CONTAMINAZIONE

In 1973 'IL ROVESCIO DELLA MEDAGLIA' released their third studio record 'Contaminazione' based on the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach.An important part in the realisation took the Argentinian composer Louis Enrique Bacalov. Bacalov, who had composed up to then mainly soundtracks for Italian Western, did the arrangements and played keyboards on the record, taking an important part in the overall sound of the record. The combination of baroque music arrangements and hard rock does works well and reminds 'Ekseption' and 'ELP'.

'Absent for this consumend World' the opening track with an organ intro and choir like vocals blends with a drum roll into...'Ora non ricordo piu' alternating a Bach theme with a hard rock riff, a short string arrangement and a moog theme.

'Il suono del silenzio' a longer track based around a heavy guitar riff and organ, harpsichord, violin and string section, followed by 'Mi sono svegliato e..ho chiuso gli occhi ' introduced by a Hendrix like feedback guitar alternating with a Bach theme for organ and strings.

'Lei sei tu: Lei' an uptempo track for harpsichord and strings and 'La mia musica' the first highlight of the record, a Bach theme introduced by piano develops into a beautiful ballad for church organ piano and strings and great vocals by Pino Ballarini, one of the most beautiful 70's Italian Prog tracks.

'Johann' a slightly boring rock track build around a repeated chord for delayed guitar, followed by 'Scotland Machine' an ELP influenced track with excellent dynamics, alternating, after a moog intro, a Bach theme for harpsichord and strings with a hard rock section.

'Cella 503' with an acoustic guitar intro, alternates again a Bach theme and a short Flamenco section with a heavy rhythm followed by 'Contaminazione 1760' a flute solo.

'Alzo un muro elettrico' the second highlight, another great song alternating a classical hard rock rhythm with heavy organ work and a ligher Bach theme played in Latin- American fashion, highlighting the respective talents of Bacalov and singer Ballarini.

'Sweet Suite' introduced by a Bach theme on organ blends into a spaced organ theme with guitar counterpoint and strings and the last track 'La grande fuga' a Bach theme played by strings, alternates with a synth theme, that has surely influenced 'Goblin' with is nevous jerky athmosphere and the track ends with a brass outro.

'Contaminazione' is a brillant mixture of Baroque music, hard rock and a slice of latin american music.