PREGHIERA DI SASSO

According to Mellow Records, this piece of RPI history was the single rarest vinyl recording of the 1970s, with 20 copies pressed. (ItalianProg.com says 1000 copies were issued, though they agree that the rarity caused the value of the vinyl to be incredibly high). Furthermore Preghiera only owned half of the album, the other half was the work of a related band called Diapason. The thinking was that the two bands could share a vinyl pressing in the hopes of promoting themselves while saving some money. On the Mellow MMP-267 CD release, the other band was dropped. In their place the band gave Mauro a tape of six additional period recordings to fill the CD, five of the tracks were from 1972 while the other was recorded a few years later around the time of the vinyl issue. The band Preghiera di Sasso formed in 1971 in Abruzzo and were an active live band on the local scene, even taking part in some large festivals of the day.

The bands that popped into my mind listening to Preghiera were Cincinnato, Flea, Duello Madre, and the New Trolls jazzy album called "Tempi Dispari." As mentioned, it is important to keep in mind that there are two different sets of songs present here: the vinyl '75 tracks and the bonus '72 tracks. The earlier material is more aggressive and feisty, period prog rock instrumental jamming from start to finish. You certainly can hear an affinity for Cream's approach as they attack in power-trio style with wailing electric guitar, big booming bass, and muscular drumming-with no vocals or keyboards. I really enjoyed the controlled chord progressions of "La Macchina del Tempo" displaying a lighter moment before the absolutely furious opening of "La Paura." Another good comparison would be Flea's hard rocking "Topi" album which also reveled in the pleasures of the rock jam, for the sake of it. This is just three guys losing themselves in their wailing. Things changed a bit on the 1975 tracks where gears shift towards a jazzier approach similar to what Flea did moving on to Etna I suppose. Electric piano and saxophone come into the mix and the sound quality is a bit improved. The material is not as exciting or mindblowing as an Officina Meccanica or Rocky's Filj however. These four tracks are less frantic and edgy, the performances gaining in execution while losing some of their feistiness. I suppose you could say the later material is more mature. "Praxis" offers up some lengthy saxophone leads over a good rhythm with occasional introspective guitar notes here and there. The guitar and bass dueling on "Evoluzione" is also notable and quite impressive. Drummer Perlino has refined his playing on the later tracks and a spirited drum solo has been included as one of the bonus tracks-all 4 plus minutes of it!

This is an archival recording wisely saved from the dustbin by Mellow, but of course the sound quality is certainly lacking compared to more pampered releases. Fans of RPI obscurity of the instrumental jamming variety will appreciate this assuming they can deal with less than perfect sound quality. I thought it was fine but I have a pretty high tolerance when I'm enjoying the music. I would say if you like the middle Flea album "Topi" there is a good chance you will appreciate Preghiera's two sides. Mellow's insert includes a Bio in Italian and photos of the band members. A mixture of the 2 and 3 star verbage: Good, but for fans only