Good album with new arrangements of Dario Argento's films soundtracks songs. In my opinion these new versions are very beautiful, very RPI and less Italian Style compared to the original versions. It may seem strange but true. The new fashions are pushing for the Prog Metal. Claudio Simonetti, however, gave this fashion. He understands that we need to change only the sounds. Hence the idea of building a band that is effectively Prog Metal for background of musicians but RPI final result. What then is not symphonic does not matter.

I must admit that I had to sweat a lot to understand this music. Today I pleased me greatly although in this sense I prefer the compilation 'Claudio Simonetti Compilation: Profondo Rosso' (DV MORE RECORD CDDV 6398) because most varied as original sources (the songs are not only from Dario Argento's movies soundtracks) and because it is present true Prog Metal.

Returning to Daemonia I must admit that it is really a good band can still move very cold. In this sense it was really difficult to do better Goblin. But because the music here proposal could be included only strong emotions (and negative) I think that the fact of being cold performers of songs is an honor. Titta Tani has always seemed a cold calculator and performer, in every his performance, as Claudio Simonetti for me is a ruthless butcher of sounds, perfect demon of keyboards. Unfortunately, this is not readily perceivable in Daemonia and we want to hear too many listens to understand these virtues (for the proposed type of music).

Therefore I chance to say that this time Claudio Simonetti has managed to create a niche music. Without invent anything. And for this I can say that Daemonia deserve a special place in the history of Prog.

— First review of this album —

Laboratorium is a polish jazz band formed in 1970 in Krakow. Modern Pentathlon is their official debut LP, released in 1976 by Polskie Nagrania in the Polish Jazz series as Vol. 49.

This album is quite an original experience because the band uses an instrument rarely used by jazz-rock bands. This instrument is... voice. I said instrument because Marek Strzyczkowski doesn't sing in a traditional way, but he rather improvises with his voice (which may be compared to Urszula Dudziak's vocalisations). I must say that sometimes it sounds comical.

Apart from vocal experiments, album belongs to the jazz rock genre (with some funky influences). The album's opening track is a long, 20-minutes Pięciobój Nowoczesny which consists of five distinctive parts. This track is the most free on the album, it contains many improvisations and solo parts. The other four, shorter tracks are more regular and melodic. There are some similarities to bands like Weather Report, Return To Forever, or Mahavishnu Orchestra but as I said, this album is quite an original experience. Experiments and originality are sort of written in the band's name.

Overall, Modern Pentathlon is an interesting, original jazz-rock album. 4 stars.

In need of Trill

Recorded in 1975, "Bandolier" offered the first indications that the inspiration was starting to become harder to find for Budgie. The album as whole remains a solid, guitar driven affair, but there is an underlying feel of going through the motions to a number of the tracks. By this time, the Spinal Tap like challenge of retaining a drummer was becoming a feature of the line up, with "Syco" Steve Williams taking over from Pete Boot (who had lasted for just one album).

The opening "Breaking all the house rules" is an enjoyable but rather anonymous rock and roll number which does not seek to break out of its all too orthodox framework. "Slip away" is the album's now traditional soft acoustic number, the song being rather longer than previous such tracks, perhaps an indication of the band's struggle to come up with new material. "Who do you want for your love" sounds more like a Bad Company song that a Budgie one, the shuffling blues being over-lyrical and rather prosaic.

The second side of the album is somewhat brief, but does end on a high. "I can't see my feelings", which opens the side, is another Wishbone Ash like blues rock song with little to distinguish it from the many other such numbers recorded around the same time. "I ain't no mountain" is a decent cover version of an Andy Fairweather-Lowe (Amen Corner) song, which sees the band venturing into significantly more commercial territories than they would have explored on earlier albums. The two part Napoleon Bona Part 1 & 2 (Bonaparte, get it?) which closes the album is by far the best track here. It sets out as a gentle acoustic number before bursting forth as a driving rock anthem featuring some fine lead guitar soloing. The underlying riff is similar to that on Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant song", the atmosphere of the track being similarly appealing.

In all, a rather disappointing entry in the Budgie discography, but an album which is certainly worthy of investigation for its fine closing song.

