THE TRIP

The Trip was an Italian progressive rock band, one of the first bands in the Italian prog rock scene. Working and living in Italy, the band eventually became made up of a majority of Italian members although that was not how things started. The band was formed originally in England in 1966 as Maiocchi & The Trip. It was formed as a support band for the beat-pop singer Ricky Maiocchi. It was originally a psychedelic rock band with Riki Maiocchi (voice), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), William Gray (voice and guitar), Arvid Andersen (voice and bass) and Ian Broad (drums). Like many British bands, The Trip traveled to Italy in search of shows and stayed. Soon after, in 1967, the two founders, Maiocchi and Blackmore, and Broad left the band and returned to England. The band stayed in Italy and reformed in the same year as The Trip with Gray tooking over the guitar duties playing much in the style of Blackmore and with two new members, the Italians Joe Vescovi (keyboards) and Pino Sinnone (drums). When Vescovi was recruited he soon assumed the leadership and began to move to more progressive sounds working with the influence of bands such as Vanilla Fudge, The Nice and Quatermass, which were worshiped in Italy. In this vein with four members, they produced two albums the eponymous debut "The Trip" in 1970 and "Caronte" in 1971. "Caronte" is in general considered their best work, really.

"Caronte" is a conceptual album based on the Charon character from Dante's "Divine Comedy", recast as a metaphor of the conformism. It's also based in the Italian culture and the dreams of the "American Way Of Life". It was also inspired by the memory of some dead rock heroes. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix are mentioned, respectively in songs "Little Janie" and "L'Ultima Ora E Ode A J. Hendrix" (The Last hour and ode to Jimi Hendrix), as victims of a conformist society. The cover art from the album include drawings by Gustave Doré of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" re-elaborated with a kind of a pop-art style depicting a part painted, the sky and the scarf, and a small picture below with the image of the four members of the band in the flower-power style. Somehow it depicts the content of the all album.

While their debut finds The Trip mixing blues rock with heavy organ and rich harmonies, and some classical influences, their sophomore release finds their music moving toward the realm of the British prog rock. Vescovi, with his self-proclaimed influence of Keith Emerson, is up to task. But, while the influence is obvious, there's still originality in The Trip's take on the progressive. Yet they never lose their heavy blues-rock roots. This can clearly see all over the album.

The first track "Caronte 1" is a nice instrumental. There's a fine interplay between Vescovi's organ and Gray's guitar playing. Massive organ riffs together with a hard rock tuned guitar create a dynamic proto-prog, a blitz of the late 60's psychedelic rock rhythms with touches of The Nice. It brings a 60's vibe into the new decade. With "Two Brothers" a snappy rock groove emerges in catchy vocal interludes. In its unbridled dynamics, the vocal performance is briefly a reminiscent of "21st Century Schizoid Man" of King Crimson. Later, the keyboard's weight is given a psychedelic finish and moves away from the bombastic keynote. In contrast, "Little Janie" with its lively The Beatles style, looks like a relic from the 60's. It's a nice pop song featuring piano and Mellotron together. Gray's guitar is pleasantly understated, and Vescovi's vocals are nice here too. This is a nice number to listen to but that seems rather misplaced compared to the rest of the concept. The lengthiest track "L'Ultima Ora E Ode A J. Hendrix" is the undisputed climax on the album. It combines a great keyboard work, nice guitar lines and good vocal harmonies. The echoed vocals are just another confirmation of the musical style of that era. This musical bow to the genius of the guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix, who died a year earlier, is performed with solemn pathos. The brilliant church organ sound and the remote strings let this track be full of a great emotional brilliance. With the last track "Caronte 2", it's time to take up the main theme. It takes us back to the beginning with a promising organ with a percussive intro supported by a guitar work. But, this is nothing more than a keyboard workout. You have to remain silent for a moment to catch your breath from the previous track.

