PASSIO SECUNDUM MATTHEUM - THE COMPLETE WORK

What a fabulous remake!

Nowadays I am as fond of Italian prog as I was when I discovered progressive rock, those times when "Passio Secundum Mattheum" was one of the first RPI albums I discovered and loved, however, it never was a true favorite of mine, at the point that I even spent some years without listening to it. But well, last year I knew about a new version of that 1972 record, and though I did not get the album right away, I was kindly contacted by Black Widow Records' Massimo Gasperini, who let me know about this (and other label's releases), thanks a lot, man.

So this is called "Passio Secundum Mattheum: The Complete Wor", and as I mentioned above, is like a remake of that album, but with a lot of "new" elements. First, it is important to say that all the songs were re-recorded, after the reunion of Latte e Miele's founding members Vitanza, Lacagnina and Dellacasa, and the addition of bass player Massimo Gori. Remember the original album features 12 songs and around 35 minutes of music; this one delights us with 19 tracks and a total time of 50 minutes.

Since the opener track "Introduzione" one realizes about the amazing musical production, I mean, the sound will remind you of 1972, though engineering and technology is now top-notch, so the sound is simply much better, which allows us to have a solid and amazing RPI journey. An advise, please listen to it with good headphones, close the eyes and you will see and imagine loads of things.

This time there was also a nice amount of guest musicians, which are called "evangelists", so it is great to listen to different voices through the album, voices that this time are belong to the Latte e Miele realm, but that are known to us due to their work with other RPI acts, some of them are Lino Vairetti (Osanna), Alvaro Fella (Jumbo), Elisa Montaldo (Il Tempio delle Cresside) and Aldo de Scalzi (Picchi dal Pozzo), among others. Also, the music is smoothed by the great work of Choir Classe Mista and the virtuosity of GNU Quartet.

The new songs added here are as necessary as the original ones, I mean, those 15 additional minutes have the same high quality and produce a lot of images and emotions, the narrative is outstanding and the music leads us to a wonderful journey of classic-modern RPI that every person who likes this genre will love. The work of the Latte e Miele musicians is great, I have always loved Alfio Vitanza's drumming (I could see him with playing with New Trolls in the 2008 Baja Prog) and this time his performance is amazing again. Keyboards come from Oliverio Lacagnina, and believe me, he makes a spectacular work. Those instruments are greatly complemented by the choir and all the orchestral arrangements.

I love this longer version of "Getzemani" whose five minutes make it the longest composition of the album. "Il Prezzo del Sangue" is another favorite, and what I love the most is how all the songs are equally important, all together are like chapters from a book, no matter if the running time is just one minute, or three, or five; the production, the narration and the execution together make this a truly masterpiece of progressive rock.

"Il Calvario" is one of those moments of transition that makes me feel excited, Dellacasa's guitar here is truly amazing, disarming, touching, and complemented by the violins and the choir, uff, it gives me goosebumps. Well, all the songs are beautiful, and the album greatly finishes with "Come un Ruscello Che?" which is like the icing on the cake.

Well, if you are not familiar with this album, please get it, listen to both versions but once you have this new one, I bet you will fall in love with it.

Enjoy it!

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