...GIUDIZIO AVRAI

Never thought I'd run into a real vinyl copy of this but ran across one last week. This album is both an oddity but also something any die hard RDM fan should track down. Getting a physical copy might not be that easy as it never came out on CD, and was very limited in its 1988 (some research shows the vinyl stampers say 1981) release. Why should we track this down? It is a very different take on the RDM of Contaminazione fame. Most fans thought they'd expired after their third album, but this release bears witness to where they were at in 1975. First, this album is very different from their previous three albums, with the first two as proto prog heavy guitar rock, the materpiece Contamanazione as intricate keyboard heavy symphonic prog and Giudizio Avrai as....well I guess space rock is the closest you could come. Not the full on furry freak space rock of Hawkwind, but an elegant and classically tinged space rock where most of the album consists of keyboard heavy quartet improvisations with guitar taking mostly a back seat. . Recorded live in 1975 (RDML 75) in front of a smallish audience, the listener might trend towards wistful and sympathetic. The band is jamming improvs and usually hitting the mark in front of a tiny crowd. The once mighty Rovescio Della Medaglia, owners of the largest self contained deafening sound system and light show in all of Italy hamstrung by getting all of their gear (a tractor trailer full) stolen after a show in Rome, effectively bringing the band to an abrupt halt. By 1975, the band was without lead singer Pino Ballarini who had to leave the country for Switzerland to restore some level of sanity, health and calm. The most recent member, Franco di Sabbatino on keys tries to hold everything together, with mostly successful but occasionally mixed results. Some of the jams are on the edge of almost disintegrating right in front of us, reminiscent of Jazz Odyssey from Spinal Tap, but right away they jump into a spirited improv that can take you places you'd never guess. Flickers of themes run briefly through some of the songs on side 2, just a whisper of Contaminazione material pops up a couple of times and disappears just as quickly. Bursts of guitar come and go quickly but the rhythm section ably tries to both follow and lead as necessary. There are no recognizable full songs on here as it is divided into five parts of the same name (giudizio avrai roughly means 'judgement you will have') Sound quality is very good, better than some live albums of the era. Highly recommended for major RDM fans, and for RPI fans, a brief view of a band taking a turn towards space rock just before breaking up-a curiosity rarely seen in Italy. 3.5 stars for RPI folks-a nice addition to a larger RPI collection. A treasure for RDM fans.