GLEEMEN

While not quite a crazy complex prog act yet, GLEEMEN were pioneers of Italian progressive pop and crafted some excellent songs on its ten track album that featured Fossati's wild and eccentric Hendrix inspired guitar playing as well as some excellent keyboard and organ performances by Lio Marchi which weren't quite Keith Emerson but much more virtuosic than the average heavy psych band of the era. Bordering on hard rock and hinting at the prog path that Garybaldi would embark on for two albums, GLEEMEN mastered the art of crafting catchy pop infused songs that added the extra edge of excellent instrumental interplay and top notch musicians who were ready for the more complex world of prog but just hadn't gotten there yet.

The album featured that 1970 transition sound where the worlds of 60s beat and heavy psych were morphing into progressive rock and hard rock. GLEEMEN somehow skirted the very middle stages where all those styles intersected. The catchy tunes begin right off the bat with the opening "Farfalle Senza Pois" which features a period Hammond organ and some vocal harmonies before jumping into a feisty funk guitar riffing session accompanied by some excellent 60s psychedelic organ playing sounding like a mix of The Doors and perhaps Shocking Blue! Fossati wastes no time demonstrating his virtuoso guitar playing skills that are clearly out of the Hendrix playbook but with a personality and style all their own. In fact he sort of reminds me of the style Uli Roth would adopt on the Scorpions' first hard rock phase.

The album delivers some excellent harder rock performances but also knows when to turn up the psych with a nice trippy second track "Shilaila dea dell'amore" adding a lysergic touch. Here Fossati demonstrates his ability to adapt his guitar playing to just about any style. The use of echo effects and a solid groovy bass and percussive offers the perfect heavy psych sound of the era made all the better by Fossati's equally impressive vocal style that delivers that romantic Italian language delivery system yet given a bit of a rougher edge to fit the heavier aspects of the album. Tracks like "Spirit" provide the perfect platform to showcase the Hendrix guitar style as well as some of the coolest organ performances in the world of heavy psych. Fossati also shows his ability to sing at a rapid pace and almost sounds like he's ready to rap and roll! The longest track "Chi Sei Tu, Uomo" is a near 7-minute bluesy rocker sounding something like Led Zeppelin's first album but a bit more energetic. The track also features some excellent drum solos.

"Un'amico" features a bouncy even danceable groove that finds the dueling guitar and keyboards that sounds like a Beatles pop song played with Doors-like keys and Hendrix-like guitars. The organ parts get down and dirty on this one. Very cool! The tracks "Bha-tha-hella," "Clakson" and "Dei O Confusione" deliver more of the same with different flavors but once again generate the perfect mix of heavy psych, blues rock, early Italian prog and sunshine pop! The last two tracks are very different with "Induzione Part 1 & 2" more in classical mode with the opening keyboards but then morphs into a guitar riffing heavy psych frenzy with clever song shifts from verse to chorus. The band members were excellent composers. The closing "Divertimento" takes a completely opposite approach and provides the proper meltdown to end the album with an avant-garde performance of improvised soundscapes that are rather nebulous and devoid of melody.

While not quite a prog band yet, GLEEMEN did feature a nice group of excellent musicians who performed surprisingly well and best of all the songs on this one are all instantly catchy and showcased a true creative genius of mixing and melding 60s influences and putting them into the context of Italian progressive pop. The band would continue with this basic formula as Garybaldi but would take it all into a more sophisticated progressive arena. While prog purists may find this album a bit too mainstream for their tastes, for anyone who loves some very well performed beat-inspired 60s pop mixed with the harder heavy psych elements of the 60s rockers, especially Hendrix then you will love this. These guys did an excellent job reinterpreting the classic sounds of the 60s and putting them into an Italian rock context. Add to that i absolutely love the album cover art as its one of the most satisfying and trippy representations of the entire psych era. This album is excellent!

They have a very classic [early] Italian Prog sound, there right from the start, featuring dramatic sung-in-Italian vocals (quite a good lead vocalist, I must say) and post-Psychedelic, fairly symphonic instrumentation. Where they may differ from their far more popular peers is they, as you will read below, introduce a hard, Heavy Metal inflection. The band really is quite talented and, in general, I do appreciate and at times really like their sound.

A solid opener we have in "Farfalle senza pois", this fits right in with what I described above. More psychedelic and spacy in nature is what follows, "Shilaila dela dell'amore". Very low and slow, this'n.

"Spirit" is a pretty classic, almost jam-band-esque early Prog number. I say 'Jam-band', as it rolls along in a pretty static form and they noodle on top. Not bad. Certainly ends strong.

Then we have the blazing intro to "Chi sei tu, uomo" with heavy Blues Rock guitar. Really a very excellent performance from Bambi Fossati [What a fantastic name!]. The Blues continues on, vocal verse enters in and then a piano solo, interestingly enough. The most compelling song thus far, I'm still not overly drawn, as this is merely an Acid/Blues Rock number and... I'm here for Prog dammit!

