CAMPO DI MARTE

Just one of many Italian prog bands of the 70s that only existed for a couple years, left one album and then moved one, CAMPO DI MARTE was founded in Florence in 1971 and named after a neighborhood within the city. The band was led by guitarist Enrico Rosa (also contributed vocals and mellotron) who wrote and recorded the entire album. Along with Mauro Sarti (former drummer/flautist of Verde Season), with the Italian-American bassist Richard Ursillo, Carlo Marcovecchio (former drummer of I Califfi) and Alfredo Barducci ( wind instruments, piano, organ and voice), the band was active on the live circuit and even caught the attention of United Artists record label which guaranteed a release in not only Italy but the entirety of Latin America.

The MARTE part of the band's name refers to Mars, the mythological god of war with the album cover depicting ancient Turkish mercenary soldiers inflicting wounds upon themselves to demonstrate their bravery, an image used for their concert posters. The lyrics while totally in Italian reflect the band's anti-war and anti-militarist stance, a sentiment shared by many after the years of dictatorship in Italy's not so distant past. CAMPO DI MARTE was a unique sounding band that while delving into the same symphonic prog styles that most Italian bands adopted, implemented the use of Rosa's guitars and was heavier than the average Italian band more in the vein of early Il Rovescio della Medaglia but unlike that band was just as comfortable with dreamy acoustic guitar passages and the symphonic keyboard driven sounds that were popular.

The original album featured seven tracks at nearly 41 minutes and although many reissues have come to light since the album's initial release in 1973, no bonus tracks have so far been excavated from the vaults. CAMPO DI MARTE was a very talented band and delivered a set of extraordinarily complex tracks on this self-titled release and it's not an exaggeration to claim that they were in the same league as all of the greats including PFM, Banco and Museo Rosenbach. The compositions exude the same sophistication of varying motifs that range from orchestrated symphonic keyboard-driven segments to heavier guitar driven fuzzed out moments which during a few occasions steer into near chaos. The album was quite inventive and also was touted as a master of production and engineering.

The beauty of this album is in how diverse the tracks are as they wend and wind from Jimi Hendrix inspired guitar motifs to full-on symphonic prog bliss. The addition of the French horn at moments adds a touch of medieval folk glory and the entire thing comes off as epic as each numbered track of the same name pretty much feels like a cohesive whole as if it's really a concept album of some sort. It's also more impressive to learn that this album was primarily recorded in 1971 but was delayed for a couple years which makes it one of the more demanding Italian prog albums from that early year and if it were released the same year would surely have made more of an impact than it did in the prog saturated nation of Italy in 73. Unfortunately during the two years that it took to release the album the members lost interest and moved on leaving CAMPO DI MARTE a one album wonder.

This is primarily an instrumental prog workout album and although vocals do occur they are less prevalent than the operatic vocal domination of most Italian prog bands of the era. This is amazing album that effortlessly weaves a tapestry of fuzz-guitar, classical acoustic guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, flute and French horn in clever and inventive ways. It never ceases to amaze me how much raw talent emerged from the fertile prog scene of Italy in the 1970s and CAMPO DI MARTE is definitely somewhere closer to the top. An almost perfect mix of symphonic prog with medieval folk, heavy psych and occasional King Crimson eclecticism. This one is a bit more difficult to soak in than the average Italian prog album as the melodies are more abstract and the prog characteristics are turned up a few notches which may be too much for some to handle but in all honesty, CAMPO DI MARTE delivered a unique sound once you delve below the surface.

4.5 rounded up

"Concerto Zero" is a double album by Campo di Marte that was released in 2003 on the independent label Vinyl Magic - Btf with a beautiful packaging and extended liner notes about the history of the band. Soon after 1974 Campo di Marte split up, guitarist Enrico Rosa, main composer and lyricist of the band, left Italy and relocated in Denmark. It wasn't until 2003 that Campo di Marte came to life again for some concerts in Tuscany and for the recording of this live album with a new line up featuring Enrico Rosa (acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Eva Rosa (recorders, WX5 wind synth), Mauro Sarti (drums), Maurilio Rossi (bass - from Goad) and Alexandr Matin Sass (piano, organ, keyboards).

