PHOLAS DACTYLUS

The album opens with the long, complex title track, "Hieros Gamos". The title refers to Greek mythology and indicates a sacred marriage that plays out between a god and a goddess. It's dedicated to the memory of original Pholas Dactylus' drummer Giampiero Nava who passed away in 2014, as the band was planning the reunion and sound like a heartfelt, poetical elegy. The goes through many changes in mood and rhythm while the lyrics evoke images and memories of a lost friend and build a bridge that does not divide, a bridge over destiny, a bridge over a morning cloud that binds light and darkness, life and death... A wonderful track!

The second part of the album, entitled "Ognuno da lande diverse" (Everyone from different lands) sees the separate contributes of the three historic members of Pholas Dactylus. The first two come from Rinaldo Linati that composed and played "A Personal Gift" and "Yellow And Blue" with his acoustic guitar in a style that might sound closer to that of Leo Kottke (but not up to that level) than to the Italian prog tradition.

Then it's the turn of four short tracks by keyboardist Maurizio Pancotti. The first one, "I Don't Want..." features a bluesy piano solo with narrative vocals by Solange Menegale who recites one of her poems (half in English and half in Italian) dealing with a problematic relationship and the difficulty to express feelings with words and to comprehend each other. "Ogni volta che tocco il tuo viso" (Every time I touch your face) follow in the same vein with the narrative vocals of Solange Menegale reciting another romantic poem on a crepuscular piano background. The dreamy "Ninna nanna per Gianluca" (Lullaby for Gianluca) and the classical inspired piano solo "Une valse pour nous" close the space reserved to the pianist.

The poet Paolo Carelli ends the album with "Ballata di un mercante di sogni" (Ballad of a merchant of dreams), a piece that features just narrative vocals, sound effects, a drum roll and some touches of piano in the background. Of course, words have their rhythm, their evocative power, a visionary force that can stir your emotions and make you dream of unknown worlds?

On the whole, an excellent album for the first part while the second one sound to my ears more like a filler and I fear it could be disappointing for prog fans.

Where the first album was made up of one track, this album is made up of 8 with a run time of over 43 minutes. The album is divided up into 2 parts, however. The first part is the 21 minute title track "Heiros Gamos". The 2nd part of the album is made up of the 7 remaining shorter tracks and is called "Ognuno da Lande Diverse" (Each One From a Different Land).

The title track is written by the group's keyboardist Maurizio. As stated before, it is a 21 minute piece, actually a suite that uses a concept of tying together the past with the present. The track starts with a beautifully played piano solo which sounds inspired by the romantic era of classical music. Before the 2 minute mark, the band kicks in with a definite progressive sound. The vocalist comes in just before 3 minutes. Something to note about this vocalist, he doesn't sing, but uses a poetic spoken word in expressing the lyrics. This was also the case with their other album, so this will come as no surprise to those familiar with the music. This is the thing that separates this band from other RPI bands, the music is great Italian progressive, but the words are all spoken (in Italian on this track). The music, on the other hand, can be quite expressive. It is mostly led by piano, but there is still plenty of heavy guitars which also improvise in places and percussion, and the music can go from simple to complex quite quickly. Another thing to note here is that the music doesn't sound like an old band trying to sound up to date. It sounds like a current progressive band with a romantic and neo-prog edge that happens to use spoken word vocals. After 14 minutes, the main instrument changes from piano to organ for a heavy solo, but soon switches back to peaceful piano when the vocals come back in. Tempos, style and meters change throughout the track, but the music really does grow on you and it always stays interesting.

After this track, we go into the 2nd part of the album with shorter tracks, beginning with "A Personal Gift". This is a pastoral style with acoustic and soft electric guitars only and some minimal percussion. "Yellow and Blue" continues with the acoustic guitars, but with jazz and dissonant chord progressions, again with light percussion and bass. "I Don't Want . . ." uses piano with an old time-y flair. Vocals return on this track, again with a combination of English and Italian spoken word and even though there is no other vocalist credited, it sounds like a much lighter voice this time. There is also light percussion added to this track. "Ogni Volta che Tocco it tuo Viso" (Everytime That I Touch Your Face) returns to the romantic piano style, but is led more by the spoken vocals with the piano being more reserved.

