FESTA MOBILE

Italy perhaps hosted the most dynamic progressive rock movement outside of England and it never ceases to amaze me how many great obscurities continue to emerge from this peninsular nation which had more than its share of acts that released a single album and disappeared from the scene. One of the bands from that lengthy list is a band called FESTA MOBILE formed by two brothers, Francesco Boccuzzi (keyboards) and Giovanni Boccuzzi (keyboards, guitar) in the Bari region before relocating to Rome and recruiting Alessio Alba on guitar, singer Renato Baldassarri and drummer Maurizio Cobianchi.

The band remains obscure with little info to be gleaned from its brief existence and released this sole album DIARIO DI VIAGGIO DELLA FESTA MOBILE ( Travel Diary of the Mobile Party ) in 1973 just when Italian prog had reached its absolute apex before the scene started winding down. The album pretty much came and went without notice and printed in a limited number on the RCA label but has since been re-released many times on CD including a proper remastering job. The album consisted of five tracks in the traditional symphonic prog style of the Italian scene with an extra robust emphasis on virtuoso piano parts in the vein of a more traditional classical pianist as opposed to the synth wizardry of Keith Emerson.

DIARIO DE VIAGGIO DELLA FESTA MOBILE is supposedly a concept album of sort but considering no info was included in the liner notes of any kind one would have to decipher the Italian lyrics to figure out exactly what it could possibly be. FESTA MOBILE was quite unique sounding in its five tracks that added up just shy of 32 minutes in playing time. In the forefront of the musical mix was the galloping tinkling of ivories that both Boccuzzi brothers contributed in making although one would tend to the virtuoso piano romps while the other provided the symphonic atmospheres. The opening "La Corte di Hon" sounds like a piano roll on crack cocaine as it whizzes by at a million miles per second like a Chopin album set to a higher speed and it's spectacularly woven into what sounds like a form of riff looping that culminates in a beautiful heavy rocker with guitar and bass heft augmented by bombastic drumming in jittery time signature displays, my number one track on the album.

Like other contemporary Italian proggers vocalist Renato Baldassarri belted out passionate operatic lyrics in his native Italian sounding much like related bands PFM, Banco or any of the other greats who indulged in a heavier bombastic flair. "Canto" slows things down a bit and focuses more on the atmospheric possibilities of a more traditional symphonic prog style although the lighter and airy piano parts still display an unrestrained restlessness as does the guitar but stay on their leash while the slower tempo demands respect. The track exudes some nice jazz-rock elements but finally everything succumbs to the restless nature of the piano and breaks into faster rock tempos. They rhythmic cyclic loops of piano rolls display the band's affiliation with the many pop artists they worked with in the RCA studios.

"Aristea" follows suit with the airy piano rolls existing in a tangled web of independent guitar, bass and drum parts. Perhaps the proggiest of the bunch this track exudes a perpetual intro that never ends but finally settles on one of those bravado led PFM styled rockers. "Ljalja" opens with jittery almost unsettling piano rolls with the guitar and bass once again chomping at the bit to do their own thing which actually sums up the feel of this album and that would be a strong tension of the instruments wanting to go their own way but always finding resolution and settling on perfect harmony. This particular set of musicians is brilliant in creating some of the most unnerving tensions in this regard but have no difficulties in playing in tandem like a flock of freshly satiated birds from a well stocked pond. The closing "Ritorno" is the lengthiest track at nearly 9 minutes and takes on a different mood where it mixes technical prowess with soft sensual atmospheres. Given the track's length it runs the gamut of trad Italian prog along with some avant-garde leanings. It ends with a dramatic display of sound effects signaling the end of this most obscure band.