If is an Italian prog band from Molise and “Morpho Nestira” is their fourth album, their best so far. It’s an excellent self production with a good sound quality and an amazing art cover. “Morpho Nestira” is a concept album about consumerism and the music perfectly fits the lyrics with an interesting mix of influences ranging from Pink Floyd to more conventional rock forms coming from the eighties, the “Age of Plastic”.

“Relax boy, don’t worry please, we’ll tell you what you will need / The deal is fair, we do thing right / We’ll just take all of your time / You need, we think so, to make more money and waste it all...”. The opener “You Need” is sparking and straightforward, and, despite it’s probably closer to a piece of Bachman and Turner Overdrive or Ironhorse than to something that you would classify as prog, I think that it’s a beautiful start for this work where consumerism is described like a vampire sucking out your time and your freedom...

“Morpho Nesira Part 1” is a good instrumental where happy samba rhythms melts in a tainted electric guitar riff leading to the following “10 Years Old”, a track that “runs like hell” trying to describe the need to grow up in hurry to keep up with life in an ill society and in a broken family... “I’m 10 year old / I walk alone / I feel so bad / I walk alone / But I’m not scared...”. Growing up alone you risk to feel just like a background noise on this world and on the next track “Background Noise” there’s an angry “plastic” sound... “I feel like I’m background noise, just background noise / We’re an average band with this song to play / We stand among a million sounds that build up this space / Will we catch you attention?”...

“Thirsty” is beautiful ballad that seems to come out from “The Wall” and is about a broken dream that leaves you weak and thirsty of love and power... Rag piano notes introduce the next track “Learning To Communicate” where modern and retro sounds get along... “Now I feel lonely so I look for someone dot net / You are so pretty, no need to go out to go bed / Ooh don’t you think it’s funny? Ooh it’s so funny! / We can have sex for weeks all safe behind the screen / / But we will never meet”... The “moony” and acoustic “Unknown Eyes” is another track about loneliness while next one “Poison” is introduced by a marching beat and is more straightforward and aggressive... “They filled my empty spaces and I bought everything they said / Slowly moving in my head their poison melted my brain / How can I get out?”

“I want back my dreams, my doubts, my fire / I want back my soul, my time, my life / Now I’m in front of you, I’ve got no masks / I’m naked”... “Naked” is another good track that reminds of Pink Floyd and that leads to the long instrumental “Morpho Nestira Part 2”, “le plat de resistance” on this album where the band showcase an excellent musicianship and a definitively more progressive sound...

The long and spacey “Empty”, where life is described as an empty hole to fill and to explore, and the light “Oceans Of Time” are a good conclusion for an album that is definitively worth to check out. “Now we must all grab our lives, spread our wings, taste our time / We’ll have oceans of time”...

— First review of this album —

Third release by US-based artist Rich Casey here, and an aptly named album it is.

Dark, atmospheric explorations is the name of the game here. Symphonic layers with a focus on mood exploration in mostly slow paced compositions is the main feature throughout, more often than not setting up multiple layered pompous sonic tapestries with one dominating and one or two additional underscoring melodic layers.

Bass and drums provide rhythms, acoustic and electric guitars are added sparingly; the latter mostly in the form of atmospheric guitar soloing.

Nothing really complex on this production though; but fans of symphonic rock inspired by Genesis of old, and in particular those enjoying music in this style at the most lush and mellow, may find this one intriguing. Especially if dark, melancholic moods are of general interest.

Not an essential album for RPI and Prog. The effect that 'L'Ippogrifo' have in my mind is that 'L'Ippogrifo' is a good album with honest ideas but too little personal. To say that Il Castello Di Atlante copy Locanda Delle Fate is obvious. But I also heard memory of Daltons and Festa Mobile, I Delirium and Gianni D'Errico, also if very dilute and not always clear. Because of this fact 'L'Ippogrifo' is an album that I can not listen to from beginning to end with the same enthusiasm of other albums. Also the production not please me many. The sound production is too perfect and not natural, for me, and this type of sound production is not good for this type of Prog. The songs are too little dymamics and not engaging.

But 'L'Ippogrifo' is written and played with enthusiasm. And this is an honor that should not be underestimated.