"Ninna Nanna per Gianluca" (Lullaby for Gianluca) begins with vibe-like (in a music box style) keys playing and baby sounds. The sound is quite lullaby-like as suggested by the title, soft and gentle. "Une Valse Pour Nous" (French for "A Waltz for Noua") is only a piano playing a nice soft waltz. "Ballata di un Mercante di Sogni" (Ballad for a Merchant of Dreams) returns to the deeper, masculine spoken vocalist (all in Italian again). The spoken word is the main component of this track with an atmospheric background from the synths, almost drone-like. The toll of a bell stops the vocal and a lone piano starts to play. The vocals start again as the piano continues softly playing. There is the sound of footsteps, and sudden dramatic synth sound is cut short and then there is nothing but vocals. After, there is a sudden roll of drums and then more spoken word to the end.

This is definitely a unique recording with the best track being the long title track with the most complex and progressive music. The 2nd half, by contrast, is simple, more minimalist, and concentrates on singular instruments or voice. The three original musicians from the band have provided these tracks to show their diverse paths that they have taken over the past 45 years as individual artists and it shows how different they are, but also, how alike they are also. Anyway, it is an interesting album, but the first part is going to have the best impact on most listeners as it is the most progressive. The second half, while lovely, might drag for many. I felt it was nice to listen to once, but might not be appealing enough to put on rotation for playing, where the first part definitely does merit hearing several times. So, the first part could easily get 4 stars, but the 2nd half would get by with 3. Overall, the album gets 3 stars, but just know that if it continued in the style of the first track, it would have been 4 stars.

This is generally darker and more avant-garde than most 70s Italian prog. I can hear influences from both Gentle Giant and Van Der Graaf Generator here. But this is still a very Italian sounding album. Soundwise this is one of those rough around the edges recordings that you would find in a lot of German and Italian rock music from this period. Like some albums from this era this actually adds to the music and helps create its atmosphere. This concert of the mind begins with just narration for a minute before tympani (?) appears. This first part is actually the most boring and least interesting part of the album; I can understand how some might be turned off this album the first time they heard it.

It then proceeds to go into what could be called 'prog folk' then into some kind of jazzy Gentle Giant vibe. Some nice guitar arpeggios lead to more narration with piano and cymbals. Up next is some 'heavy prog' with more narration. Some odd and weird guitar playing for awhile before the band goes into ELP territory. Later more jazzy GG style. This part is very hypnotic and grows atmospheric and symphonic for a bit. Then some 'heavy prog' with vocals (not narration but not singing either). Nice playing during this section. Gets dissonant with random playing before the guitar reprises an earlier melody and the rest of the band goes into some of VDGG/GG hybrid thing.

Some more avant and dissonant sounds follow. I like how the guitar sort of sounds like a rooster at one point. Funny. This weirdo avant section continues until some lovely organ removes the clouds. Then some guitar and more narration. The rest of the band eventually joins in and it switches to a very folky Italian style. Then hard rocking guitars. Later turns into Genesis style symph prog. Some VDGG style organ and a phased drum fill to finish the first part. The second part is shorter but I think it's the stronger and more consistent of the two. It opens in a Nice/ELP fashion: fast-paced and bombastic classical rock. The music stops and a VDGG style riff briefly. Goes into more VDGG style with narration. Guitar soloing during this section; I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the guitar players tone on this album in general.

Afterwards some great piano soloing. Later gets 'heavy prog' sounding with narration. The music stops and you hear what sounds like a busy restaurant (or ristorante if you will). Then the band goes all GG on us, except there is harmony chanting in Italian. Later more narration. Some ELP style hard prog with yelling/quasi-singing. After 13 minutes into this part it gets very dissonant and avant with some rockin' guitar soloing. Mellows out with some nice piano playing and eventually leads to my favourite part of the album: the a cappella section.

This begins with the melody being played on bass with great organ backing. The melody is then divided between multi-tracked vocals (think a more primitive version of what Freddie Mercury does on "Prophet's Song"). More narration during this part. Ends with some great 'heavy prog' featuring aggressive narrating, almost yelling. The last word uttered gets echoed/delayed. What a trip this album is although it takes a few listens for it to sink in. Recommended to fans of the more adventurous side of RPI. 4 stars.

Talk about a wild tumbling ride! Putting this record on, is like strapping yourself onto a dizzy cheetah going 60 miles an hour! Pheewiii! Italian spoken vocals spanning from a deep, sometimes abrasive narrative voice - bellowing stuff you´d most likely find in a horror movie - to galloping, frantic and downright earth shattering bass booming incantations. The lyrics here are of an apocalyptic nature speaking of some biblical doomsday scenario, the end of all things. I can quite easily picture the world going down in flames listening to this, although I don´t speak Italian. There´s a kind of meta language going on here, that all through this bumpy and ferocious ride is breathing it´s fiery dragon breath down your neck, like a long lost demon from a time where human kind believed in the potential of darkness. There are still some of us, who think that the blackness of night changes things that otherwise in the sunlight has no real significance.