Unlike anything else in the scene FESTA MOBILE really strikes a chord with me. The music has a darker feel than most Italian prog and the restless technical nature of the piano offers a tension unlike most prog of the era outside of the most hyperactive such as Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman. While the jittery nature of the music can come close to the breaking point, the band allows pacification of the soul with slick soulful sensuality that feigns a moment of respite before bedazzling the senses with some slick prog maneuvers. On the technical side of things this band was beyond instrumentally sound and the singer was pretty gifted as well. For a one shot and gone type of band this is a really beautifully designed piece of work although something seems to be lacking to bring to the level of the major bigwigs of the era. This is a band i wish would've stuck it out and perhaps had these guys emerged a couple years prior it might've been. As it is, this is a highly recommendable piece of 70s Italian prog that deserves more attention than it has received. The Boccuzzi brothers continued on together with another prog band called Il Baricentro which released two albums.

I gave to this album 5 stars, i know, this is an important rating, could be this disc a masterpiece of RPI music? In my hopinion, yes. Festa Mobile is one of the many italian band who released just a disc in their carrier then disappeared. Like as many others obscure italian band, such as "Triade" or "Seconda Genesi", just to name a few, they released an excellent work. "Diario di Viaggio della Festa Mobile" is a dream write in music, a concept album who describe the band's travel to an immaginary lands and towns. Like a classic RPI here there are immaginary lands (Stellas), Kings (Xin On), priestess (Aristea) and consideration about the people's life. This concept has classic RPI lyrics sung in a classic RPI styles and in a good way. The real point of different who decided tho mark with 5 stars this work is the music. The music construction in this album is absolutely fantastic! As i wrote before, this album sound like a dream. Try to close your eyes and let the music enter inside you. This music is an oneiric trip, thank to the fantastic keyboard's work and the various assortments of bells. The concept is a classic RPI oriented but not the music. The drum's work is real strange (listen "la corte di Hon") and often you can heard curious rhythms fills. It is the same for the keyboards (played often with classical piano sound) and the guitar has a curious sound (it remember me the sound of Frank Zappa's guitar in the "Chunga's Revenge" album). In this work there are some strange, strong music part often very agressive but suddenly you can find great melodies ("Aristea"). Definitively, for me, this is a strange abnormal RPI obscure masterpiece, nice lyrics, oneiric atmosphere, aggressive music part, great melodies, jazzy parts and last but not least this album is well recorded for an obscure band like this. I have a big collection of RPI album but "Diario di Viaggio" is one of the few who give me particular emotions.

5 stars!

One shot Italian group from Monopoli, led by brothers keyboardist Francesco Boccuzzi and guitarist Giovanni Boccuzzi.Both played together in a band called Della Venis (only a single out), before relocating in Rome in early-70's in search for new music paths.Along with guitarist Alessio Alba, singer Renato Baldassarri and drummer Maurizio Cobianchi they formed Festa Mobile, whose sole release ''Diario di viaggio della Festa mobile'' came out in 1973 on RCA Records.

This is a good yet quite short (just 31 minutes) Symphonic Rock effort with plenty of jazzy moves here and there and the leading force is undoubtfully Francesco Boccuzzi fast classical and electric piano paces, which dominate the album, not unlike what FLAVIO PREMOLI of P.F.M. was doing around the time.The musuc in general it is very PFM-alike, recalling the heavier moments of the later.Filled of piano interludes and harpsichord passages along with some guitar beauty both in a ROBERT FRIPP and STEVE HACKETT style, the tracks follow mainly an up tempo with nice richness , strong Classical-influences on keyboards and a good balance between dissonance and pure Italian melodies, though some jazzy weirdness is around in the majority of them.Interplays are another strong point of the band.Numerous and inspired, they offer some moments of beauty throughout.Vocals are of the good Italian school, though a bit pale at moments.Additionally the album lacks the unmet majesty of the P.F.M. early releases, despite being the closest comparison.

The story of Festa Mobile stopped to this point, but the Boccuzzi brothers kept playing some very intricate prog music, as they formed Il Baricentro a few years later.Festa Mobile's guitarist Alessio Alba specialized himself on Indian music and ethnic instruments over the years.