Conclusion: Even if "Caronte" sounds indisputably out of date after more than 30 years and in 1971 were still a band on the threshold of actual prog rock, these historical recordings from a rock historical point of view can convince. The Trip injected into the sound of the 60's some new codes, not only to overcome the limits of their culture and their time, but to create a new sound. Certainly, the path to be taken to create a "new Italian prog" was still long, but in this sense "Caronte" was certainly an essential catalyst. Later, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Le Orme moved to another level. But, we must consider that when The Trip released "Caronte" in 1971, nothing had ever been heard in Italy of so extraordinarily "prog". So, The Trip have defined and anticipated groove of a generation who will remain faithful to the end. It's true that many others have had most success. Well, but that is another story, indeed.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

A journey of harmonic passages that gives off a lot of fantasy and clarity in each note and makes this album a must for lovers of Italian prog rock. Atlantide, The Trip's third album, if I could characterize it at all, it would be its amazing rhythmic breakdowns, spacey guitar solos, ELP-style keyboard accompaniment, and friendly interlude melodies that make the album dynamic and catchy. This is an example of underrated/under-recognized gems for what they really deserve (keeping in mind that the release date of this album is 1972, undoubtedly the golden year of progressive rock).My favourite song on the album is "Analisi". The way they achieve those beautiful angelic choirs together with that church piano and that original melody is worthy of admiration. And well, don't even get me started on the incredible and fast song "Distruzione", a masterpiece of percussive sounds. The album ends with "Il vuoto", an aural aurora continued by the interlude of an explosion at the end of "Distruzione". In all that I have been listening to progressive rock I must say, it was one of the strangest and most "parallel" beautiful endings I have ever heard. I recommend this album for all those wanting to dig into Italian progressive rock to get to know more in depth great bands like PFM or Banco. Or also, if you are simply looking for something not so well known to experiment for a while.

Atlantide: 4/5

Evoluzione: 3.5/5

Leader: 3.5/5

Energia: 5/5

Ora X: 4/5

Analisi: 5/5

Distruzione/Il vuoto: 5/5

8,5/10, 4 stars for this entertaining and epic melodic journey.

In 2021 The Trip released "Caronte 50 Years Later" on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records with the new line up featuring Pino Sinnone (drums), Andrea 'Ranfa' Ranfagni (lead vocals), Carmine Capasso (vocals, guitars, sitar, theremin), Tony Alemanno (bass, backing vocals) and Andrea 'Dave' D'Avino (Hammond, piano, backing vocals) plus the guests Christian Sinnone (drums) and Antonio Capasso (Harley Davidson on 'Two Brothers'). It was homely recorded during the lock-down and consists in a new version of the 1971 album Caronte, interpreted with philological passion and an updated sound. The art work was taken from some illustrations by Austrian painter Joseph Anton Koch (27 July 1768 ' 12 January 1839) inspired by Dante's Inferno and perfectly reflects the subject matter...

The album opens with a short new piece entitled 'Acheronte'. The name refers to the river that in Greek mythology was depicted as the entrance to the Greek Underworld and where souls had to be ferried across by Charon. It starts by recitative vocals declaiming some verses from Dante's Divine Comedy. It's a nice introduction to the new versions of 'Caronte I', 'Two Brothers', 'Little Janie', 'L'ultima ora e Ode a Jimi Hendrix' and 'Caronte II' that follow showing all the good potential of the band and the qualities of the musicians involved in the project.

After the journey through hell and the meeting with the damned souls of the two "easy riders", Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, the album closes with the new versions of other two historic pieces sung in Italian, 'Una pietra colorata', originally released in 1970 on the first eponymous album, and 'Fantasia', originally released in 1970 as a single and taken from the soundtrack of the film Terzo canale - Avventura a Montecarlo. The music and lyrics of the last one perfectly fit the subject matter describing a vision of the afterlife and a visit to Paradise...

On the whole, a good album. It's a perfect exercise of style for the new line up and, after the re-appropriation of the old repertoire, I hope this band will manage to compose original music in the future.

The opener "Rhapsodia" is a long, complex and fragmented track that fills all the first side of the LP. According to wikipedia, a rhapsody in music is a "one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour, and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations"... This description, in my opinion, perfectly fits this piece where the music and lyrics evoke dreamy landscapes and infinite skies. Here you can set your imagination free and take off for a flight in a perpetual, timeless motion, dancing along the sounds coming from a distant town. You're close to the edge and nobody can catch you in your playful illusion... Well, probably the colourful art cover can describe the content of this long track better than all my words.

The lively instrumental "Formula nova" (New formula) opens the second side of the LP and could recall Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It begins by a jazzy incipit with the piano in the forefront and frenzied bass lines, then, after a drum break, the organ takes over leading to a pyrotechnic finale... Next comes another instrumental track, "De sensibus" (the title, in Latin, means "about the senses") that starts by the sound of church bells and powerful drum rolls and features a disquieting atmosphere with a particular ethnic flavour and a great percussion work...

