PALEPOLI

I originally ran across this in the late 80's on its Japanese first CD issue. I only had a handful of Italian prog beyond PFM at that point, and had never heard of Osanna. At the time, I thought it was sort of a chaotic version of Jethro Tull, but delved into some unexplained madness from time to time. Thirty years later, I found this on vinyl, and dug out my CD to drive around to while playing the LP at home on the real sound system. What I found was that I had missed out on one of the most original Italian bands to come out of the RPI scene.

Like contemporaries Hawkwind in the UK and Plastic People of the Universe in Czechoslovakia, Osanna were into face painting, costumes and a theatrical bent to their rock and roll. Oh, and like those bands, sounding 'pretty' never is in the equation. Opener Oro Caldo has field recording sounds with acoustic percussion and flute on top. Are we in North Africa? A dark alley in Naples? It is but a short atmospheric introduction to the instant jolt of being thrust into the middle of a full on tarantella party already in progress that fades in rock and roll style. Pulsing and throbbing bass underpins a twin guitar attack backed by furious drumming. Some nice backwards guitar effects (rarely seen in RPI) transition us to a quieter room outside the lively party we visited in the opening sections. Acoustic guitars and flute create a gentle early Genesis pastoral mood. This is one of the few moments of pastoral RPI on the album, but already Osanna show they are capable of operating on a pretty high level-different styles can confidently come out of nowhere, where other bands in 1972 trying this can sound awkward shifting gears from one section to another. King Crimson and VDGG moods are brought in by a bit of chanting and heavy mellotron which kicks off another rock journey courtesy of guitarist Danilo Rustici. He duels in a breakneck section with flautist Elio d'Anna reminiscent of Jethro Tull after a quick shot of stimulants. David Jackson would be a strong influence on d'Anna, especially on side two. A lengthy heavy guitar solo transitions us unnoticeably to the second song (going by the LP lyric innersleeve), Stanza Citta. Distorted vocals a la Peter Hammill give this song a heavy VDGG feel. Their ability create that wailing that makes a song teeter on the edge of being out of control is captured nicely here. A transition to acoustic guitar with harpsichord and synth is only a brief interlude before another dose of even heavier VDGG madness-at this point they are almost closer to the Plastic People than Van der Graaf. If this riff was on a VDGG album, it would be hailed to this day as one of their crowning achievements-clattering nearly out of tune with synthesizers gurgling atonally but quietly...suddenly things go quiet. A backwards version of the beginning of the album fades in and out Beatles style while the acoustic accompaniment from the first minute of the album give us a symmetrical outro. Acid madness you rarely see in an Italian band. Overall, side one has thrown a mind boggling array of styles at the listener. A bit too harsh for pastoral fans, but my god this is some impressive stuff. How had I missed this 30 years ago? (answer: didn't listen all that closely)

Side two is where the fun really begins. Starting with a dark riff straight from the Plastic People's sax driven bag of tricks, the side long Animale Senza Respiro is the centerpiece of the album-it is easy to compare this to Plague of Lighthouse Keepers in a way, but this song goes far beyond the powerful madness of that classic. Atmospherics kick in quickly with gentle singing and arpeggiating guitar that with the addition of mellotron comes as close to PFM as they get on the album. More sax freak outs (nice through wah pedal-a Jackson and Nik Turner trick back in the day). A quick shift to a riff lifted from Wake of Poseidon keeps things moving. I need to stop here and point out that although many other bands are listed as reference, Osanna are greater than their parts. A little electronic breakdown from Space Ritual leads to an unrelated beautiful little pastoral acoustic guitar and vocal that bears little resemblance to the organized madness we have experienced so far. But we are once again dropped into the Hawkwind space cavern. (I had a friend who swore this was the Italian version of Hawkwind circa 1971, and Palepoli was his go to lava lamp watch the walls melt album much like Space Ritual was for the UK in the 70's). More delicate pastoral guitars, vocals and gentle flute and mellotron create another quick oasis of peace, but with these guys, it is usually the calm before the storm. Some beautiful choral harmonies show these guys could really sing well, though we don't get much more of a glimpse of the group vocal talents past this section. We aren't much more than halfway through this 22 minute song and a ridiculous amount of moods, tempo shifts, instruments and ideas have been thrust out-more than most RPI bands would use in a whole career. Heavy guitar comes back and the furious hybrid of VDGG/Plastic People takes over-with a raucous hint of what Area would bring to the table only a year later. A roller coaster multi vocalist tongue twister brings a strong Plastic People vibe over the opening theme of side two. It seems we are done, but a somber solo church organ leads to the final section grand finale like you would get in a movie. You have been on a full sensory overload trip. Stunning in conception.

During side two I thought 'I wish there was just a little more guitar" followed by the quite reasonable observations "where would they put it, it's already so crowded in there". The only knock on this would be the recording quality-some instruments tend to unintentionally fade into the background and get lost in this very busy mix.

Dense, rich, widely varying and sanity challenging stuff... this is definitely not for the timid. One of the more challenging and certainly perhaps the most rewarding album in all Italian rock.

5 stars almost is not enough for how good this record is. One of the top 5 albums in RPI without a doubt, and any fans of VDGG or the Plastic People should run out and get this immediately.