The music within strikes me as a blend of nearly every genre that existed at the time. I mean wow, these guys jump from hard bluesy rock to psychedelic textures, a teaspoon of Kraut, gritty symphonics and feverish fusion. This is an album, that sounds like its running from something - over stock and stone leaving its hat and glasses - jumping over streams and shrubberies, and somehow, like magic, all of this maniacal behaviour gets handed over to the listener in a form that is neither uncomfortable or disagreeable. It gets under your skin, and by the 4th or 5th tour of this Italian excursion, you´ve already strapped yourself into the cockpit and bam! it´s off to an eclectic wilderness of mad and pumping notes.

Even though this passage of my review might come across as a joke- or it appears slightly absurd, - I do honestly think that Concerto delle Menti at times sounds like an absurd rock band playing like there was no tomorrow, whilst falling down a staircase with a large drunk opera-singer, who´s cursing out blasphemously in his sleep. Tumbling down the stairs, -in agreement though, as all these crazy dudes obviously spend a lot of time hanging out with the front man while he´s sleepwalking, - the music keeps on climbing in intensity and adding on some cacophonous qualities. It is experimental, but it is not that hard of a listen though, well at least to these ears that is... It is something that slices open a smile on my face, and furthermore has given me plenty of giggles the past year. I just need to think of this album, and swooop - I suddenly have this internal movie playing inside my head with a big ball of yarn made up of crazy Italian musicians falling down stairs...

Counterpointing these rambling sections - we get beautiful piano laden epiphanies with soaring mellotron and some lovely organs - evening things out a bit. Think of this album as a snorkel diving experience: A few deep breaths of air, and down the watery rabbit hole we dive. It is dark, schizophrenic, off-kilter and maybe out of your comfort zone, but once you´ve become accustomed to the darkness, you´ll see things in it that no longer feel frightening, and a whole new set of worlds develop in front of your eyes, and suddenly the surface no longer seems that important any more...

I like the experimental section after 18 1/2 minutes when it settles and we get these strange sounds but then narration returns after 22 minutes.The second part opens with what sounds like a party of sorts in the background then the music kicks in before a minute. I like the guitar a lot 6 1/2 minutes in as they jam for a few minutes. Nice.

3.5 stars. Maybe as others have already mentioned this will take many more listens to appreciate but again the narration in Italian will always be there in my way.

The album opens with a spoken introduction that sets the atmosphere... "You are going to take a tramway, in a while you'll be on an old battered tramway-wagon looking like you after a black, empty and paranoiac day... For a while the speed will be the same as usual... You'll touch the shoulder of the passenger on the sit beside you to ask him something... And you'll realize with immense despair that he's nothing but a heap of rags... You'll call the driver and you'll see nothing but the face of the mind's death... Your only way out will run throughout the windows of the wagon but then you'll realize that the usual panorama is slowly changing... Houses, cars and people will take the shapes, the colours and the smells that your mind will suggest... Your tramway will take off and will drive you through dimensional doors... At this point you'll be ready to accept what Pholas Dactylus have already accepted long time ago... We are not alone in the universe!".

Drum rolls, then music starts taking a winding path featuring nervous jazz rock touches and leading to a calm piano pattern from where tense recitative vocals soar describing a world that is turning upside down, where flowers turn into seeds, insects turn into larvae... "The poet digs with iron claws into the sands of a sinking desert... Into the throat of Moses all the words he spoke come back like smoke / Cain's blade leaves the wound and Abel resurrects from the dust / Pilate can't find his tongue / Judas climbs on the tree where he was hanging / Lucifer flies away from the earth roaring / Christ falls back in his death / Adam's rib is back while a woman is crying inside his hip... A melted sun in chains of greedy thirst feeds the first day with the last one".

Then tension rises, rhythm takes off and vocals grow more and more passionate and intense while drawing strong images that seem to come out from a psychedelic trip... "Walking on the roofs of dead houses / I realize that my pockets are full of sand / Blue sand from a desert of amethyst / In my nostrils there are seeds of belladonna and cannabis... You, meaningless little men, half-buried by a rain of black tarantulas / You, who think to be all right over there / Tell me, why shouldn't I travel beyond the doors of another dimension?... What can you understand if I tell you that a stone opens and a flower comes out from it?... I see a long queue of human beings, naked and faceless... I see trees with black leaves... I see buildings swinging on the ground... I see scarlet abysses, golden mountains... From the sea gigantic periscopes are coming up... But I'm feeling good... Yes, I'm fine and nothing else matters!".