The following "Corale" (Chorale) brings an almost liturgical atmosphere dominated by a church-like organ and strong classical influences. In fact, the title refers to several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale while the music and lyrics invite you to break free from the jail of a meaningless life and look up for joy and peace... Then the instrumental "Ad libitum" closes the album. It's a piece for piano solo where Joe Vescovi seems just exploring the possibilities of the instrument going from classical to jazz, from blues to ragtime...

After "Time Of Change" drummer Furio Chirico left to form Arti & Mestieri while the others tried to get on with the help of Osage Tribe's drummer Nunzio Favia. Unfortunately, the band gave up some months later, when Andersen was injured in an accident. Joe Vescovi then joined Acqua Fragile for a short time at the end of 1974 and later both he and Favia joined Dik Dik. As a consequence, The Trip and their music went under the radar for a very long time... Until 2010! But this is another story...

The instrumental opener 'Atlantide' (Atlantis) takes you back in time, on the sea, to show you a spectacular sunrise on the continent of Atlantis. It begins softly by a delicate piano intro, then the rhythm rises and the arms of the clock start to go backward, faster and faster. When the rhythm calms down the music conjures up a dreamy, exotic landscape...

Next comes 'Evoluzione' (Evolution) where the music and lyrics describe the first signs of life on the mysterious continent and its advanced civilization where empty minds blindly follow their leader, the chosen one, a ruthless maniac who defies Mother Nature looking for more and more power...

The following 'Leader' with its pulsing rhythm evokes scenes that could recall Fritz Lang's 1927 expressionist science-fiction drama film "Metropolis". The Atlantis people believe in their leader and in his promises for a better life in a future where Energy rules... Then the instrumental 'Energia' (Energy) depicts the moment when Energy, the source of an unlimited, uncontrollable power, falls in the hand of the leader and his madness explodes... All men will be slaves!

'Ora X' (X-Hour) opens the second side of the LP giving voice to the madness of the leader who wants to be king forever ruling all over the world... But the thunder is approaching and Energy breaks through blowing the leader and his followers up.

The melancholic 'Analisi' (Analysis) is a kind of elegy and in the meantime a caustic warning for the future. The illusion to harness Mother Nature crumbles as men who do not use its vital powers in the correct way are swept away by its force. A whole continent has been destroyed by greed because foolish crowds didn't fight to be alive and free but chose to follow the empty promises of an unscrupulous, merciless leader...

Then a dark marching beat solemnly leads the way to the last two instrumental tracks, 'Distruzione' (Destruction) that depicts anarchy and cataclysm and features a great drum solo, and the short 'Il vuoto' (The void) that closes the album describing the last moments of Atlantis, erased from the maps and submerged by the sea. Mother Nature's triumph is merciless and ineluctable... Beware!

On the whole, an excellent album whose dystopic concept in a time of climate changes and environmental challenges is still actual and fresh.

The instrumental opener "Caronte I" (Charon I) starts by pulsing bass lines, dark organ waves and spectral electric guitar blows that take you into the underworld, across the river of woe, where you can embark on Charon's ferryboat like Dante and Virgil. Your journey through hell begins... "Dear Charon, thank you for the invitation to look apon a souls damnation. With us are a chosen few that we should like to interview..." (Quote from the liner notes).

The following "Two Brothers" opens with the noise of brakes and tires on the asphalt and was inspired by the final scene of "Easy Rider", the 1969 American independent road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern. Shots and a riderless motorcycle flying through the air, a running man desperately trying to escape from his killers, the road covered in blood, fire and flames, steel and leather... The atmosphere is dark while bass and organ weave a requiem for the dead riders, then the rhythm rises as the music and lyrics evoke the protagonists on their highway to hell...

The dreamy, delicate ballad "Little Janie" opens the second side of the LP. It's a piece dedicated to Janis Joplin and evokes her tragic fate... Next comes the long, complex "L'ultima ora e Ode a J. Hendrix" (The last hour and Ode to J. Hendrix) that conjures up the reeling shadow of the dead guitar hero in a curious mix of classical inspired organ patterns, powerful rock passages and crying guitar solos. Every now and again this piece could recall the last part of the first New Trolls' "Concerto Grosso"...

Then the short instrumental "Caronte II" closes this particular journey through hell leaving up to your imagination the rest of the story...

On the whole, a very good album and one of the very first examples of Italian Progressive Rock along with "Collage" by Le Orme or "L'uomo" by Osanna.

