CONTRAPPUNTI

Le Orme were rather inspired in those days. As Andrea (Cortese) mentions, I wish I could understand Italian to fully capture their music AND lyrics. Unfortunately, I will have to stick to French, Spanish & English and Dutch (but the latter will lead me nowhere of course in terms of music understanding). Still, I'm starting some Portuguese lessons (to prepare a trip to Brazil) and maybe that I will find the time in another life to do the same with Italian.

More seriously, this album is one of the best of the band.

It features both aspects I like from this beautiful genre : complexity with "Contrapuntti" which is closely linked with ELP-ish sounds (but it is of curse not the first time that the band produces such a song), as well as elegant vocals combined with pure harmony ("Frutto Acerbo"). My two favourite songs from this album.

One has to be quick in his listening here, since (as usual) this album is very short. As the other two legendary Italian bands ("PFM" and "Banco") these weren't really generous with their fans in terms of album length, to say the least.

Some weaker tracks are also featured, like the useless, repetitive and classical "Notturno". Ambient, yes. But boring. Of course, "Maggio" is of another calibre. A mix of Crimson and ELP. Do you fancy? I do! But the middle part is somewhat hard to appreciate. Delicate vocals, inherent to the style of course will reconcile you with this good number.

"La Fabbricante d'Angeli" also belongs to the best ones of this offering. Passionate vocals are the highlight; and they go together with a beautiful melody.

This album is just shy of the four star rating. Songs as "Aliante" (an average instrumental), "India" (which features very emotional vocals but no more) are average songs which only drop the level of this album. Still, this is another good album from "Le Orme". Three stars.