After a short instrumental break vocals come back, full of caustic rage... "The idiots are looking at us and they don't know what to do... An enormous terror will grow and gas will spread everywhere... The planets of our galaxy have melted into a single block, into a single cluster of fire...". Music becomes hypnotic, almost mystic featuring frenzy guitar riffs and spacey keyboards... "How many lives cut off, meaningless lives... And in the sky an executioner with his court of pretty women is looking below and laughing at the people who think that is possible to escape just purchasing another brain...".

Then the rhythm calms down while vocals take a prophetical tone and describe the apocalyptical advent of six iron angels coming down from the sky. The angels can't speak, see nor hear because they're without mouth, eyes and ears... The first one will spread his limbs on the ocean that will become black while needles of sun will puncture the breasts of the earth provoking putrefaction and death... The second one will put his roots into desert lands becoming the tree of trees... The third one will go down into the abysmal ditches slaughtering the monsters of an imaginary sea... The fourth one will use a sucker of alabaster and will suck every kind of drugs... The fifth one will prevent the awakening of the colossus with the feet of clay and the sky will be obscured by ships of platinum while millions of animals of every kind will be absorbed by the solar well and each one of them will be sent to a different star... The sixth angel will rebuild the Atlantic tower and finally on earth only one language will be spoken... "Then He will come down like rain on the streets / And there will be peace on earth until the disappearance of the planets... He will rule, that's what I say to you!... And the fate of followers of Baal will be doomed!".

After a calm pastoral instrumental interlude the recitative vocals resume the prophetic tone and tells that what has been told before is nothing but the start of a new walk... "Our goal will be joining forever with the peoples who are already waiting for us / And dipping with them into the universe of the universes, into the dimension of the untouchables / And once arrived we will arise and die again and again in different forms / Since the body could be one, ten, hundred, thousand, billions... but the mind is only one!".

Spacey sounds and hints of a fiery tarantella lead to a spectacular accident... One of the ships of the sands wrecks on the blue dunes and electric guitar and jazzy piano passages describe the scene... Masked men and women drown into the sand and then fade away into an orange cloud that turns black, then the thunder of Death... "A death that is not death because there was no life before".

Music stops for a moment, then a sound of sea waves... Music starts up again and rhythm becomes frenzy... You can listen to people shouting "I buy and sell second-hand brains!", then a new vision comes out from the mist... Tiny sea creatures were looming on your body a soft carpet swarming of life, life that was slowly leaving your limbs and your lungs... when, suddenly, a faint light rose at the bottom of the black maelstrom of fear and a white shining lily blinded the consciousness and someone throw you into a desert of black pearls... "Time and space have disappeared!"

Music flows with sudden changes of mood and rhythm while vocals depict other nightmarish visions... On the shoreline a bearded man collects rubbish while the sea stinks of oil, there's no wind an the sea is full of dirty wrecks and useless objects... A red monk is preaching and a green little girl is dancing at the rhythm of the sea... A little boy of stone with a broken arm tells of a slaughter of white doves and of human skins stretched under the sun to dry... "And in the meantime His eye / Above the cells full of larvae kills! Kills! Kills! Merciless He kills... Then He pick up the corpses and throw them into a burning abyss... Then new lives, new bodies, new minds will fill the earth... Then demons dressed in white will spread a new light, light coming from new worlds... Damned souls of the cosmos, forever impressed on the front of...

The last word is cut off, the vision is suddenly interrupted and the album comes abruptly to an end. Apocalyptic visions dealing with nuclear disasters, pollution, war... Science fiction or poetry? You can like or dislike this work, but it's undeniable that it's a definitively unique and original... An excellent addition for every Italianprog collector.

Pholas Dactylus is a classic Italian one-shot that released their "Concerto Delle Menti" back in 1973. The group formed in '72 near Milan and worked up the "Concerto" on the festival scene prior to recording it. Reaction to their live shows was said to be very good and they even supported Amon Duul 2 for a while. Despite good reviews of their album the band split at the end of 1973, really tragic given the quality of the material here. "Concerto Delle Menti" is not a simple album to appreciate. Firmly in the more "difficult" camp of Italian progressive, the 53 minute 2-part piece has been described as avant-garde for its unusual spoken vocal style. Much more saucy and challenging than the friendlier Italian albums of the day, CDM is approaching "Palepoli" territory on the strangeness meter. It took me MANY plays to appreciate this album and I really loathed it at first, thankfully I force myself to stick with albums for quite a while. This one clicked with me on minute 14 of my 37th listen..kidding, but it took a while.

