VENERDÌ

**1/2

This is not a bad album. It is just not a good progressive album. There are moments when I really like the music but then there are as much of the moments that I don't like it. The musicians play well as you would expect from these guys but everything is just simpler. Aldo Tagliapietra shines like he always does.

My favourite tracks are "Arianna", "Cerchero", "Venerdi" and "Rubacuori". If all the tracks were as good as these I would give this album a three star rating. Unfortunately, you can hear in almost all tracks that Le Orme had adopted a more pop oriented sound compared to their masterpieces from the beginning of the seventies. The instrumental song "Venerdi" is actually a very nice piece of music and kinda addictive.

Conclusion: For Le Orme fans only.

Warning: this is not a prog album... Since their previous album "Piccola rapsodia dell'ape" wasn't very successful, in 1982 Le Orme tried the way of easy pop to survive in the music business. Germano Serafin left the band that was reduced to a trio again. The album was produced by Roberto Colombo and Le Orme, to promote it, took part to the Sanremo Festival with the single "Marinai": "Il festival di Sanremo" is probably the best known musical happening in Italy, tightly bound to pop, major labels and music business. I still remember Aldo Tagliapietra interviewed on TV trying to justify the "commercial" choice of the band telling that "Le Orme of the year 1972 couldn't take part to the Sanremo festival of year 1972 but Le Orme of 1982 could take part to the Sanremo festival of 1982". Well, I have to say that he was not convincing at all. Actually the song "Marinai" should have been called "Marghera", and lyrics should have been about pollution and conditions of workers in Marghera (Industrial town near Venice). but lyrics were censored by the label!!! (You can find more information about this topic on the official website of Tony Pagliuca, www.tonypagliuca.com). "Marinai", though not completely bad as a pop song, wasn't a smashing hit and the "Sanremo experience" was highly disappointing for the band.

The lyrics of this album were written with the collaboration of the lyrics maker Salerno and are not particularly inspired. The music is almost not prog at all, but anyway "Venerdì" is not completely to throw away. "Rubacuori" is a nice acoustic ballad, classical oriented in the mood of "Florian" and "Piccola rapsodia dell'ape". "La notte" is not bad, another dreamy ballad with a catchy childish melody. Good also the instrumental title track that blends classical influences with a bit of electronic. "Cercherò" is a good song with an interesting drums work and the beautiful voice of Aldo Tagliapietra above all. "Biancaneve", "Arianna" and "Storie che non tornano" are interesting pop songs, but nothing special. instead "La sorte" and "Com'era bello" in my opinion are to forget...

In the whole this album is definitely a non-essential one and sometimes it sounds like weak easy pop. I can suggest it only to the fans and the collectors. After the release of a single in 1982 ("Rosso di sera"/"Sahara", probably the worst songs in the whole Le Orme's discography) the band gave up and split for a long rest. Compromise was not for them.

The legendary band reverts to a trio as during their good old days.

You might believe that this would be for the good (and proggy) side of their work. Unfortunately, this won't be the case. By no means. What we get here is poor music comparable to the worst of "Banco" and "PFM" production during the eighties (although the former already produced ".Di Tierra" in 1978).

This album is absolutely awful. Nothing to remember this once great band. After having released two average albums ("Florian and "Piccola Rapsodia Dell'Ape") this one is really their worst effort to date (on par with their compilation of earlier work "L'Aurora Delle Orme").

The worst sits sits along with the poorest. Do have a listen to "Cercherò" (or don't, to avoid you a poor musical experience). If you are able to bear almost forty minutes of poor and Italian electro pop music without any passion nor nice melody you might get a medal. Because you would deserve so.

This album is a long "press next" exercise. From track one till number ten and closing one. You shouldn't bother with this album. On the contrary. It is NOT recommended to anybody who has ever appreciated this great band.

I have always liked the inspired vocals from Aldo, but when I listen to Marinai I can only sit and cry. What an dreadful track!

Le orme is just investigating the same and poor music as their great Italian counterparts. Disgusting elctro beats, all the way through. How is this possible? Three great bands performing the same and useless stuff. Incomprehensible. But true.

A complete blunder and disgusting album. Avoid it by all means. One star of course (but it is one too much). Shame on you Le Orme.

