BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO

There are some who regard this as one of the greats of Italian prog. Well, it is a great album, but the sound quality sucks, even though I own the Vinyl Magic CD reissue (and Vinyl Magic is very much a label I respect greatly, saving me lots of money and time in process of getting albums I would've otherwise spent huge money if an original LP ever surfaced). It sounds a bit on the muddy side.

Aside from that complaint, this is still some great Italian prog that's grown on me, with guitar, synthesizers, organ, and flutes, with vocals (in Italian). This of course, is that brand of prog other bands from the same time like IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO, OSANNA, MUSEO ROSENBACH, SEMIRAMIS, J.E.T., and CERVELLO had explored, meaning if you're a fan of those bands, you're certain to enjoy BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO as well. This was their debut, released in 1974 on the Trident label (same label as SEMIRAMIS), and they had another album recorded later the same year that never surfaced until the 1990s when Mellow Records finally got to releasing it.

The album opens up with "Ansia", it starts off rather calm, with organ and flute, then you hear the vocals, and piano and synth tends to be the dominant instruments. "Confessione" is even better, going through many different changes and themes, but my very favorite is "L'Amico Suicida", not exactly an appealing song title, because it translates as "A Friend's Suicide", but it's truly a wonderful epic composition showing all the best qualities of this band. But that last piece is nothing more than a reprise of "Confessione" which I found to be nothing more than a monumental waste of time because it sounded like they guys simply clipped the end part of "Confessione" and pasted it at the end because there doesn't seem to be any variations or difference to what you already heard.

Shame on you! At least this is still an excellent album, not quite the "must have" album many make it to be. Lousy production and lousy sound quality is one reason I don't call it the greatest, but still worth having.