As I mentioned the albums vocals are strange in that they are not sung, but spoken. They occasionally seem like they are starting to sing but then pull back. Don't let this scare you off though as there are also long sections of instrumental as well. The lyrics of the piece are rather controversial. Someone at Wiki wrote that they are "rich of visionary symbolism, dealing with an apocalyptic end of Earth, full of Biblical and mythological visions. Authors like Henry Miller and Baudelaire has been cited as inspiration for the lyrics." In the "Return of Italian Pop" book Mr. Barotto calls them "very valid." And yet our own Raffaela would certainly not agree with Paolo as I recall her using the word "overwrought" and telling me they were generally just laughably awful. As I can't understand a word of Italian, to me they are simply another instrument in this band I enjoy very much, they are dramatic without being overly distracting (at least once you get used to the style.)

Musically this is undeniably good and a feast for the prog-head. Carefully arranged, detailed, complex, challenging, jamming. Rock and jazzier styles are traded and even some Krautrock sounding passages find their way into the mix. There is a good balance achieved between the guitar portion of the album and the keyboards. The keys use both organ and piano while guitars range from clean to distorted electric. It is obvious the piece was helped to gel by repeatedly playing it live prior to recording, parts were no doubt discovered and others probably dropped. But I love how the guitars and keys will be doing two completely different things seemingly so you almost have to pick what to listen to..then, at some point the hypnotic effect of this falls away and you notice how well their parts relate. Same with the vocals when they enter. I love the wild guitar improv happening in the 15-18 minute period, really adventurous. There are some wicked cacophonous dissonance sections that are disturbing in their clatter, the one near the 21 minute mark making you grateful for the gentle vocal and guitar that follow. Another great section is 33-35 minutes in when the bass is just pounding as the piano and guitar trade pointed, feisty barbs. There will be some group chantings and some lovely piano sections which always grabs me. Daring and truly original in a genre often wrongly accused of simply following the lead of others, this album is a must for Italian fans and will likely move onto my top 25 Italian list. For its ability to merge controlled tension with borderline chaos, to merge a heavy darkness with other section of pure musical fun, I believe it deserves a round-up from 3 ½ territory. I believe it would easily appreciated by fans of Osanna, Cervello, or RRR.also Gentle Giant, maybe Zappa and Gong fans as well. The sound is a bit spotty on the Vinyl Magic issue but don't let that stop you. 7/10

Before I jump into the album I'd like to touch on something. The lyrics. As anyone who follows my reviews knows, I don't speak the language... yet. So my reviews of PRI tend to deal with vocal quality not lyrical quality. A note must be made of the lyrics and the Carelli's delivery. For those who do understand Italian.. I will trust the love of my life who is an Italian and tells me that these lyrics are INSIPID.. Overwrought... horrid.. junk.. pick your adjective. Deduct a star from my ranking if your are a speaker of Italian. Since most of us do not, we won't worry about that. However what we all can understand is delivery, vocal quality. To say that Capellli's spoken delivery is not a thing of beauty is a bit of an understatement. It is not bad, it is just differerent. In some sections, it actually fits perfectly.

As far as the music, trying to describe a complex 53 minute 'instrumental' is never a fun task. But that's why I make the big bucks so let me take a stab at it. The best way to describe this album is intense. I love the use of dramatic build-up and release and it is used to great effect in places here. A good comparison album would be YS, not in the heavy use of keyboards like YS but he music is very dark. While on YS, Gianni Leone was front and center throughout the album, the guitar and bass drive much of the music with the keys in supporting, counterpoint roles. Fans of organ, mellotron and accoustic piano will find great sections but as whole this is a a guitar and drums album.

There were several sections in this music that really hooked me on the album. I touch on my favorite to keep it short. The drum and bass groove which kicks in about the 10 minute marks begins an exteneded period of out of this world intensity. The groove abruprtly ends into a brutal stomping bass and guitar pattern which the keyboards including the accoustic piano and mellotron dance over. Fanstastic stuff.. it continues on for several minutes.. the keyboards building the tension.. along with increasing crashes of the drummers crash cymbal until we have.. orgasm... then we have Capelli return along with a reprise of the bass and drum groove. Some really nice accousic piano plays overtop and is a real footstomper. Again my favorite section of the piece.

Again, not an easy album to review. I love the album with so many different moods though the intense nature of the music never really receeds. Moments of great beauty like the echoed accoustic piano around the 46th minute mark are nice respites from the almost avant nature of the music. Probably something musically in this album for any fan of RPI. One of my favorites from the genre. 5 stars personally.. for the forum at large 3.5. With the avant style of vocals and at times music. Not an album I'd recommend to those who associate PRI with musica bella. Will give it 3 stars for the forum.. it isn't essential by any means and points of this album may drive people away. For me though.. I love this album.

Michael (aka micky)