Back to what sounds a little more proggy (thanks to organ, mostly) is the still very Blues (if not R'n'B-inspired) "Un'amica". The bass is quick and, really, the instrumentation in general is quite good. Approaching minute 4 is most appealing. "Bha-tha-hella" continues on in the early proggin', but is more low and slow. Not a whole lot here. Some of the organ playing is nice and of interest.

Then back to some... basically Heavy Metal [revealed to be far more progressive as it goes] on the intro to "Clackson" [Who?!]. Fuzzy yet clear lead guitar and some bright, fresh organ playing on this. Very very cool. Perhaps will appeal to fans of early Deep Purple! I also love the falsetto backing vocals on this'n. Sweet.

Unfortunately following the excellent "Clackson", it's business as usual with "Dei o confusione". "Induzione parte I e parte II" has a pretty solid main riff, but also offers little; the guitar solo is fire though. And finaly, "Divertimento": a psychedelic number. Not overly interesting, I guess. I think I'm a little burnt out on this album...

The band Gleemen and the album is quite influenced by the Psychedelic,Acid Hard Rock Blues sound of first Deep Purple,Vanilla Fudge,Cream and Jimi Hendrix Experience and with typical Italian Progressive rock arrangements of the early seventies.

Although the Psychedelic style of the band is never been put aside in their next album called ''Garybaldi'' Nuda that feels the influences and mostly in the album Astolabio (1973) and Bambibanda e Melodie (1974) etc etc.

The Psychedelic style characterizes this band especially the guitarist leader Bambi Fossati even in their most Progressive album that will come later with the name of ''Garybaldi''.

In the album Gleemen (1970) and in the band with very good musicians like Maurizio Cassinelli (drums), Angelo Traverso (bass), Lio Marchi (Hammond} stand out Bambi Fassati with his Stratocaster much on the line wave of Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

There will be many who will say that this isn't really a progressive rock album at all, but rather a melting pot of many styles with a hard rock and blues grounding, but what really matters is not the label that ones gives to it but rather the understanding that this is one hell of an album. It is hard not to fall in love with it from the very outset and the more I play it the more I like it. The different guitarist bounce off each other, and there is the feeling on some songs that if they hadn't faded out then they would have gone on for hours. Add to the mix some great psych and pop numbers and Black Widow have a real winner on their hands. Unfortunately Bambi Fossati passed away in June at the age of 65, but he has left behind a fine way to remember him. www.blackwidow.it

Three separate guitarists - Gianpaolo Casu, Mauro Culotta and Marco Zoccheddu - get standout (and very different) electric guitars solos throughout the simmering bluesy Clapton-styled opener `Anima di Gomma', with humming Hammond organ, slippery bass and darting flute from guest Daniela Piras, but the fade-out at the end is unforgivable! A nice mix of fiery acoustic guitar and electric soloing in the Santana band styled `La Grande Carovana', with a lusty vocal from Pino Nastasi, a ballistic Hammond run in the middle and such a strong Tex Mex influence that I thought Antonio Banderas was going to wander in with a guitar case full of guns! `Bambi' finally shows up for a thick, heavy and feral strangled n' mangled bluesy instrumental electric guitar stomp `Schizoid Blues' - "Hmm, not bad!" he proclaims at the end! Beatles influenced `Il Venditore di Pallaoni' starts as an acoustic ballad with gorgeous weeping violin, cello and sublime group harmonies, which merges with the brooding `In Una Stanza', Bambi returning for more electric guitar brimstone and a snarling vocal, but again - another fadeout! Just let the band play!

`Stelle di Vetro' is foot-tapping and spiky day-glow pop once it gets going with some joyful electric guitar soloing throughout the finale. With the exception of a few little harder moments, `Nel Mio Cortile' is a smooth Latin-influenced groover that would have fit on one of those comeback Santana albums, if he hadn't been worried about impressing a bunch of younger people who had no connection to his music and weren't, you know, rubbish. The second half lets Martin Grice of Italian prog legends Delirium provide some wicked and wonderfully stirring sax soloing, but again, we end with a disappointing fadeout. `Solo Amore' is a up-tempo rocker with endless tasty electric guitar fills to begin, a romantic chorus over violin and piano with a chugging heavy finale. The album closer title track is a head-nodding slow-burning blues come-down, full of harmonica, accordion, twinkling jazzy piano, Hammond organ ripples bubbling under and a sing-along group chorus. Hang around afterwards for a brief acoustic ballad with a sweet vocal as a hidden track.

But the absolute highlight for me is `Canzone dei Cuori Semplici', one of the most beautiful and dreamy psychedelic pop ballads I've heard in years. Other-worldly treated vocals, drowsy acoustic strumming over shimmering electric guitars, spacey synths and gentle orchestration. There's a blissful unhurried perfection to the piece, a cross between the hazy pop of the Beatles with an early Pink Floyd acid laziness. Pure psych-pop perfection to my ears.