If you are really into 70's Classic Italian Prog, this album is must have,no question about it.For the rest, prepare for some pretty fine Symphonic/Classic Progressive Rock with a bit of Jazz- Rock thrown in for good measure if you ever come across this release.The original LP is among the rare ones, but the album has seen numerous reissues over the years...3.5 stars.

FESTA MOBILE is another Italian Progressive rock band , with only one albún published. Unlike the most of their countryman bands such as PFM, BANCO and LOCANDA DELLE FATE, they don't use several keyboards types, with the excepiton of acoustic piano, which are of certain way the band "trademark". Side to side with the acoustic piano prominence, a vibrant rhythmic section and a eletric guitar very clean with few effects. The disk is very captivating and all the tracks are good, however I can detach the track 1 "La Corte di Hon". the track 2 "Canto" and the track 4 "Ljalja'. Another curiosity is the track 3 "Aristea" the only moment in the entire disk where I could hear a different keyboard (harpiscord) in a very brief passage begins to 3:00 min from execution. My rate is 4 stars !!!

This is a hard one to rate, as I appreciate the progressive spirit and unique talent on display; but ultimately this is an album I just don't like very much and can only give three stars as a matter of preference. There is a lot to like here however, particularly the keyboard work of Francesco Boccuzzi; he puts on a real clinic, firing off one complex piano figure after another for the duration of the program. By the end of "Ritorno" however, it becomes a bit tiresome and causes the album to feel a lot longer than its 31 minutes. Boccuzzi and his brother Giovanni would go on to form the jazz fusion band Il Baricentro a few years later, but the sound of that group is really in its infancy here and not fully mature.

"La Corte Di Hon" begins with a frantic piano part that is syncopated and odd. It reminds me a bit of L'Uovo di Columbo, but not nearly as accessible and groovy. I suppose after the first two minutes you'll either love it or hate it, as this is a good sample of what you're gonna get. The vocals come in and leave a bit to be desired; nothing terribly offensive but not exactly pleasant either. Half way through there is a jam reminiscent of "Ys"-era Il Balletto di Bronzo - keyboard freaks will find a lot to like here, but unlike "Ys" the keyboard role is not a supporting one, but front and center. Again, you'll either really like this or not at first, but after repeated listens it just leaves me somewhere in the middle. "Canto" slows things down a bit, a welcome respite after the crazy opener. "Aristea" is the only venture into symphonic territory...the sound of this album is a bit hard to describe but symphonic and romantic it's not. If only the symphonic influence were a bit more predominant throughout the album, we could have had something really special here. "Ljalja" backtracks on that progress, and returns to a combination of the themes present on the first two tracks.

"Ritorno" is the longest song on the album, and maybe the best - lots of odd-meter and polyrhythm stuff going on that will interest any serious student of the musical arts. Definitely not dinner music, though. And that really sums up Diario Di Viaggio Della Festa Mobile; it's not music you put on to relax or just have on in the background. Festa Mobile's only album is a demanding listen, and one you will probably want to save for much later in your Italian Prog journey.

Festa Mobile's only album is somewhere between Egg and PFM. There is a lot of eccentric melodies and rhythms on this album. Just like Egg, in fact. Some of the more pastorial parts is very much down the PFM alley. I also get some references to Supersister on this album. The more symphonic bands in the Canterbury Scene is a good reference here. There are also some good jazz parts here. In short; quite pleasing music.

The quality of the music is pretty good. The vocal harmonies are excellent. The guitars and the keyboard parts is really good. I am more a fan of the pastorial parts on this album than the faster parts. Unfortunate for this band, there is a lot of better albums like this out there (and in my record collection). I am afraid this album is pleasing for a short while before it is forgotten. The lack of some really memorable tracks is it's downfall. But this album is a good album.