Venerdi is not nearly as bad as it's made out to be. True, the 80s production sounds dated by today's standards, but at the heart of the album is core Le Orme songwriting and memorable melody. Aldo Tagliapietra's voice sounds as pure and welcoming as it did ten years prior when the band recorded their acclaimed Felona e Sorona. Knowing what to expect when you go in and accepting it for what it is will garner a limited appreciation for Venerdi: This is not a prog album per se, but a prog band adapting to and embracing the electronic sounds of the day with success. I would argue Le Orme succeed on a level equal to Genesis' output of the same period, but failed to reinvent themselves as King Crimson did during the 1980s. The result is a satisfactory offering that was regrettably ignored and led to an 8-year hiatus for the group.

The lead-off track "Biancaneve" was used as the title for the Replay Music CD issue in 1995. For the purposes of this review, I will refer to the Self label's 2009 reissue, which faithfully recreates the original LP cover art and adds two bonus tracks. "Biancaneve" may alarm the Le Orme faithful, especially following the baroque-inspired Florian and Piccola Rapsodia Dell'Ape. The tone is decidedly commercial, although it does allude to the previous two albums by way of a Marimba intro, and steel drum accents throughout. The interesting "Arianna" does a great job of blending world music with electronic flourishes and the quintessential Le Orme romanticism. "Cechero" is the first moment that may cause you to think "what have I gotten myself into?" and scorn your listening choice. "La Notte" will either renew faith in the band's new direction or cause further derision.

"Venerdi" is the album's centerpiece and a capable instrumental. Remove the gated drum sound and digital synths and you're left with a vintage Le Orme composition that would not sound out of place on Contrappunti. "Marinai" loses the processed drums in favor of organic textures, and is reminiscent of 1977's Storia O Leggenda. "Storie Che Non Tornano" however is a byproduct of the era, and feels obsolete. "Rubacuori" tries to echo the standard Le Orme ballad formula, and does so with mixed results. "La Sorte" may be the most embarrassing track here, and is obvious filler material. "Com'era Bello" completes the original running order, and effectively summarizes the album's sonority, for better or worse. The two bonus tracks add limited value to an album that is ultimately for Le Orme loyalists only.

The title of (Le) Orme's 1982 pop sellout album doesn't translate to English as "Love Beach", but it's close enough. The ace Italian proggers obviously weren't the only musical group caught in a lemming-like rush toward commercial suicide at the start of the decade. But not many bands made the same leap so blindly, or hit the ground with such an immediate thud.

For most Progressive Rockers the transition was gradual, and spread out over several albums. Orme achieved the same inglorious results in the first notes of a single song. The melodic tuned percussion at the start of the album opener "Biancaneve" sounded promising, but when drummer Michi Dei Rossi slammed into that big '80s down-beat it was like a drain plug being suddenly pulled, sucking one of the most distinctive ensembles in the entire Italian Progressive Rock pantheon down into a cheap mercantile sewer.

That song title can be rendered in English as "Snow White", which may or may not refer to the animated fable of the same name. If so, the music definitely resembles the Disney princess as she appeared after biting the poisoned apple: comatose in a shiny glass coffin. And the rest of the album was likewise arranged like flower petals and silken bedding around the corpse of an RPI legend.

A belated knee-jerk reaction from an unreformed Prog Snob? Well, not entirely. The album wouldn't have sounded quite so mercenary if the songwriting had any merit. But when the group lost their ambition they also misplaced all their melodic hooks, along with every shred of musical taste and sensitivity. Earlier, lightweight Prog-Pop efforts like "Smogmagica" at least had genuine character, and legitimate Italian flavor. Unlike the strictly derivative, totally anonymous pop collected here.

Part of the blame can be assigned to producer Roberto Colombo, recently of PFM and an eclectic jazz-rocker in his spare time. Otherwise lovely songs like "Rubacuori" might have been salvaged by more sympathetic handling, but sledgehammers and gelignite were the studio tools of choice at the time. The album's only saving grace is the familiar lilt of Aldo Tagliapietra's singing, conspicuously out of place in such an artificial setting.

The band's name, as any fan can tell you, means something like "Footsteps". But where the Orme style was previously light on its toes, here it affected a shallow plod leaving no imprint whatsoever, all the more disappointing after the delicate neo-classical refinement of "Florian" and "Piccola Rapsodia Dell'Ape". Sadder yet: even worse was yet to come...

(Consumer Warning: the album was so bad it had to be released again, thirteen years later, so that fans could enjoy the privilege of avoiding it a second time. The name of the band was restored to its original 'Le' Orme, but the music was the same mechanical synth-pop, simply re-packaged and re-named after the album's opening track)