SIRIO 2222

Il Balletto di Bronzo is an Italian prog band from Naples that was formed in the late sixties. The first line up featured Marco Cecioni (vocals, guitar), Michele Cupaiuolo (bass), Giancarlo Stinga (drums) and Lino Ajello (guitar). Their debut album was released in 1970 and sounds quite different from their best-known prog work "Ys", since keyboards wizard and vocalist Gianni Leone joined only in 1971 along with bassist Vito Manzari, leading the band in a completely new musical direction...

On "Sirio 2222" you can find many "beat" and "psychedelic" influences while lyrics deal with the myth of "hippies way of life" on the road... The music is definitively "guitar driven" and you can listen to some "echoes" of Jimi Hendrix ("Un posto", "Girotondo"), Canned Heat ("Eh Eh Ah Ah"), Animals, Yardbirds or The Who ("Neve calda", "Ma ti aspetterò", "Ti risveglierai con me") mixed with a strong melodic flavour. The best moments on this album in my opinion are the romantic "Meditazione", an interesting effort to blend classical music with rock and "Incantesimo", a "psychedelic enchantment" trying to blend blues with fairy tales imagery... Good also the long "Missione Sirio 2222" that tells in music and words the wreckage of a spaceship: a strange kind of "psychedelic suite" with peculiar "oriental influences".

On the whole "Sirio 2222", although perhaps in some way naive and derivative, could be an interesting album for psychedelic rock lovers... Nonetheless I think it's very far from essential in a prog collection...

01. Un Posto Guitars made, set, Go! High Rock! And sung in Italian, what is legal. A 60's rock with all the psicodelia embedded in sound. Battery also very interesting, much energy power.

02. Eh Eh Ah Ah You know that the blues guitar of the beginning of Jethro Tull? So here also, the voice comes loaded with 'sound of room. Besides the sound of applause, well in time sometimes not. And of course as it would no longer be the harmonica course appears, as in any blues that I value. Reminded me a lot to the band Jethro Tull when all enter, but instead of pipes would flutes.

03. Neve Calda Almost a Beach Boys of evil, imagine a more surf music that invoked introduction. Then I remembered the verse in Animals with good guitars between verses. The voice of March Cecioni are very good, sometimes making role furious sometimes melodic.

04. Ma Ti Aspetterò Clogged the psicodelia and Hendrix, with the guitar solos and absurd and Jasons. The main theme reminds me of something I was not set.

05. Meditazione Very nice! The quartet of strings and melody divine. So has the harpsichord sound, divine! With bucolic and sad melody, the final thing is to forge ahead with more rock guitars and drums in the command. The final sequence with the quartet of strings is splendid!

06. Girotondo More Hendrix in a parade! Total Acid Rock influence of the end of the 60s that only with the voice to The Monkees. Several vocal crazy as all good psicodelia must have great guitar and percussions and varied. Parada strategic, down everybody! Now embarks again. ROCK!

07. Incantesimo You know the Blue Cheer? No? Then! A former band Black Sabbath and the like, and as heavy as. It was more or less so the sound of the guys, but with more serious vocal and instrumental little heavier, just as blues / rock on. Ten Years After in the Italian led down. And like any sound that the guitar style sole priest doing more than sermon in church! (more laughter)

08. Ti Risveglierai Con Me Full of distorted guitars and full of charm, put forward some riffs, and a sparse room at keyboards. Vocal highly competent, then in the chorus? Full of melody and charisma. Battery dictating the pace, the background vocals that only feed the whole thing.

09. Missione Sirio 2222 A 'classic' of the album begins with a beautiful guitar and vocals sung well. Just an introduction of what's to come. The key role of making guitars, bass strange but excellent, tribal drums, vocals evocative. What would be the third part is total rock, the voice announces berrando already at 4 corners of the world (and the world is there singing?) To listen. Look personnel having fun is the drummer (laughs). Then it's time the band improvise in the studio, drop the chicken. The fourth part is again beautiful and melodic guitar with a voice near the front.

Vai lá, this disc is not progressive, but before going pro next disc is good to know where the guys left.

www.progshine.com

The first is not necessary the best!

In this case I think that statement is obvious, and I am referring to the first Il Balleto di Bronzo album and line-up, though there will always be people who differ from your opinion, I believe this time most of you will agree with me.

