IL RISVEGLIO DEL PRINCIPE

"Celeste" is an RPI band from Sanremo, Italy that formed in 1972. The band put an album in 1976, disbanded in 1977, and reformed in 2016. There were 2 other albums, one released in 1991 that featured tracks from 1977 before they disbanded, and 1992 which was music for a soundtrack released in 1974. Since then, they have reformed the band with mostly new members, and in January 2019, they finally released a new album called "Il Risveglio del Principe" with new material.

"Qual Fior di Loto" starts with some nice atmospheric effects and a child reciting spoken word vocals. The child is actually singer and founder of the band Ciro Perrino's son. When the music starts, it is quite pastoral and lovely with a childs choir singing wordless vocals. The rhythm starts and a nice acoustic guitar, piano, flute and other soft instruments play a nice melody. Vocals begin with both male and female singers, the lyrics are in Italian, but the vocalists are great singers and fit the music quite well. "Bianca Vestale" starts with mellotron and bass joined by guitar later. This is a prog lovers dream, especially lovers of great Rock Progressivo Italiano. The music is very reminiscent of pastoral progressive rock of the 70s, but it doesn't sound like it is trying to hard to sound that way as the sound just comes natural. A few violins join in when percussion starts and later the sax also joins. As the track continues, the music gets a nice gypsy and folk vibe to it. Love it!

"Statue di Sale" begins with acoustic guitar, violin and piano. Later, this turns to violin and synthesized strings giving it a small orchestral feel. Percussion comes in giving flow to the track. Vocals don't come in until after 4 minutes, and when they do they are accompanied by violin and flute. The vocals are led by Ciro with female harmony I believe is done by guest Elisa Montaldo. When the vocals stop, the sax becomes the focal instrument. "Principessa Oscura" begins with mysterious sounds and wordless vocals from Elisa. The feel is dark and mysterious until the band starts to add in instruments which are led by violin. The feel of the track brightens as the melody is established. Vocals start at 3 minutes. The instrumental break features flute, mellotron some guitar and a small brass section.

"Fonte Perenne" begins with a heavier sound with drums, electric guitars and mellotron. When the vocal begins, things mellow back down to the pastoral feel that is the rule for this album. There is a sax solo followed by violin later. A female choir comes in later and then more sax and violins. "Giardini di Pietra" starts with solo mellotron later joined by bass, piano and percussion. This is the shortest track at 4 and a half minutes, and is an instrumental where different instruments get short solos.

"Falsi Piani Lontani" begins with meandering piano, bass and percussion giving their pastoral sound a jazzy feel. The meandering finally gets a rhythm and vocals pop in later. A Hammond organ makes an appearance as the vocals turn wordless. This is a nice touch. The melody gets taken over by the various instruments as the song builds a bit. There continues to be jazz undertones to this track. "Porpora e Giacinto" is the last track, but is not included on the vinyl version. A violin plays a sad solo interrupted by piano and the sound of laughing children. Soon, the drums start with mellotron, flutes and acoustic guitar. Things intensify as brass joins in, but soften again for a piano solo accompanied by mellotron and bass.

This is excellent Italian Prog that has a lot of classical influence and undertones of folk music and jazz. The music is mostly pastoral, but it is anything but boring. It is quite beautiful and relaxing and it never seems to get cliché or stale. The music is very professional and in many places, original. I am very surprised at how great this is. Once again, 2019 has delivered us another excellent album. Yes, the music sounds simple, but it is a lot more complex than it seems on the surface and has plenty of surprises to keep you listening. Very nice! A very strong 4 star album that could even become 5 stars.

"Il Risveglio Del Principe" is the 4th full-length studio album by Italian progressive rock act Celeste. The album was released through Mellow Records in 2019. It´s the successor to "I Suoni In Una Sfera" from 1992 and it´s the first Celeste release to feature material not recorded in the 70s. Both "II" (1991) and "I Suoni In Una Sfera" (1992) features archive material recorded in the 70s.

Stylistically it´s obvious that Celeste have aimed for a mellow and pleasant sounding progressive rock style, which is similar in sound to their 1976 debut album. They succeed some of the way as "Il Risveglio Del Principe" is a beautiful and tranquill sounding release, featuring a longing melancholic atmosphere and the occasional more epic moment. Subdued Italian language vocals, flute, saxophone, cello, violin, acoustic guitars (and the occasional use og electric guitars too), and loads of mellotron and other vintage keyboard/synth sounds. The influences are both from 70s progressive rock (early Genesis in particular), classical music, folk rock, and a slight touch of jazz. That part of the music is generally well composed, well performed, and well produced.

Where "Il Risveglio Del Principe" doesn´t succeed as well and where it differs in sound from the iconic debut album, is the omnipresence of drums. An instrument only rarely heard on the debut album. It´s not in itself an issue that "Il Risveglio Del Principe" features drums, but the fact that they aren´t that interesting and just seem to plod along is. Drums could have added a lot to the album, but instead they become a tedious element. They are a bit low in the mix and don´t feature the most interesting production either, so unfortunately that part of the music leaves a bit to be desired.