Black Widow Records have a winning album here. This is not simply some tired hero worship by a bunch of aging hippies, it's a finely crafted collected of psychedelic and blues rock that will actually remain more timeless than ever dated. Older listeners in particular will appreciate the energy, passion and careful song-craft on display here, and `Oltre...Lontano, Lontano' is a fresh and impressive reminder of a quietly achieving psych band. It also makes for a respectable and dignified send-off to the dynamic guitarist Fossati.

Three and a half stars, rounded up to four for the Archives.

While Gleemen as of 2013 perhaps isn't the best fit for the avid progressive rock fan they do touch ground also with this style during this hour long album. Their field of expertise appears to be blues based hard rock with more of a mainstream orientation however, and it's when exploring that variety of music I find Gleemen to be most intriguing. Which, in summary, should mean that those with a soft spot for that kind of music that also have an interest in progressive rock to be a likely key audience for this album.

Actually, Gleemen is nothing less than the embryo of the great band Garybaldi, established in the same year of the release of this album and had the same formation but with some more progressive vein in their compositions. This made Garybaldi became one of the most important bands of the Italian scene in the early '70s.

This record is quite atypical to what we are used to when it comes to 60s, a bit strident guitars, with strong influences to the master Hendrix, dueling by wonderful and energetic passages of Hammond, creating a pretty damn psychedelic atmosphere. Not to mention the perfectly prowess of the lead drummer conducting the band.

Absolute highlight for track "The Confusione Dei" which brings excellent guitar passages followed by the beautiful voice of Fossati and a Hammond tone quite different but wonderful!

Here's an atypical audition to what we are used when it comes to Italian Progressive Rock and i´m quite sure that everyone will be surprised with this innovative album for the time. The record gets to a near perfection when the issue is psychedelic rock.

The Rock Progressivo Italiano scene did not happen over night. The forerunner was the Italian beat scene which branched out in all directions. One of the branches was the Rock Progressivo Italiano scene. But Italy also had a good blues scene. Being the forerunner of Garybaldi, Gleemen has been put into the Rock Progressivo Italiano category. But in all honesty; they are more a blues band than a prog band.

This album is their only album and I have to confess I love the art work. That though is the only agreeable part of this album. The music is blues with some beat and rock influences. Gleemen is far too Italian to sound like something from Chicago or even New Orleans though. But is is clear that USA has been a major influence for Gleemen rather than the green, green grass of England (see Rock Progressivo Italiano). The result is a pretty poor album which offers little. The only good thing about this album is some Clouds and The Nice influenced Hammond organs. That is the only good thing I take from this music. These Hammond pieces is good. The songs are poor. The musicianship and the vocals are decent. Hence my restrained use of stars.

2 stars

Of course, we are talking here of some oldies of prog. The very early seventies. But wasn't it one of the best period in prog history? This band though is more on the heavy side and should have made their entry into the heavy prog genre instead of this RPI melting pot.

The psyche and upbeat "Farfalle Senza Pois" is certainly as brilliant as some of the best Anglo-American of the style (even if the latter ones were producing their work some two years prior to this one). I won't tell you that this album is an absolute jewel or must own: some tracks are quite forgettable like "Shilaila Dea Dell' Amore".

But if you are looking to some wild and heavy psychedelia, "Spirit" is probably a moment that you should share with "Gleemen". A highlight. Huge and heavy organ, wild guitar and superb drumming. What else? If you are keen on the great "Atomic Rooster", you should be interested in this album, for sure.

The guitar work from Bambi Fossati is also excellent and it is no wonder if Lise mentioned Hendrix or TYA in their bio.

The filiation with the heavy and bluesy "Hendrix" sounds are more than obvious while " Chi Sei Tu, Uomo" is being performed.It almost sound as a live track. Only that the percussive punch from the master is quite "ice-creamed" with a piano-bar sort of solo.

The next track is just a great performance: wild and heavy keys, huge drums and superb bass. The beat is really grandiose. When this type of song is being played, it is quite difficult to remain seated? Just think that this album was released by an Italian band in 1970. Very few of the Italian greats were effective by these pre-historical days, and only therefore "Gleemen" should be rewarded.

The band is even melodic during "Bha-Tha-Hella" which is a heavy psychedelic affair with some fine vocals I have to say. Again, early Purple and Hendrix are quite present on the bill during "Clakson".

If you are interested in the psyche sounds of the late middle sixties, this album definitely deserves your attention. It is not truly innovative since this musical source had been already approached some three years ahead. Still: as I have said, Italian bands were only showing their heads in those remote days.

This is quite a good album, not shy of lots coming from the West coast or the London underground at the same period (or somewhat earlier as I have mentioned already). Most of the songs are enjoyable but "Dei O Confusione" holds this little extra which makes it one of my fave out here.

Heavy-jazz is featured in "Induzione 1 & 2". This is the weakest part of this album, but the whole was such a good surprise that I can only recommend this work.

Three stars.