PALEPOLI

Osanna's "Palepoli" is one of the most accomplished albums of all time. Its urban essence provides the listener with a symphonic and experimental space that is very contagious and catchy. Assuming that this is the band's crowning achievement, this work enters the memorable history of Italian progressive rock, surely taking one of the first places.

"Oro Caldo", the first of the album's two epics and for me the one that stands out the most, has a sound so symphonic and airy that it could make even Philip II dance smilingly. The beginning is as beautiful as it is volatile, with a captivating flute that repeats the same notes until the right moment when the mess has to begin. The track speaks deeply, poetically and tangibly about the passing of time, the overbearing ordinariness of everyday life and the ever intricate mind of the average citizen. It is easily one of the best progressive rock epics that can be used to exemplify the common talk of why Italian progressive rock sounds so clean and genius. This song laid the Italian foundation along with Zarathustra for how a song has to be written long enough and good enough to stand alone to represent one of the sides of the album and its entire concept. Oro Caldo will undoubtedly remain forever in the history of progressive rock and the fine-eared listener (that's not to say I consider myself one of them, haha). "Stanza Città" is a short break that entertains and relaxes a bit with Oro Caldo's mixed melodies (in reverse, overlapping) after this charged epic and also gives us time to stand back fresh, with a new focus, to prepare for the next song. This first side leaves expectations very high.

"Animale Senza Respiro" is the entirety of the album's B-side and, therefore, the album's closer. A somewhat convoluted closing and, to my taste, a little less symphonic and pleasant than the other epic of the album, but still with its virtues to highlight (the bar has been set very high!). It continues with the same metropolitan theme, but the album takes a new eclectic turn with a sound quite oriented towards early King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator albums (specially Islands and Pawn Hearts, respectively), with saxes taking over the song every time they appear. The melody of the album makes the "very heart of the album" quite clear: Side 1 is the optimistic one, and side 2 is the pessimistic one. While Oro Caldo focuses on a more positive and loving vision through cultural sounds, children playing, a man singing happily, men singing together happily and instruments that seem to glow from euphoria, Animale Senza Respiro proposes chaos, disengagement, merciless criticism and the most eclectic Italian maelstrom you will ever hear.

Palepoli poses the two faces of society through the most sensitive expression of the human being and is clearly a candidate to be the most hierarchical Italian album of the 70s. A play that you can't miss!