The opener "Prologo" (Prologue) is an interesting instrumental track that starts by a dark organ solo passage and then goes through the doors of perception turning into something different when the rhythm rises going from bolero to blues. After more than eight minutes this piece gives way to the following "Incubi" (Nightmares), another long psychedelic track with many sparse echoes of classical music and jazzy organ passages that tells of a nightmarish, restless night haunted by crawling visions in a mad flight through the unconscious, waiting for the morning sun...

The long, apocalyptic "Visioni dell'aldilà" (Visions from the afterlife) opens the second side of the LP and, like the previous track, despite the Italian title is sung in English. According to an interview with Pino Sinnone, this piece was inspired by some Hieronymus Bosch's tableaux and combines dark organ passages, soaring harmony vocals and the fiery instrumental flights of a wild and free soul with coloured, impressionistic lyrics...

"Riflessioni" (Reflections) is another piece sung in English mixing rock, blues and gospel and dealing with religion, time passing by and the mystery of life. The surreal, lively closer "Una pietra colorata" (A coloured stone) is the only track sung in Italian. Here the music and lyrics conjure up the image of a lonely, talking coloured stone at the bottom of the sea that eventually falls in love with another stone put nearby...

On the whole, a good album that marks the transition from beat and psychedelia to progressive rock in Italy.

The return of Classic Italian Prog.

The Trip released four albums in the first half of the seventies. The eponymous debut LP (1970) and Caronte (1971) contain a blend of rock, prog and psychedelia, with a lot of harder-edged guitar and powerful organ. On the third effort entitled Atlantide (1972) The Trip plays as a trio without a guitar player. The eight songs sound pleasant and varied with decent English vocals and strong work on keyboards (The Nice and ELP inspired). Their final effort Time Of Change (1973) is jazzy oriented with ELP sounding keyboards. In 2010 the reunion of the 72-73 trio line-up took place, then The Trip performed at the Prog Exhibition in Rome. This event was released in a lush 7-CD and 4-DVD box set, entitled Prog Exhibition ' 40 Anni Di Musica Immaginifica ( also featuring bands like Banco, PFM, Osanna and La Maschera Di Cera). In 2011 The Trip played in Japan, the death of Andersen in 2012 and especially the lost of Vescovi in 2014 (another original member Billy Gray had passed away in 1984) marked the end of this highly acclaimed formation. In 2015 The Trip only original member drummer Pino Sinnone continued the rebirth of The Trip, and one year later Black Widow Records released the CD Live 1972, recorded at the legendary The Piper in Rome. The new line-up since 2019 still includes only one original member, drummer Pino Sinnone. In 2020 The Trip released a new version of the 1971 Carone album entitled Caronte 50 Years Later.

Early Seventies Hammond drenched prog, re-recorded in 2021, what an interesting combination! The 8 compositions deliver a pleasant variety. Psychedelic in the short instrumental opener Acheronte. Bombastic and dynamic with The Nice inspired Hammond work and fiery guitar in Caronte 1 and II. A ballad with piano and decent English vocals in Little Janie. Heavy guitar and swirling Hammond like Atomic Rooster, topped with strong Italian vocals and a boogie woogie piano in Una Pietra Colorata. And a blend of Seventies Uriah Heep and early Classic Italian Prog with slightly theatrical Italian vocals in Fantasia.

My highlight on this album is the longest track L'Ultima Ora E Ode A Jimi Hendrix (10 minutes). First a slow rhythm featuring soaring Hammond and powerful vocals. Then the music turns into bombastic and compelling, with dramatic vocals and lush Hammond. The sound reminds me of Seventies Uriah Heep. Halfway a wonderful Hammond solo, followed by an accelarion with lush Hammond and powerful drums. Next a fiery guitar solo and a Hammond solo with strong classical hints. The second part is a warm tribute to Jimi Hendrix, translated in a moving way by howling electric guitar runs, very intense.

Good job by this new The Trip line-up, fuelled by only original member drummer Pino Sinnone. Especially keyboard player Andrea "Dave" D'Avino colours the The Trip sound in an exciting way with his mighty Hammond."

I believe that the truth lies somewhere in between.

Definitely is a very original album and full of stylistic surprises.

Also the Italian music critics of those years defined this album as ''impressionistic music'' (Musica Impressionistica) printed on the back cover of the album.

It means the music based on impressions and the feeling that your mind will give you, it will suggest in listening to the album, it means, the trip.

This definition of (Musica Impressionistica) is very interesting and this is a great and proper credit for the band (The Trip) because in those years the Italian musical critics used the definition '' BEAT or POP '' to label all sorts of new rock music.