In definitive 'L'Ippogrifo' is an interesting album. But in definitive 'L'Ippogrifo' is only an interesting album.

The first immortal masterpiece of RPI is from a band called The Trip, an Anglo-Italian band that plays a sort of ELP/ Quatermass/ heavy Prog/ Baroque Prog with Folk and Psychedelics elements. 'Caronte' is the name of this immensely Masterpiece!

The music is not so coinvolgent for style of writing but, proper because this is the real fact, the music is great. Because of this fact the baroque elements that remaind for someone Le Orme for me is symonimous of ELP. This is clear in RPI but in The Trip's albums this is evident because this band is an English band based in Italy and with Italian elements. Curious is the fact that The trip's songs are written by Joe Vescovi, one of my preferred keyboarder, not only in Prog, because the lyrics are written by Willian Gray and sung in English, when the British bands based in Italy had always sung in Italian (I Rockes, Mal & I Primitives , just to name the two most popular Engish bands based in Italy). The sound is simply: organ and electric guitar that plays with a distortion that simulates the organ (and this is the psychedelic part of The Trip sound) with great pure RPI rhythms and arrangements. Proper for this fact 'Caronte' is a sort of Heavy Prog album in Symphonic Prog (RPI...) field. Is clear that The Trip is a band that helped the codification of Italian Prog that in 1971 ceases to be roto Prog to become full Prog. In the same year PFM, New Trolls and Le Orme finally arrived to codified the RPI.

I do not have a preferred song because, in my perception of Prog, all 'Caronte' have great music. Here Baroque, there psychedelic, there Symphonic... But always RPI.

In definitive vision 'Caronte' is a fundamental album for RPI and in my opinion 'Caronte' represent the first immortal Masterpiece of RPI. Highly recommended!

As I've been listening to this album for some 30 years now, I feel qualified to give a reasonable opinion. This is of course much different from the easily recognisable Floyd from the mid to late 70s.

The album is split in 2. One disc is live, recorded at Manchester and Birmingham in 1969, the other is a studio disc, with each band member contributing a quarter of the material.

I will start with the studio disc, which for me is the poorer by some way. The quality is very inconsistent. The sections of Richard Wright and Nick Mason are in the majority quite dreadful. With the exception of the opening minute or so, Part 1 of Wright's Sysyphus is a jumbled mess, although things do improve on parts 2-4. Mason's contribution is certainly avant garde, but may be a bit too weird for most tastes. The sound of a toothbrush being rolled around a beaker are a bit extreme for me! It is amusing, but I have to say that these days I do not listen to either Mason or Wright's sections.

Fortunately, Waters and particularly Gilmour rescue the situation. Waters' Grantchester Meadows is a lovely acoustic pastoral piece, which always reminds me of a lovely English summers day. As I write this in deepest January, that would be very nice! Several Species is hilarious, complete with the wierdest possible sound effects, and an indecipherable Scotsman. Again, this piece may be a bit too much for many. Gilmour's The Narrow Way, in 3 sections, is a fine, normal piece of music, which would not have been out of place on Meddle. Gilmour's guitar work is tremendous throughout.

The live disc is absolutely superb. Four classic tracks, all of which are much better than their studio versions. It is stunning to hear how tight the band were, the guitar and keyboards blending as one to create heavenly and shivering sounds which drift across the listener. This is surely one of space rock's finest moments. Wright's majestic organ playing really stands out, showing just how important he was to the Floyd sound. It is difficult to pick a favourite from the live disc, each is equally brilliant. However, I will single out the floating middle section of Set The Controls... as my personal highlight. Gilmour and Wright produce possibly the most amazing spacey section of music that I have heard.

Rating this album is tough. I would give the studio disc perhaps 2-2.5 stars and the live album easily 5 stars. Therefore, as the live disc is SO good, I will award 4 stars on the whole. As far as space rock is concerned, this is an essential album.

Ha-haa, what a light album this is...when I first listened to O Caroline, I thought so...but...

