FORSE LE LUCCIOLE NON SI AMANO PIÙ

The wonderful world of Italian prog features many hidden surprises and unknown gems, amongst them Locanda Delle Fate, who may just be one of the genre's most mysterious. They released one album whilst the Italian prog scene was at it's height in the 1970's, 1977's 'Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Piu', and even then it came when the scene was starting to lose it's appeal in the face of punk rock. The album itself is coated in layers of lush, sumptuous keyboards and synthesizers, encompassing within the first few bars of the album's opening song all that is beautiful about the Symphonic side of prog, and the album is hailed as classic by both fans and critics of the genre. Why they only released one album remains a bit of a mystery, and they did re-appear briefly in the 1990's, with a belated follow-up that utterly eschewed the symphonic prog sound of their debut in favour of a straight-ahead commercial pop sound, thus rendering it a Locanda Delle Fate album in name only. However, despite their relative anonimity in the wider world, and their ill-fated comeback, their debut is still seen as one of the jewels of the Italian prog crown, regularly mentioned in the same breath as PFM's 'Per Un Amico', Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's 'Darwin!' or Le Orme's 'Felona E Sorona' thanks to it's fulsome, keyboard-castle sound and fluid guitars that combine to create a rich sonic tapestry of beautifully-played symphonic-prog. Fans of Yes, Genesis, Grobschnitt's 'Rockpommel's Land' and Starcastle's first two albums will find much to admire here. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2010