ROSSO ROCK - LIVE IN JAPAN

According to the liner notes, "Rosso Rock" is a tribute to 1972 Osanna's album "Preludio, tema, variazioni, canzona", soundtrack of the film "Milano Calibro 9". It was released in 2012, exactly forty years after the original release, and features a new version of the 1972 album recorded live at the Club Città in Kawasaki, Japan in November 2011. The line up features Lino Vairetti (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Gennaro Barba (drums), Pasquale Capobianco (electric guitar), Nello D'Anna (bass), Sasà Priore (piano, organ, keyboards) and Irvin Vairetti (vocals, Mellotron, synth) that for this special concert interacted with the Tokyo Vielle Ensemble Orchestra...

For this event the band did not to try to play the old material in a philological way but worked on the old stuff weaving new orchestral arrangements, where necessary changed the original sequence of the pieces and with some cuts and additions reshaped them giving form to a cohesive and coherent suite. If the original set list might sound a bit fragmented, here all the separate sections follow one to each other without breaks and in perfect harmony...

A sparkling version of "Preludio" opens the suite followed by the dreamy "Tema". Then the calm "Variazione V - Dianalogo" (2:24) and the fiery "Variazione VI - Spunti dallo spartito n. 14728 del Prof. Imolo Meninge" precede "Variazione I - To Plinius" and "Variazione II - My Mind Flies". A new, heartfelt, vocal part sung in Italian entitled "Tempo" (Time) appears before "Variazione IV ? Cortile", then "Variazione VII - Posizione Raggiunta (1:30)", "There Will Be Time" and "Preludio Reprise" close the suite along with the greetings to the Japanese public. In the suite there's no room for the Jethro Tull hints of "Variazione III ? Shuum..." of the original version or the iconic "Bouchet Funk" (a piece included in the soundtrack but not on the 1972 album) but, in my opinion, the result is excellent anyway.

The other tracks on the album were recorded at ISL Studio in Naples with the help of the Gianluca Falasca String Ensemble and some guest musicians such as Roberto Petrella (acoustic guitar), Stefano Longobardi (keyboards, vocals) and Gianni Biondi (vocals). "Fiume" (River) is a rearranged, convincing version of the piece from 1974 album Landscape Of Life while the following "O culore 'e Napule" is a brand new track sung in the dialect of Naples that celebrates the bounds between the musicians and their home town with its sun, sky, sea, music, traditions and endemic problems. The closer "Rosso Rock" quote Peter Hammill's "The Light Continent" and tries to paint the air with the red colour of blood, rock and fire. For this last track the band shot a beautiful video...

On the whole, a great work full of emotions and excellent music.