...DI TERRA

Every now and then BANCO would give us an all-instrumental album. They did that back in 1976 with Garofano Rosso, which is said to be a film soundtrack. Once again, they did that for "...Di Terra", except this isn't a film soundtrack. 1978 is often thought of as the year of punk and new wave, but it seemed that BANCO was still impervious to the changes of the time. Since they always had a strong classical feel to their music, it'll be only a matter of time before they did a rock band with orchestra concept like the MOODY BLUES' "Days of Future Passed", DEEP PURPLE's Concerto for Group and Orchestra, PROCOL HARUM's Live with the Edmunton Symphony Orchestra, and of course several Italian prog albums, amongst them NEW TROLLS's" Concerto Grosso Per 1", OSANNA's "Milano Calibro 9" and RDM's "Contaminazione". It's only natural they upped the classical influences. Vocalist Francesco di Giacomo obviously sat this one out, and if you never been too fond of his singing (he certainly is an acquired taste), you won't have to deal with that here, as "...Di Terra" is a purely instrumental album. The duo keyboards of the Nocenzi brothers (Vittorio and Gianni) are still quite recognizable. The music is often accompanied by an orchestra which can give it a dramatic feel. Some of the music tended to be on the experimental side, while others flirt with jazz. What's most interesting is some of the passages bear more than a striking resemblance to Mike OLDFIELD, especially the fuzz lead guitar that's obviously in the OLDFIELD style, this isn't what you generally hear on a BANCO album. It's a nice album to have, unfortunately, from my understanding, their following albums followed a more mainstream and commercial direction (too typical of prog bands at the end of the '70s and though the '80s).