancholic "Vendo casa" (I'm selling my house) depicts a desperate man in a house that is a mess, a man who is crossing e period of deep crises on the account of a broken relationship while the following "Eppur mi son scordato di te" (And yet I've forgotten you) is a carefree song that was very successful as a single and that tells of a man cheating on a woman and when caught desperately tries to find a justification for what he defines just a game, a distraction...

The weak "Un papavero" (A poppy) depicts a beautiful, independent girl who takes each day as it comes and whose romances do not last long, like a flower, a beautiful poppy... Then comes "Il vento" (The wind) that tells of a man who wakes up early to steal out of his house and escape from a relationship that for him is over. He feels that when the wind begins to blow you can't stop it, so he's leaving his woman and his past behind him with a pinch of regret but determined to search for new adventures...

"Mi chiamo Antonio Tal dei Tali e lavoro ai mercati generali" (My name is Antonio So and So and I work at the general markets) ends the album with a rock blues flavour that every now and again could recall Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. It tells of a man who works hard at the general markets unloading boxes of fruits in the rain and when he comes back home finds out that his woman denies him any solace...

On the whole, a good collection of more or less simple rock songs but not essential in a prog collection.

The second work released in 1971 "Formula Tre". The music of the first work has been succeeded. The vocal of Alberto Radius is a good tasting. The sound is rough and is psychedelic. However, the performance is steady. Any tune is good the melody. The song is a good work.

This is Formula Tre's second effort: they try to go out from the pure psychedelic old form of "Dies Irae" and, within the supervision of the fabulous couple Battisti-Mogol, manages to build up their most famous work (not the best one, obviously). This was not intended to be an excursion into the vast horizons of the borning star of progressive rock, but has all its fierce heat, its passion. Probably people who are not into the music of Lucio Battisti cannot really understand this pecualiar way to italian "art" rock. It's all matter of appearence, by the way... I noticed so much people think this is just a pop album, due to the highlights in it. Non-italian people would probably lose the great part of the pleasure of this music, 'cause part of its secret in hidden in the lyrics written by Mogol.

Do not expect this is another trio a la ELP, please. Music's structure is simple (but not banal at all). I mean that here you can listen only to three players on, respectively drums, guitar and keyboards (organ hammond, I presume). Sometimes it's necessary to reduce music to its essential form. This is what Formula Tre do with the self titled release.

The most proggy (as well as long) is perhaps the strong opener "Nessuno Nessuno" (No One, No One, 11,01 mns) prefiguring their majestic 1972 album "Sognando e Risognando". Warm and melodic vocals mixed with a strong rythm 'n' session (special mention for the drums' player Toni Cicco). Keyboards and choruses close the song's structure with delicacy, promising for new great tunes. It's rather difficult to find comparisons in the music of this band due to its uniqueness in all the italian classic prog scene. I'd say, for those who know him, that Formula Tre (in this album as in the next one) sound like the hard side of Lucio Battisti. In a similar vein also the second tune "Tu Sei Bianca, Sei Rosa, Mi Perderò" (You're White, Pink, I will Lose Myself, 4,12).

Then starts the long serie of songs which became rapidly a CLASSIC in all the italian popular music scene: still nowadays Formula Tre are well remembered for these tracks, all issued as singles: the poetic "Vendo Casa" (I Sell Home, 2,47 mns) and their biggest commercial success as a single "Eppur Mi Son Scordato di Te" (But I've Forgotten You, 3,35). I always like the electric guitar's riff here... a little comparison could be found, in part of its instrumental part, with Santanas' Abraxas-era.

"Un Papavero" is builded up a words' game (Poppy or True Dad: papavero or papà vero...this is only for the italian people, sorry...).

Another big seller is "Il Vento" (The Wind, 4,44 mns), one of the most favourite of mine from the band, and the strongest of the whole record.

"Mi Chiamo Antonio Tal dei Tali e Lavoro ai Mercati Generali" (My Name's Antonio, Mr So- and-So, and I work at the General Market, 5,50 mns) is a funny track, mainly for the sharp lyrics and double meanings...

On a prog scale, this album undoubtedly comes after "Sognando e Risognando" and "La Grande Casa". A good one, though, for the year 1971. If you like Sognando e Risognando and La Grande Casa, this one has to be yours!

Most of the principles that were recognizable in their debut are featured here as well: psychedelia, heaviness, but with some subtlety and emotion that is directly linked with the genre. But let's be honest: it was really difficult in those days to get acquainted with these Italian recordings.

As I have said about some German bands from the same era (and which I quite like BTW), is that this type of music should have sounded quite outdated in '71. At the end of the day, the great psyche days were '66 through '69. Later on, this type of music could have been taken as old fashioned.

Nonetheless, the long opener ''Nessuno Nessuno'' offers some fine and solid musical moment. If ever, like myself, you are orphan of these days: you might be interested. Especially while you have discovered the powerful and emotional ''Un Papavero'' which is my fave from this album.

As I have said in a previous review, this band plays quite a different music as one might expect from the genre: most of the time hard with some great vocal moments (like ''Venda Casa''). But when I have to listen to ''Eppur Mi Son Scordato Di Te'', I have to say that I have a difficult time.

I guess that the faithful Italian prog fan might get lost while listening to their first recordings, but this is still a valuable effort. Not a masterpiece of course but a good album: three stars.