ALBERGO INTERGALATTICO SPAZIALE

Giacomo `Mino' Di Martino was the guitarist in Italian pop group I Giganti, who were responsible for a minor RPI standout with their 1971 release `Terra in Bocca', but the fella switched gears entirely for his solo release in the later Seventies under the alias of Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale (Intergalactic Space Hotel). The self-titled LP from 1978 was far removed from the rock opera of `Terra...', being instead a schizophrenic mix of eerie keyboard drones, vocal experiments and avant-garde aural collages, with hints of classical, symphonic and krautrock also worked in.

Swirls of organ and buzzing feedback circle around Terra Di Benedetto's breathy and treated voice that drawls stream-of-consciousness proclamations (lightly calling to mind Gilli Smyth's space- whispers in Gong) throughout opener `Live Pistoia', and staccato keyboard stabs between wild cymbal crashes remind of the early Pink Floyd live concert improvisations to offer a nightmarish chaos. `Phasing's hazy drones over eastern mantra-like beckonings wouldn't have sounded out of place on several Popol Vuh discs, `Senza Titolo' is sighing ambience, and the murky Mellotron- fuelled symphonic grandness of `Tastiera solo' Mellotron is doomed and sorrowful.

Slivers of orchestration back up spirited male and female voices as they swoon through a baffling retelling of Beethoven's `Ode to Joy' in the flip-side's `Improvvisazione'. `4 Tracce' moves from soothing new-age electronic caresses to hypnotic prog-electronic synth spirals, the cavernous `Variazioni su "Angeli di solitudine"' reverberates with unrestrained multi-tracked ethereal female voices (although its somewhat dull and overlong at over seven minutes), and closer `Sabbie Vergini' is a final plaintive psalm atop lowly quivering electronics.

This is the kind of release that will hardly hold widespread appeal. Instead, the LP will most interest listeners who appreciate Franco Battiato's early Seventies electronic experiments, and it compliments other daring Italian works like Luciano Cilio's `Dell'universo Assente', Roberto Cacciapaglia's `Sei Note in Logica' or even Pierrot Lunaire keyboardist Arturo Stalteri's `...E il Pavone Parlo' Alla Luna'.

If you're a collector of adventurous Italian rock music from the vintage Seventies period and want to add obscure oddities and musical curios from that country to your collection, then `Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale' is wildly inventive and endlessly fascinating.

Four stars.