NUDA

Led by the flamboyant and Italian doppelgänger of Mr Jimi Hendrix, the band GARYBALDI was the next phase of Gleemen which formed in 1965 and recorded one album with the lineup of Bambi Fossatti (guitars, vocals), Angelo Traverso ( bass), Maurizio Cassinelli (drums, vocals) and Lio Marchi (keyboards. With all members sticking around for the official transition into GARYBALDI, the band evolved its 60s heavy psych sound with prog leanings to a fully fueled and functional heavy progressive rock style which found the band opening for many major acts of the early 70s in Italy such as the Bee Gees, Santana, Uriah Heep and Van Der Graaf Generator and also was one of the few bands to find interest outside of Italy in countries like Germany, Switzerland and Japan.

This new and improved band that had graduated from a mere heavy psych outfit to bonafide prog band and released two albums with the first NUDA coming out in 1972 which featured one of the most striking album cover foldouts of the entire Italian prog scene. The three panel fold out featured a lovely gigantic naked woman in the jungle with animals like elephants, rhinos, monkeys, big cats and crocodiles using her as their playground! Musically GARYBALDI continued the basic sound established by Gleemen which featured Bambi Fosatti's heavy reliance on Jimi Hendrix inspired guitar performances only with more complex compositions including the side long "Moretto da Brescia" that features three suites. Despite Fossati stealing the show with his guitar tribute to Hendrix, the album features a strong band effort with impressive keyboard performances as well.

The album gets a bad rap for being TOO Hendrix-ish in style and if you judge the album by the first three tracks then you'd be totally spot on as "Maya Desnuda," "Decomposizione, Preludio e Pace" and "26 Febbraio 1700" sound like something off of "Electric Ladyland" and could even be considered plagiarism at times however i look at this more as a tribute to Hendrix done tastefully and with creative input from the band. Starting with the fourth track "Moretto da Brescia" the album sounds more like heavier Italian prog than The Jimi Hendrix Experience however Fossatti never abandons the guitar playing influence as it's woven into the framework of the more progged out second half of the album. This fourth track in some ways sounds like the perfect mixing of Hendrix's guitar playing within a more Italian heavy prog sound such as from Il Revescio Della Medaglia's early albums or similarly the first Procession album. This track is where the more ambitious keyboards are let off their leash as a warm up for the side long closing multi-suite.

"Moretto da Brescia" clocks in at nearly 21 minutes and features the three parts "Goffredo," "Il Giardino Dei Re" and "Dolce Come Sei Tu." Here the Hendrix influences are almost absent and the band sounds like a more traditional Italian symphonic prog band with strong melodic hooks teased out of classical musical interpretations and more romantic vocals. Likewise the use of keyboards dominates as do the many twists and turns that offer a true journey into a sprawling prog behemoth. Even Fossatti's guitar playing which is still prominent at times takes on a more Italian prog sound. This track is quite impressive and ranks up there with the best of the Italian prog bands and actually too bad that GARYBALDI didn't create the A-side to match. Despite the massive prog upgrade the band neither lost its flair for heavy rock nor psychedelic trippiness at times. Likewise despite the classical domination as far this three-part closer goes, GARYBALDI keeps the bluesy rock rumbling as well as adding some improvised jamming moments.

This one is a mixed bag for many with many alienated by the too-close-for-comfort Hendrix references as well as the lopsided nature of the two sides of the album that are very different. In fact they sound like a different band in many ways. This is probably a 3.5 star album for its blatant Hendrix worship but i can't help but love it anyway as Fossatti simply nailed the Hendrix style and took it to the next level. Sure i wish the first couple of tracks were more compositional distinct but overall i actually love the heck outa this album and it's boldness to take Italian prog into a very unique direction. The band however proved unstable and although GARYBALDI would release a second album titled "Astrolabio," only Fossatti and drummer Maurizio Cassinelli would return only as a trio instead of a four piece. Great album despite the overt Hendrix worship. 4 stars