3 stars

Festa Mobile were one of the many Italian prog bands of the early seventies that disbanded soon after the release of an excellent debut album in 1973. The line up featured Renato Baldassarri (vocals), Francesco Boccuzzi (bass, keyboards), Giovanni Boccuzzi (keyboards), Alessio Alba (guitar) and Maurizio Cobianchi (drums). The Boccuzzi brothers later formed another band called Il Baricentro, more "jazz-rock oriented". On "Diario di viaggio della Festa Mobile" the band showcase a great musicianship although the sound quality coming out from the recording sessions is not flawless. Festa Mobile are often compared with BMS, PFM, Le Orme and other "classic" Italian prog bands: you can find here many influences ranging from classical music to jazz, from British prog rock to Italian folklore, but the final result is original enough and it's definitively worth listen to.

"Diario di viaggio della Festa Mobile" is a concept album where the band describe with music and words the experience of a company of comedians returning home after the celebrations in honour of the new king of a far (imaginary) country, Hon. The opener "La corte di Hon" (Hon's court) is introduced by a dizzy piano pattern, then a frenzy rhythm section and vocals come in... Lyrics depict the atmosphere of false joy put up by the oppressive power of the new king... "Hon's celebration lasts hundred days / For hundred days the sun won't set / Hon sits on his throne / The moving feast lives on / It seems a celebration of love / But it's just a false mask... Peace seems to rule / But it's war that rules... It seemed a celebration of love / But it was a celebration of death..."

On the second track "Canto" (Song), the comedians end their performance in honour of Hon singing a song inspired by their extraordinary travelling experience and by the contrast between an ideal world full of love and peace and the cruel reality... "I sing the colours of time and the rhythm of the wind / That are living in me... I sing the story of happy people living into ingenuity... I sing the future I dream / A new day that's lost and will never come...". The rhythm is complex and fiery while vocals depict a dream that turns to nightmare...

On the third track "Aristea" the mood is more relaxed, almost mystic. After the celebration, our "heros" are on the way home. They stop to rest in a mysterious abbey where the great priestess Aristea silently looks at their hands and reveals them a prophecy... "You will go there / Where the sun doesn't shine / Where men do not know happiness...". So, they become aware that freedom is in danger even in their homeland. Well, you can feel almost a sense of impending doom at the end of the track when a "nervous" rhythm section comes in...

The fourth track is about despair and mercy. "Ljalja" tells about the meeting with a young girl crying in a country ravaged by war. She was still clasping her dead son in her hands, she was a still baby but without a future... "Then slowly she smiled / She couldn't speak anymore".

The long and complex last track "Ritorno" tells about the comeback and the fear that what the protagonists have seen during their journey could happen in their homeland too... It's like a wake up with a nightmare still hanging on: "We were travelling back to home / And the souvenirs in our minds seemed made of stone / Red stone because of the innocent's blood / People who died in the name of their truth / Martyrs of Hon and of the dream of a new reality / Under a different sky we're looking again at home... Where sooner or later Hon will come / With the rules of the strongest".

The music is excellent and the lyrics are poetical and committed. On the whole I think that this album should find a place in every Italian prog lover collection...

Festa Mobile still have a very unique sound. This is not the lush pastoral sound typical of Italian Symphonic Rock... it is frantic, aggressive, pseudo-jazzy, up-tempo music driven by fast piano flourishes and a solid heavy rhythm section. This album grabs your attention right away with it's intensity and never lets up or slows down long enough to let you catch your breath. It's a wonderful and all-too-short experience.

One of the best songs here for me is Canto which features a repetitive (but never boring) piano riff that can get stuck in your head all day if you're not careful. The song is a joy to listen to... full of excellent guitar solos and jazz organ sounds laid overtop the dominant omnipresent piano.

Ritorno is my favorite number here. It starts relatively slowly with some solo piano meanderings but picks up soon with ominous bass lines and jazzy rhythm and piano chords. The vocals are what make this song so great... the vocal harmonies are spine chilling and very beautiful and compliment perfectly the sad piano arpeggio in the haunting slower middle section of the song. The final third of the song turns frantic again and reminds somewhat of ELP's better jazz-influenced moments... until the song finally falls into chaos and starts playing backwards on itself until it implodes.