The first CD contains four tracks taken from a 1972 concert recorded at a venue in Florence, The Space Electronic. According to the liner notes, it was conceived as a demo recording and it's nothing but a document of the early days of the band, before the release of their eponymous album. Four tracks for little more than half an hour music where you can hear in nuce from the original line up many ideas that will be developed on the debut album. Listening to "Prologo parte 2 (Settimo Tempo)", "Alba (Secondo Tempo)", "Epilogo (Quarto Tempo)" and "Prologo parte 1 (Quinto Tempo - Sesto Tempo)" could be interesting for fans of the band but the sound quality is really awful and I fear that all the efforts to recover the music from the original source (an old test pressing LP) were almost pointless...

The second CD was recorded "live in studio" in 2003, a good way to warm up for the concerts of the thirtieth anniversary of the band... Of course, the sound quality is definitely better. "Primo - Settimo Tempo", a medley from the eponymous album, is a great opener where it can be seen that the magic is not gone even after the long hiatus. Enrico Rosa here shows to be still alive and kicking and the new line up is up to the task... The following "Back In Time" is a dreamy instrumental track with a medieval flavour that could recall The John Renbourn Group. It gives way to "Bluesy Rocky", where the rhythm rises and the band mix delicate jazzy passages and harder parts with gusto, then it's the turn of "Italian Irish", a calm acoustic ballad turning into a kind of tarantella that reminds me slightly of BMS (in particular of "Non mi rompete" finale).

After three interesting new tracks the old repertoire comes back for the new arrangements of "Secondo Tempo" and "Terzo - Quarto Tempo" with another short new track, "Rock Barock", that ends the set with a burst of positive energy. A live recording, considered a bonus track, "Outro: July The 12th 2003" closes the second CD.

On the whole, a good appetizer that unfortunately did not lead to the release of a brand new studio album featuring only new original prog stuff from Campo di Marte. But you never know, Enrico Rosa is still active and maybe, if someone asks him, for the fiftieth anniversary of the band...

A rather forgotten mini masterpiece from yet another one and done RPI band. If you like PFM, or perhaps a heavier version of Quella Vecchia Locanda, come right in.

Due to the record company meddling as noted by other reviewers, the album should really start with V Tempo, the first song on side two, a rustic UK prog influenced acoustic number that flows nicely into the first rock eruption of electric guitar in VI Tempo. The theme of the album is the general futility of war,(campo di Marte referring directly to that) and makes good use of alternating rock and pastoral sections to illustrate each theme. Classical guitar and flutes (with occasional French Horn) lay down a peaceful atmosphere, but soon a martial rhythm and electric guitar march us out again. Side two ends with VII Tempo, the intended end of side 1, where the PFM/Focus hybrid alternates successfully between moods. (guitarist Enrico Rosa sounds like a hybrid of early Robert Fripp and Jan Akkerman). Side one (intended to be side 2) is the more rockier side, starting with a Tull styled guitar riff before heading into an increasingly quicker tempo which alternates quiet narration with heavy organ and guitar crashes out of any 1969 era heavy band-remnants of I Califfi and before-when the heavier end of the spectrum (see Deep Purple) were a stronger influence on Italian rock. Some early Yes arrangements collide with atonal Jethro Tull guitar moments like some primitive version of Gates of Delirium, but then the pastoral flutes bring us to another acoustic guitar transition. The finale of IV Tempo is the most cohesive piece here as the heavy bits hang in there longer and riff for a while rather than quickly melting away.

Definitely will please PFM and Quella Vecchia Locanda fans. Some Museo Rosenbach in there too with their unabashed ability to flick on the rock n roll switch without warning. (Campo seems to use it more to signal a transition from one section to another) Leans to the heavier side of RPI but plenty of acoustic guitar and flute interludes to keep everyone happy. French horn is interspersed throughout-a double edged sword than can swing a band quickly into late sixties AM radio easy listening territory before you've noticed. (Maxophone and Alusa Fallax were two others who threw this distinctive but rarely heard instrument into the pot). My only complaint is that when they come up with a killer heavy guitar riff, more often than not it disappears before you are starting to get your ears around it, and it never returns. (Though that's a problem many other RPI bands wish they had.) This is an album that takes you on a cinematic journey that you don't need to speak Italian to understand: juxtaposition of martial and pastoral cultures in one seamless musical piece.

Reference points: Focus (more for guitar and arrangements than prominent flute), some early Genesis, some various 1970 UK proto heavy prog, some Tull. PFM influenced dozens of bands back then, and some of their stamp is evident here. In the long run, a clever synthesis of styles and influences, not terribly original but definitely essential for a developing RPI collection.

4.5 stars

The Italian five piece formation Campo Di Marte existed between 1971 and 1974 and released an eponymous LP in 1973, considered as a minor gem. In 2003 the band recorded 'live' music in the studio and decided to release it, in combination with a 1972 live recording.

