IO SONO NATO LIBERO

One of the greatest Italian Symphonic albums of all time? For me it's a tug of war between this album and PFM's "Per Un Amico". If I'm in the mood for something a bit more agressive and challanging, I'd choose this album. If I'm in a more somber mood and need to reflect, I'd take PFM. What I love about this album is the balance. Nocenzi's keys plays so well with Todaro's underated guitar work mixed with fantastic drumming and bass. I do believe they are the only band that can mix ELP keyboard histrionics with Gentle Giant's poly-rthyms and can do it so tightly. Add the master voice and you have perfection. They do experiment, (check out about 7 minutes into the epic track, "Canto Nomade Per Un Prigionero Polotico" when it gets all spacey) and then they try even jazzy-prog in the same track, plus there's a killer acoustic barrage that I've never heard from another band ever! A classic opener! They do folk- prog, ("Non Mi Rompete") with very nice acoustic guitar and Francesco's delicate singing, a beaut! Nice piano opens "La Citta Sottile", then Nocenzi's Emerson-like keys play along with Francesco's singing. There's even some YES-like guitar plucking towards the middle. A very moody track. Now comes one of the top 10 Italian prog songs ever, "Dopo...Niente E Piu Lo Stesso" The opening pretty much tells you that you're in for something special. A very low in the mix keyboard and flute playing a very Italian melody, but then WHAM! we jump into a cool riff. From there it's pure agressive Italian prog mixed with some more experimenting and for my money the best song Banco has ever done. A must listen! The album ends on a high grandiose note. A keyboard extravaganza! I can't say enough how balanced, well played and sung this album is throughout. It gives all the other Italian's a run for their money, (and a few English bands ;-) 5 stars unquestionably!