All in all: a unique album from a very original band. I recommend this album to all lovers of the more wild and out-there side of ISP and possibly Jazz Rock fusion fans, though it's not quite as technical as the average Jazz Fusion album. 4 stars.

There are many 'one album wonders' amongst the Italian progressive rock movement of the seventies. Though many are cited as 'lost gems' not all are as rewarding as their reputations might suggest. Festa Mobile is one exception that does not disappoint at all - a band that sounds fully developed and comfortable with their style. Festa Mobile are more energetic than many of the classic Italian progressive bands neatly merging jazz rock within symphonic structures. Superb keyboard playing throughout - predominantly piano - more than ably matched by a guitarist who's tone and attack brings to mind both Fripp and McLaughlin. A great rythmn section and compositions that are highly imaginative. In my opinion one of the best moments in the great canon of Italian progressive rock!

"Diario di Viaggio della Festa Mobile" is one of those big surprises that give joy to prog collectors and confirm their sense of purpose. Festa Mobile, the band in charge of this little hidden gem from Italy's prog rock history, was a relatively mysterious band from which Il Baricentro will emerge a few years later in order to enrich the jazz-oriented area of the genre. But for now, Festa Mobile is an excellent symphonic rock ensemble with a typical Italian flavor based on that special feel in melody and mood that Italy seems to own exclusively. 'La Corte di Hon' starts with what seem to be dual piano interplaying through frantic arpeggios, with crystal clear classicist intentions. Right from this starting point you can tell that Festa Mobile's symphonic progressive style feels like a middle term between L'Uovo di Colombo and Biglietto per l'Inferno: anyway, Festa Mobile equals the former's refinement but surpasses it concerning energy and melodic creativity, and that is where Festa Mobile somewhat leans closer to the rough dramatics of the latter's. at the time when the guitar solo gets in, it really has to make an extra effort to make itself noticed among the framework already filled by the energetic keyboard deliveries and the drummer's powerful drive. 'Canto' kicks off with an ethereal prelude, but it won't take long before the main body arrives to display a mixture of symphonic-oriented melodic sense and jazzy swings; ultimately, the prologue is reprised for the brief epilogue. 'Aristea' has a ballad- oriented main motif, which is an occasion for the band to explore its softer die - after arriving at the 3 minute mark, the track shifts toward a jazz-rock elaboration that spices things up in order to build up on a sort of extroverted climax. All in all, the explosive potential of this exciting section is regrettably interrupted by the fade-out, which in my opinion gets in too early; the guitar and piano leads bear a distinct promise of a big finale, but it's not going to happen (this is actually a minor objection that can be applied to most tracks in this album). 'Ljalja' starts the album's second half, starting with explosive piano arpeggios (not precisely a big surprise at this point). At first, the track's scheme seems quite related to that of the first song, but soon it becomes clear that the band is headlong for a more elaborated development of the musical ideas that go on appearing. The Manierist emotion delivered by the lead vocalist and completed by the stylish keyboard arrangements seem to anticipate the sort of moods that will be prevalent a few years later in albums by Corte dei Miracoli and Apoteosi. 'Ritorno', the closing track, actually digs deeper into this symphonic trend, stating an excellent combination of romanticism and extroverted dynamics: as usual, the instrumental deliveries are impeccable and the ensemble's work is spotless, with a clever use of moods that ultimately leads to a dreamy finale. Now. that's the sort of finale that I had dreamt of for some of the album's previous tracks. These last two tracks are, in my opinion, the best ones in the album since they manage to give room to the motifs to endure as they should, in this way providing a proper completeness to the whole. Well, with only one album Festa Mobile managed to give something really interesting for prog collectors worldwide, all in all, a very typical Italian symphonic rock album.