Other than the relatively lifeless drumming, "Il Risveglio Del Principe" is a high class progressive rock album, so if you can look past that issue, Celeste have crafted a great comeback album. So many years down the line and they still sound like themselves. I´m impressed by the strong identity of the band and how they are able to release something of this quality. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Review Nº 569

For whatever reason, Italy has been a country with a great tradition in music. Therefore it's not surprising the immediate success of the prog rock in the 70's. The introduction into the prog of the typical forms of the Italian music style gave to it a special packaging. There are three bands that have always monopolized the Italian prog scene. Le Orme, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso enjoyed some success brilliantly practicing a spectrum of prog that was divided between the delicacy of Genesis, the poignant airs of King Crimson and the irreverence of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. To the shoulders of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, all them published English editions of some of their works. But, other bands saw their commercial expectations somewhat restricted. Many had also a high quality, but they never were able or had the opportunity to have the success of those three Italian prog acts. One of those many cases is Celeste.

It was the idyllic coastal setting of Sanremo, with its warm Mediterranean climate, which gave birth to two of the most wonderful Italian progressive rock bands of the early 70's. Of course I'm talking about Celeste and Museo Rosenbach whose music still inspires and encaptivates our longing to recapture that early 70's period. Celeste was founded in 1972 and released their eponymous debut album, "Celeste" aka "Principe Di Un Giorno", in 1976. The music on the album is often described as pastoral prog rock with very mellow compositions and with some medieval and jazzy influences, embellished with a lush instrumentation, acoustic guitars, flute, saxophone, and topped with some wonderful Mellotron layers, like early King Crimson and The Moody Blues. That's a progressive album about beauty and it's always gentle.

More than forty years have passed since the release of "Principe Di Un Giorno" and Celeste got back to the original project in 2016 with a vastly changed line up. Now, we have their new studio album, "Il Risveglio Del Principe". The founding member Ciro Perrino is still on board with his excellent vocal work and the wide array of vintage keyboards.

On "Il Risveglio Del Principe", Celeste has remained true to the spirit and atmospheric feel of the early 70's sound and in particular to their debut. The entire musical score is beautifully constructed with stratum upon stratum of laid-back and gently swaying symphonic music. Many subsequent forays are needed to absorb and fully appreciate the subtle and deft instrumental interplay between all musicians. The collaboration between the various lead instruments and vocal arrangements are fascinating. We are treated to a great array of many different introductory sounds. There's an abundance of drama created within the music, the essence of which is the clever duets of interchanging lead instruments, flute, cello, violin and saxophone over a backdrop of melodic swirling keyboards. The vocals, too varying from fully projected voice and other background fills are beautifully delivered with much warmth and panache in Italian.

"Qual Fior Di Loto" opens with the reciting voice of a child. It includes beautiful acoustic prog with delicate vocals and nice Mellotron, acoustic guitars and flute parts. This is a beautiful and relaxing opening track. On "Bianca Vestale" the Mellotron strings are great, the flute weaving in and out with the violin, at times jazzy, at times folky, but in the end pure grandiose progressive rock as only an Italian band can deliver. "Statue Di Sale" starts with some majestic piano before the Mellotron kicks in, with a little help from violin and flute, making for some tremendous musical ear candy. Add a sax solo and you have one of the albums highlights. "Principessa Oscura" is a nice music piece with great violin and flute melodies, delicate acoustic guitars and nice angelical vocal parts. Again the beautiful flute and Mellotron are presents. On "Fonte Perenne" drums, violin, acoustic guitar and Mellotron offer sumptuous, dramatic and beautiful sounds to add to enchanting vocals. A bit of Mini-Moog also appears along with a sax and a jazzy electric guitar. "Giardini Di Pietra" has a nice opening with gentle Mellotron strings. Great flute melodies and some piano parts are contrasting with the classical atmosphere of the acoustic and Mellotron strings. The sax and flute are featured mightily on "Falsi Piani Lontani". But, we have also some piano Hammond, acoustic guitars, violin and of course, the ever present Mellotron.

Conclusion: "Il Risveglio Del Principe" has beautiful melodies, excellent sound quality, and vocals perfectly matching the music. It's an album for the progressive rock fan looking for easy to listen to music, calm and relaxing. This is an album full of delicate and pastoral prog perfectly in the same vein of of their album of the 70's, "Principe Di Un Giorno". It's full of beautiful melodies and played by a bunch of talented musicians. The album is beautifully recorded and has no weak points. This is one of those albums where the music is just so beautiful that your heart will ache with emotion and delight. Nothing overly complex, loud, fast, or aggressive to be found here, just lush, enchanting music by an Italian prog act that we should all be very happy that they're coming back. This is a consistent album that will be a must for Celeste fans and fans of RPI in general. If you like the the melllow side of progressive rock you will love this album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)