LA SECONDA GENESI

Our dear pomodoro pusher Jim recommended me this obscure record a little while back, seeing as I have a serious fondness of the more jagged edged, loose and experimental RPI. So thank you very much my friend! This has been a wonderful ride, and just like you said in the opening line of your review, the cover art truly reflects the music inside...

I must admit I laughed out loud, when I read that these guys previously to recording this sole album of theirs, worked as the local cruise ship band entertaining aboard the Flavia Costa in Caribbean waters. Trust me, if you've heard this album you'd be chuckling as well. I guess being a band that lives off crowd suggestions does rub off in terms of diversity and chops, because Tutto Deve Finire is anything but one track minded, conform and droning. It is above all an eclectic mix of fusion, RPI, folk and the odd avant guarde traces.

I hear a lot of differentiating moods in this offering. Sometimes I get pictures of an Italian burial cortege during the sloppy(and here I am using the word in the most redeeming way conceivable, because I just love how it sounds) and slowly moving bursts of organ and sax that occasionally come to the fore, - but the triumphing and most conspicuous mood of the day, the one that shines the brightest inside Tutto Deve Finire, is the feeling of sorcery. Either emanating from the skewed and blurry saxophone or the coughing stuttering rocking sections, which just so happens remind me of riding horses into the night blindfolded and ecstatic, - the essence of magic, the realization of something airy and intangible, that certain mystical flavour is all over the release.

This particular brand of fusion is one that I find extremely engaging. It's unlike anything you'd find in Italy around the same time. Whereas Arti e Mestieri, Etna and Perigeo all were caught up in the melodic and symphonic aspects of the Italian scene, La Seconda Genesi sound altogether more wild and reckless. Yes there are heaps of melodies inside this album too, often in form of some charismatic vocals and the underlying organ sweeps, but a large portion of this album comes out swinging like a deranged heavyweight boxer after a bottle of red wine. Maniacal saxophone and flute bits weaving wildly about in great big gulps of mildly avant guardistic musical flows. The music turns sloppy and heavy, shifting away from the melodically enhanced gentler sections - creating a beautiful counter-pointing effect that sweetens and highlights both of these contrasting elements to the fullest.

The cruise ship gene is certainly here as well, as you will be guided in between furious rampaging drums and guitar lead hard rock pieces, only to wind up in a classically inspired acoustic guitar interlude. All of this happens without warning, but that is part of what makes this album work so incredibly well. This band is able to pull off something that is very difficult, which is making chaos and harmony flow together as one - yet without any natural build ups or bridges. Come to think of it, this kind of music works much in the same manner and under the same sort of premises as Gentle Giant does. It's music that successfully merges bits and pieces of irregular sizes and shapes - creating a delightful multicoloured cockentrice of sound.

If you can imagine a musical cyborg created by leftovers from Premiata Forneria Marconi, Exmagma, Stormy Six and Il Volo, then this one is for you matey! I for one would have loved to have experienced these guys kicking ass down in the Caribbean seas - playing this album in its entirety in front of what must've been a completely dumbstruck pensioner crowd.

Vocals are present courtesy of keyboard player Alberto Rocchetti and pretty good they are too, though it has to be said that they don't play a key role in the album as a whole, relying more on the instrumental work. Vedo Un Altro Mondo is a hard rocking track with a bit of a Jethro Tull feel as does the more diverse follower Dimmi Padre, at least to begin with, which also features some pleasing organ work and a fine closing guitar solo; perhaps the albums highpoint.

Not an easy album to come by these days as far as I'm aware, even on Cd and whilst I wouldn't break the bank to acquire a copy it's well worth picking up if you've already explored the more obvious RPI choices and looking to get in a bit deeper. By the way, if you happen to come across one of the original vinyl copies (unlikely) then grab it! There were only 200 and each had an individually painted sleeve.

This group from Rome has a history dating back to the early 1960s when the first incarnation of Paride De Carli and Pier Carlo Leoni were known as The Happy Boys. In the mid 60s they played for The Peppermint Group before forming I Mhanas around 1969. This group had the experience of becoming a cruise ship band and they entertained people aboard the Flavia Costa for a couple years in the Caribbean. This was a really great learning experience because they would often have to quickly learn new sets depending on what port they were sailing to. After a few years they returned to Italy and sensed the change in the air around 1971. Seconda Genesi formed around this time with Alberto Rocchetti coming from a band called Rokketti. They rehearsed for several weeks in a church basement before quickly recording "Tutto Deve Finire" in just four sessions. Released on a small label named Picci, the LP had a series of custom different colored covers, which combined with the small pressing of just a couple hundred meant that the vinyl version became an expensive collectors item. Not that this translated into success for Seconda of course, they were just another of the many great Italian one-shots to release a fine album and split up during Italy's turbulent classic progressive era. They did manage to perform at several of the big festivals including Villa Pamphili and later Civitavecchia in 1975. They also performed on the albums of other artists on the Picci label. It appears they split around this time of 1975.