This Italian band released their first effort in 1970, where prog music was just a baby and its older brothers like psychedelic or rock n´roll predominated in the world musical scene, so in that year their first line-up gave birth to the album called "Sirio 2222" which did not have the success they may have expected, after the creation of the album, 2 members left the band, the leader and vocalist Marco Cecioni and their former bassman Miky Cupaiolo, and then a (nowadays)well known Italian dude named Gianni Leone joined the band in order to give a 360° spin to their music, changing their musical direction, and of course creating what would be their masterpiece (my all time favorite Italian album by the way) entitled "YS". So now I was clear I think you understand what I meant with my first statement.

Now let´s focus on the album, which features 9 songs and a total time of 40 minutes, most of them are short pieces going for 3 to 4 minutes, but there are a couple of longer songs, one with almost 7 minutes, and the last one with a 9-minute length.

The album opens with "Un Posto", the first thing you will listen is the electric guitar, playing some notes that you may keep on your head, the song style has some psychedelic elements, along with heavy rock tones and all mixed with the always great Italian vocals, this is a very nice song actually. Then we have "Eh eh Ah ah", we will find here the lack of good sound production, but well, the song is acoustic guitar with vocals and some claps over there, then harmonica making a kind of bluesy song. "Neve Calda" is one of the best tracks here, it opens heavy but then it slows down, delicate Italian vocals, constant drumming and then again heavy guitars and bass lines, the chorus is kind of addictive.

"Ma ti Aspettero" opens with guitar chords, some percussion and vocals, the style is heavy though they make some short pauses, suddenly a good guitar solo appears. "Meditazione" has a romantic style, I don't know if the instrument that opens the song is a cello, but it sounds beautiful along with the delicate vocals, this song in particular reminds me a lot to New Trolls, after that beginning, and a short stop the music changes into another short musical passage and then returns to the same structure, but now with the addition of the other elements, this is an excellent song actually, bravo. "Girotondo" sounds really rockish a la Cream very 60s, you can hear by the drums and electric guitar. "Incantesimo" is one of the longer songs, and since the beginning it has a slow blues direction, there is some jamming and in the second half of the song we can hear to some strong psychedelic passages, this is a well elaborated song, enjoyable. "Ti Risveglierai con Me" reminds me a bit to Neve Calda, their heavy and rock style prevails, and the psychedelic elements are also present here. The last song is called "Sirio 2222" and is the longest song of the album, nice track to finish the album I believe; the starting is soft acoustic guitar and vocals, then it makes a brief pause, and starts again with different rhythm, more eclectic, then pause again just in order to start with a heavier sound with raw guitars, later on there is a drum solo, some voices and noises, and that rockish style that is developing little by little, at the end, the song returns as it began.

This is a nice album, nothing to do with YS so don't expect it to be a masterpiece, actually the prog element in this album can be found in one or two songs at most, my final grade is 3 stars, good but non-essential, anyway Italian lovers should take a listen to it.

Enjoy it!

Listening to Sirio 2222, released in 1970, it's hard to believe that this is the same band responsible just two years later for the classic Ys album. Ys is an album of adventurous symphonic prog; not an easy ride by any means but those who've stuck with it have in many cases discovered an album that has become a firm favourite in the RPI genre. Unfortunately the same can't be said of Sirio 2222.

Firstly back in 1970 Il Balletto Di Bronzo lacked a keyboard player, an integral part to Ys and secondly the music lacks the complexity and finesse of that fine opus. The sound on Sirio 2222 clearly still has one foot in the sixties, sounding somewhat dated now; it's an album of pedestrian blues rock with psychedelic touches. There's also the sound of the beat groups, so popular in the sixties. A bit of colour is added now and then such as the use of a string section and harpsichord as on Meditazione but mostly it's a bit on the dull side.

There's a couple of attempts to stretch out like on the psychedelic blues of Incantesimo with a longish jam section and even more so on the nine minute Missione Sirio 2222. Here after a guitar, including an acoustic, and vocal intro the track moves into a repetitive psychedelic part before finally taking off but the results are uninspiring and lack interest.

Anyone looking for some classic RPI here will certainly be disappointed and therefore Sirio 2222 is only recommended to completionists, unless you happen to have a liking for the kind of late sixties sounds described above, or have an interest to hear the early development of this important band.