IL TEMPO DELLA GIOIA

In my very subjective personal opinion (even that is redundant) Quella Vecchia Locanda, it's one of the biggest band of the Italian prog scene of the 70's. It is too bad they disbanded so soon. Fortunately, they left two gems so we could admire the greatness of the band.

"Il Tempo de la Gioia" is an excellent album that reaches the perfection. With this album QVL left their legacy to the Prog World and there's no doubt about it.

Villa Doria Pamphili is to me, the most beautiful and amazing Italian symphonic rock song I ever heard (yes, I know I said that of another song before, but what the hell..) You know something is going beyond the beauty when you hear the intro of the piano followed by that nostalgic violin that gives me goose bumps. Incredible, the vocals are excellent, very Italian, so to speak, kind of haunting and sad voice. But when the drums pops up and get together with the piano it's just the climax! It's so deep and melodic. I cannot think in other song that can speak about the Italian prog, if I had to choose a song to represent the genre, I think this would be a good one. I just can't stop listening without that sensation of peace and joy and sadness at the same time. What a track.

A formi di. Well, one more time we deal with perfection, with delicatessen, with innovation. This song is a master's creation, here you can listen to all the instruments, as a plus you have the operatic voices at the background. Sounds that seems flashes of lightning passing by through your head, the violin- what a violin!!- the flute, the piano, the voices all together in a symbiotic set that goes in crescendo. A short track but a powerful one.

Il tempo de la Gioia. Here are the highlights (man, how repetitive I am!); the central piece is a tour de force of what is supposed to be progressive. The Italian voices are pretty good in singing and the music it's totally fresh and innovating. The piano and the guitar alternates to lead the song, in the middle of the song, everything breaks apart to let the keyboard and the clarinet (I think) to add some fun jamming to the song mixing them with the violin in a great move! A total winner of the progressive world.

Un Giorno un Amico. Another gem of the prog music. The hypnotic sound of the beginning where you can hear the violin with a jazzy crazy sound, plagued for the coral voices. Here Claudio Gilice shows us his talent, innovation, technique and heart, creating new sounds at best. The tempo changes adds an incredible feeling of hearing an old jazz band that enjoys having fun with his instruments, the end of the song is so evocative, An electrical guitars joins to the song and then later towards to the end, I think it's the piccolo that sounds and creates that apprehension feeling you can hear. Another winner.

É accaduto una notte. This last song reminds me some BMS or Locanda, being sung in a continuos beat of the piano and drums, mixing the operatic voices. The violin is used a little in this one, but the piccolo has a bigger role accompanying the drums finishing with a spacey keyboard that puts an end to this incredible journey.

So, Il Tempo de la Gioia, is a fine example of Symphonic Italian rock, a gem of the genre and without a doubt, a timeless piece that never gets old, and that every time you hear it, sounds as fresh as the first day of its release. An applause for QVL for creating this majestic opus Magnus.

A progposito... RSDMCG