CD 1 is the registration from a concert in Florence, Campo Di Marte plays exciting and dynamic (with hints from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Dutch pride Focus) featuring fiery and raw guitar play, swirling work on the flute traverse and floods of Hammond organ. It sounds as typical live Seventies rock/prog, with a lot of room for instrumental interludes and extented soli. The sound quality is at the level of a decent bootleg, so if you don't have a problem with this Campo Di Marte live 1972 turns into an interesting musical experience.

CD 2 is recorded in the studio but played as a 'live concert', in one take. In comparison with CD 1 the sound quality is very good, this is a boost to listen to the powerful and compelling Campo Di Marte sound, alternating between mellow and bombastic.

The interplay between the guitar and organ/piano is exciting, loaded with fiery runs,heavy soli, obviously inspired by the legendary rock guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. The Italian vocals contain a lot of emotion, I always like the choice for the native language.

The acoustic guitar is wonderfully blended in Back In Time and Otalian Irish, accompanied by soaring flutes.

In Bluesy Rocky the guitar work is outstanding and exciting featuring lots of blistering and biting runs, very compelling, in between a jazzy piano solo.

The lay-out of this 2-CD is beautiful: a digipack with a FOC, each CD contains a small booklet (8 pages with history, lyrics and pictures). The price is at the level of an average 1 CD so the mediocre sound quality of CD 1 cannot be a huge problem.

Like so many Classic Italian Prog bands, here's another strong return to the world of prog, Campo Di Marte is a band with excellent and enthusiastic musicians delivering a varied blend of rock and prog.

My rating: 3,5 star. .

A bittersweet live release.

As some of you may know, RPI is one of my favorite progressive rock genres, so there are a lot of bands from this country which I love. One of those bands is surely Campo di Marte and their one and only studio album released back in 1973, a great example of how good prog rock records Italy has given to the world. But well, after so many days without listening to them, I incidentally found at y new job a guy who likes progressive rock, so of course we have talked about it and even shared some CDs and DVDs. He kindly introduced me to this Campo di Marte release, a two-CD live album in which we can find a concert from their early years (1972) and one from a reformation in this new millennium (2003).

Overall, I could say this album gave me very good moments, I mean, the musicians (both lineups) are great, they know what to do and one cannot simply judge that. What left me with a bittersweet flavor was basically the quality sound of the first CD which honestly is really poor, horrible, so despite I wanted to enjoy the music I could not do it because in moments it was difficult to understand the music, nothing was clean so the experience has been totally negative. So I believe it was a nice effort to rescue those old tapes and put it into a CD, but I think it was a waste of time and something unnecessary.

The positive side comes of course with CD 2, because so many years have passed, the production is way better so is the listening experience. However, the sound could have been even better and cleaner, I mean, I have listened to a lot of live records and most of them has a better quality than this one. But well, what we can enjoy here is the performance of that 1973 album with some new musicians and a more powerful sound, with great keyboards and guitar solos. Of course, Enrico Rosa's voice and playing was as good as in the old times, I cannot deny it.

Honestly, I would not recommend this live bootleg, only if you are a collector and want to increase your number of acquisitions. My final grade will be two stars.

However... enjoy it!

A band from Florence led by guitarist Enrico Rosa, bass player Richard Ursillo and drummer/flutist Mauro Sarti, who found them in 1971.Keyboardist Alfredo Barducci and ex-I Califfi drummer Carlo Felice Marcovecchio completed the original line-up.Campo Di Marte were constantly playing live under different names and even recorded this album during their early days, which was released in 1973 by the United Artists label.

This is a good example of early-70's Italian Prog with multiple influences, great technical level and decent but far from excellent songwriting.The more powerful tracks offer good electric solos and a powerful rhythm section in a Hard Rock vein with plenty of breaks, not unlike IL BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO or I CALIFFI.During these pieces the use of Mellotron, organ and piano add the appropriate symphonic-inclined colors along with a certain grandiosity.But there are also tracks, where the gears are definitely down, having an obvious Folk vibe along with strong Classical inspirations.Acoustic crescendos with violin and horn arrangements, dreamy flutes and supporting synths create nice and ethereal soundscapes in the vein of PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI.Vocals are not particularly strong but they are decent to say the least.What this band lacked actually was some really great songwriting with a few tracks suffering from cohesion.