As honestly I say, for the first time of my listening to this album, I felt O caroline , the first track was MISCHOSEN in it. Maybe quite a few listeners have thought as above-mentioned. But believe me, this first track is surely the beginning of Matching Mole's progressive scene. Why? Please listen to the flute sound and Robert's withered and dry voice. How do you feel? I guess you would feel avantgarde, psychedelic, and progressive Canterbury. Yep, we can't think the as-we-hear melodic song as a mischosen one. The beginning! Okay? :P

From Instant Pussy we can be pushed or DIGGED by the Mole. How jazzy, how deeply-sunk, and how violent the sound is! Ouch, this is Mole sound. On the last track we can feel psychedelic and can hear varieties of chord with our angle of ears. Of course, not kidding!

Interestingly, this album is, for me, their curtain raiser. FWIW, this reason might be that my first Matching Mole was MARCH . Namely, Their live performance was very excellent I wanna say. If you listen to this album as the first Matching Mole, please listen to March next. You absolutely can understand me!

First time I heard Dancing With The Moonlit Knight early in the morning on a 70s AOR station, I got shivers. The music was like stepping through the folds of a dream, coming through the fog to see the boy crying Paper Late by the edge of the Thames. Having bought the album, I was very pleased to find the reprise Aisle of Plenty at the end of the album. It was another goosebump experience. I count it as one of the most welcome reprises in prog rock's history of reprises. It flows back to you like a distant friend.

I first heard Firth of Fifth on Seconds Out and was totally floored by Steve's sliding and looping solo, which is almost note-perfect from the rendition on this album. That this is hardly ever listed as one of the 100 best guitar solos in Rock-n-roll, is a clue that the wrong people are making those lists. (Although, I'd argue that it's since been surpassed by his wondrous solo on 12 from Neal Morse's ?.) Starting it off with one of Tony Banks best piano passages makes it a prog feast. And this is its original home.

The Battle of Epping Forest is an epic of a near-fantastic grotesque of a satire about a gritty reality. Caricatures just spew out of Gabriel's (likely) horn of plenty. It's a strange ride. Like Return of the Giant Hogweed, this one took quite a few listens to become one of my favorite Genesis pieces. The music leaps and cavorts about, setting the numerous tones. From the battle march that begins it, to the strangely discordant folkish pop, to the sing-song ballad-y Reverend interlude, back to the discordant battle, to the plodding dirge that backs the epilogue, to the ascendant outro just seem to frame the various moods of the story. Is it uneven? You could make the case. Does it ramble? You might say that. Is it daring? I think so, and as I said earlier, an epic. Whatever it was at the end They provide you with a lot of interesting musical ideas, and Mike Rutherford's rattly and rhythmic bass is a treat on the faster sections.

I find After the Ordeal to be very much what I came later to expect from Steve Hackett: Half accompanied classical study, half arcing melody played mostly on electric guitar with the exceptional note choice of Mr. Hackett. It's a favorite of mine.

Then there's Cinema Show. Admittedly it is one of their greater and more memorable songs. But I have to say that the enjoyment of the second half of the song is dead from overuse by the latter Genesis. Still fresh when I hear it, though, is the opening song that latter Genesis didn't enjoy playing as much as the bright, rhythmic combination of keyboard runs/drum solo.

So mentally, this splits into two songs for me--but when I think about it, I've often had a problem with what part of the second half sounds anything like the frail vanity hypnotically snaking through the first half. Memorable to me is the gentle opening, the delicate arpeggio-ettes, joined with Peter singing narration and quotes of Juliet and Romeo, and then a dazzling transition to Father Tiresias (with some very enjoyable Hackett fills swirling around infusing energy) growing in tempo, and complexity and interplay of arpeggios. Delicacy, frailty, and vanity (in all sense of the word flow) through the music and story adapted from Eliot's The Waste Land. Tiresias sees the permanent in the temporary in all of its show and bluster, but somehow nostalgic despite its empty promises. (People get confused though: Show is not a simple copy of the typist in Eliot's poem, it intensifies themes of (well) show and Tiresias vision is less empty.)

That The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was more ambitious, and that they pulled off that task with some success might prompt some to place Lamb ahead of Selling in some people's eyes. But consensus--and I--put this as the cream of the crop in Genesis albums. This is the very definition of an Essential masterpiece, and one of my all-time favorites--5 stars.