THE TRIP (1970) definitely is a Progressive rock album even if the band remains influenced by acid Psychedelic of the late sixties like also many British bands like for example '' Pink Floyd '' King Crimson '' YES, and many other bands that they released an album in 1970 following this style of music and switching between the sixties to the early seventies.

The album ranges with hypnotic introductions created by Leslie organ and lysergic moments, classical pieces and baroquisms with Progressive sound by acid vibe in the groove with some moments mixed in the rock blues and the gospel with use of choral and falsetto voices.

This is heard in songs like Prologo, Incubi, Visioni del'aldila, Riflessioni and ''Una Pietra Colorata'' which is a short Psychedelic track that closes the album which initially the song was not part of the album and also which it was originally in English previously entitled "Take Me" and transformed with Italian lyric penned by the drummer 'Pino Sinnone' and add to the album for contractual reasons of the RCA records because being an album released in Italy and there had to be at least one song in Italian and short song for single promotional of the album and radio.

The album The Trip (1970) is like a visionary journey of a impressionistic collage of musical styles in key Progressive rock of the early seventies led by the organist ''Joe Vescovi'' inspired by the paintings of ''Hieronymus Bosch'' saying in an interview.

The Trip is an important band and album how important are their albums that predecessor their debut like , Caronte (1971), Atlantide (1972), Time Of Change (1973 ) albums that are always in a stylistic evolution.

The Trip was initially one of many English bands coming to Italy in search of success during the beat-era and psychedelic movement in the mid-sixties with Ritchie Blackmore in the line up before forming the Deep Purple in 1968.

line-up, along with founder members ''Arvid 'Wegg' Andersen'' Bass, vocals, ''Ritchie Blackmore'' lead guitar ''Billy Gray'' Guitar, vocals and drummer ''Ian Broad'', a line-up change in 1969 brought two Italians in, first the keyboard player ''Joe Vescovi'' (later the leading figure in the band) and after the drummer ''Pino Sinnone''.

The Trip they were present at several Italian major rock festivals new trends as for example the historical festival of Caracalla 1970 (dubbed the Woodstock of Italy) and peak band at the historic Piper Club of Rome undisputed temple of many Italian and abroad psychedelic and progressive bands of the sixties and seventies.

The trip, also were protagonists of a Psychedelic rock film "TERZO CANALE, avventura a Montecarlo" was released in theaters in 1970 and the final scenes of the film were filmed during the ''1st Caracalla Pop Festival'' which took place in the ''Terme di Caracalla'' (Baths of Caracalla) in Rome from 10 to 11 October 1970.

The Trip 1970 It was undoubtedly the first Progressive rock album that comes out in Italy and the band that active all roads in the Italian Progressive rock along with the''New Trolls''.

(The Trip) 1970, for this pioneering outstanding debut album and its peculiar originality of style and the historical importance in the progressive scene, definitely four stars.****

The album is undoubtfully highlighted by the sidelong 20-min. epic ''Rhapsodia'', a well-crafted composition with major YES, LE ORME and E.L.P. influences, highlighted by the complicated, almost jazzy drumming of Furio Chirico, the furious bass lines of Arvid Andersen and the incredible work of Joe Vescovi on keyboards.This track alternates rapidly between loose jazzy jams and tight Progressive Rock with huge Classical influences, offering plenty of organ, synths and piano textures, supported by excellent vocal work.The rest of the album is also good yet a bit uneven.''Formula nova'' is some sort of keyboard-driven Prog/Fusion, all instrumental and highly challenging, while ''De sensibus'' is pure Avant-Garde/Experimental music, featuring percussion, cymbals, synths and wordless screams.''Corale'' is a beautiful laid-back symphonic ballad with church organ and bass on the forefront along with the romantic vocal lines of Andersen and the closing ''Ad libitum'' is a piano solo by Vescovi with evident Classical and Jazz inspirations.

The next year Chirico formed Arti E Mestieri and Andresen had a serious road accident, which propably marked the end of The Trip.More than three decades later the band was revived with the legendary Andersen-Chirico-Vescovi line-up, performing live concerts, but sadly came to an end in the spring of 2012 after the death of Andersen.

The last studio contribution of The Trip is energetic keyboard-led Progressive Rock with an obvious leaning towards more Fusion realms and comes as another nice contribution of one of the earlier Italian Prog bands in the proggy paths.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.