By the time ''Campo Di Marte'' was out, the band already had lost interest in the project and split up with Rosa moving to Denmark to work as a session guitarist, Ursillo joining Seansation's Fix and Sarti playing with Bella Band.A brief concert-reunion took place at the dawn of the new millenium with only Rosa and Sarti from the early days, resulting to the live release ''Concerto Zero : Live 1972/2003'' and material both from the 70's and the recent days.

Meanwhile the sole release of the band deserves to be placed among the strong albums of the Italian scene.Definitely not a masterpiece but anyone who like's the Italian Prog sound or diverse and eclectic prog works should add this in his priority list.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

Campo Di Marte were part of the italian prog rock scene of the early '70's, together with PFM, Banco,etc they put a mark on italian scene and not only. Even they release only one album in 1973 self titled, they influenced hundred of new prog bands emerget after in this scene. To me this album sounds heavy prog most of the time with gentle instrumental passages. It reminds me in sound and manner of playing with of one of the top prog bands from my country Progresiv TM and has aswell passges that are similar with Uriah Heep for instance. While has aswell some influences from italian school like PFM or Museo Rosenbach, it contains some more heavier section then PFM, concentrate more on guitar then on keybords. The result is a great one, one of the gret jewels of italian old school. The album divided in 7 parts is like an opera or a story line about war and the opposite peace, it alternates very strong from heavier parts to a more beautiful mellow acustic passages, always keeping the atmosphere very dense and complex aswell. I realy like the album, the bass is very in front and has some spectacular moments, like all the rhytmic section from here. An album that must be heared by any prog rock listner, a varied release that stood the test of time very well, at least for me. 4 stars for sure.

A good but not remarkable release from the Italian prog boom of the early 1970s. The strong influence of Trespass-era Genesis which seems obligatory for Italian bands from this era is present in spades, but is combined with a greater willingness to rock out, with louder and more abrasive guitar sounds featuring from the first track. To be honest, were it not for this occasional moment of hard rock guitar heroics the album would be pretty unmemorable, and as far as the RPI pecking order goes it's hardly on the order of PFM or Le Orme or Banco - and it's not even an excellent example of one of the second-tier albums from the period. It's pleasant, but not much more than pleasant, that's all.

This minor gem from 1973 has all the ingredients for a prog classic, but never really comes to fruition. Perhaps it was the band's lack of interest or heavy-handy involvement from the record label (United Artists), but for whatever reason the album never reaches its full potential. But it is still pretty good, if a little overrated. There are two different CD releases of Campo Di Marte, each with a different track sequence; the 1994 Mellow CD which replicates the original LP running order, and the 2006 BTF/AMS CD in which the "sides" are reversed. I have tried listening to the album both ways, and honestly it doesn't make a huge difference to me, as perhaps I am too accustomed to the Mellow CD. Guitarist and composer Enrico Rosa had originally visioned the album begin softly and sweetly, but I guess United Artists had other plans. I actually like the hard open, as it grabs your attention and sets the tone for what will be an interesting, if somewhat uneven, listen.

As mentioned, "Primo Tempo" begins with a hard rock sound, the electric guitar reminiscent of Black Sabbath. Once the rest of the band comes in, you'll notice something quite interesting and unique to the world of Italian Prog - there are two drummers! But this is no Grateful Dead stuff; think more like Larks' Tongues in Aspic era King Crimson. However, in this band of multi-instrumentalists, drummer Mauro Sarti will switch out to flute early and often...which he does in "Secondo Tempo." This softer side of the group is the better of the two, and is executed no better than on this track. "Terzo Tempo" features some interesting guitar experimentation/improvisation, before giving way to a haunting piano motif. This theme will continue into "Quarto Tempo" which is even more intense. There is some really nice organ work here, courtesy of Alfredo Barducci.

The outstanding keyboard skill will continue on "Quinto Tempo," but this time from Enrico Rosa and his Mellotron. For me this is probably the high point of the album, and the last two tracks somewhat pale in comparison. Overall though, a solid effort well worth seeking out. Especially recommended for those with deep collections already or fans of Maxophone and Alusa Fallax.

Campo di Marte. At first i only had the reference of this album and band by a recommendation of a friend, I said roughly, "Is this a classic of the RPI"and is right, if it is. However there are some monotonous sounds that ain´t totally love, at first listen is a complex album with a concept and a fairly well-defined background, but again the music sometimes becomes too heavy, dense, lacks, at times there is some inconstant flow that restricts the musical elevation and conceptual level too, the voices, the execution and interpretation, all very well and correctly, but as i say, this does not exclude that from my point of view is a rather and regular album.