Musically this album is a gem and in spirit reminds me of Paese dei Balocchi even thought they have a different sound. They remind me of Paese because while possessing typical RPI charm it has a very independent streak and an unpredictable nature. The album leads off with some wild and weird jazz flavored craziness. A saxophone lost in a fog of swirled guitar and percussion make this sound like Maudlin of the Well at times. Slowly the lead guitar takes over and things get more "normal" for the rest of the first track, before "L'urlo" really blows the mind. A truly relentless, repetitive rhythm that drives one insane with a bullying sax solo over the top of it. But from this point on the album will morph and many have commented on the differing styles from beginning to end. Dropping the somewhat cerebral opening the band moves into a hard rock/heavy prog atmosphere of riffs and Tullish flute embellishments with wonderful Italian vocals and good lead guitar. The bass and drums are stellar too, these guys were all decent players. By the end of the first side the Hammond has made an appearance as well. Side 2 opened with the longest track at 8 minutes, a nicely constructed pillar of acoustic guitar and organ getting louder, with some blistering flute standing atop, then a break for the melodic male vocal. Very nice track. More curve balls follow with a very short classical guitar interlude and a nasty bar room piano jammer. Then, to complete this interesting but somewhat unfocused recording we are treated to a beautiful piece of soft, hazy, light-psych combined with romantic piano ballad. Scented Garden described the album as "interesting music, alternating between instrumental jazz-rock improvisations ala Soft Machine (fourth album), clasically-inclined heavy progressive in the Vanilla Fudge-school (introduced in Italy by The Trip and The New Trolls) and vocal songs similar to early Van Der Graaf Generator and the second Raw Material album."

Yet another classic RPI sound painting for those who approve of esoteric attempts at a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. Recommended easily to fans looking for a deep RPI collection though not the place to start. 7/10

The first track is the instrumental "Ascoltarsi nascere": it's an experimental piece where the band, with the sound of the sax in the forefront, try to blend jazz and avant-garde with rock. "L'urlo" is another instrumental, a jazz-rock track featuring a great saxophone work. At the end of this track there's a short organ solo that seems to mark a change of mood.

The following "Se ne va con noi" (It goes away with us) is closer to the gloomy mood of Il Balletto di Bronzo's "Ys" than to Weather Report, with a "sinister" intro of drums and organ. On this track the voice of Alberto Rocchetti slightly recalls Gianni Leone... "Life dies with us / With a lament life goes away / Goes, goes, goes away with us / The wind blows in the sky but the sun can't rise / Around us the air is going to die too / And people don't know when to set off / And people don't know where to go.". Good track but not exactly at the same level of "Ys".

"Vedo Un Altro Mondo" (I see another world) features hard rock guitar, flute "à la Jethro Tull", a short vocal part that slightly reminds of New Trolls (although without the same amazing harmony vocals); a drums solo and an organ interlude, then hard rock guitar and flute reprise: a mini suite in 3:37! "I see another world / Man, who are you? / If you understand / You'll born again"...

"Dimmi Padre" (Tell me father) in my opinion is the best track on this album. It's the more complex one and the band try to blend classical influences and hard rock: you can find here echoes of Osanna, Delirium, Le Orme and New Trolls (or, if you prefer, of Jethro Tull, especially because of the flute). "Tell me father / Why you don't wonder about what you're doing anymore? / You have been starving all your life / Your faith is great but you won't help your people / It doesn't matter, my father / Anyhow there's always God": dramatic vocals rise over a melting pot of different influences. Interesting the electric guitar solo outro.

"Breve dialogo" is a short instrumental where interact classical guitar and organ; while "Giovane uomo" (Young man) is closer to hard rock (it seems coming out from Osanna's first album) and features an interesting short drums solo outro.

"Un'infanzia mai vissuta" is a quiet instrumental built upon a classical guitar arpeggio base in the same style of the previous album of the guitarist Paride De Carli with the "Stereo 4", "Naufrago in città", that has been re-released on the same CD by Akarma in 2002. "Naufrago in città" is a completely instrumental album with most of the tracks built upon classical guitar patterns with flute and organ drawing melodies.

On the whole "Tutto deve finire" is a good album but not an essential one in the (perhaps overcrowded) early seventies Italian progressive scene.