PALEPOLI

1973 sees Italian progressive music at its highest peak.Osanna made no exception.After two good albums,where the band explored the sounds of hard rock,Napolitean folk and orchestrated rock,the band decided to add some more tastes in their music.Their ambitious work ''Palepoli'' was released in 1973 on Fonit Label.

The LP consists of two challenging 20-min. suites,each in one side,''Oro caldo/Stanza città'' and ''Animale senza respiro''.''Oro caldo'' is deeply rooted in Folk Rock music,at least at the beginning,the flutes are dominant and the vocals are sensational,but as the track unfolds it becomes way more complicated:Mellotrons add a dramatic symphonic touch,guitar playing becomes harder and very complex,trumpets add a VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR feeling in the atmosphere,flutes are in a more improvisational than melodic style and multi-vocals are really attractive.A mix of MUSEO ROSENBACH,DELIRIUM and ALPHATAURUS would be a fine description.The following short ''Stanza città'' is a totally bizzare combination of Napolitean Folk,distorted vocals and classical strings.

Side two is dedicated to the ultra-complex ''Animale senza respiro''.A slow psychedelic start with Mellotron,deep bass and vocals will give space to the frenetic guitars of Danilo Rustici and Elio D'Anna's saxes in a too complicated mood,while ALPHATAURUS links are again more than evident.Things will fall back into a folk atmosphere with acoustic passages and later flutes and superb Mellotron parts by Vairetti creating a lovely soundscape.The fascinating multi-vocalization will appear again along with D'Anna's jazzy sax.The ending is full of sax'es aggresiveness and powerful guitar breaks.The track will close with a style close to dramatic Symphonic Music with mellotron and percussions.

The final taste is a matter of discussion.''Palepoli'' contains all the good stuff presented in a whole decade by the Italian Prog scene.Whether you prefer Jazz,Classical music,Hard Prog or Italian Folk,this album has it all.The real problem is that there are too many styles here,which make the album a bit of fail regarding its coherence and all these themes are not so tightly linked.But again,to overcome this album means you overcome Italian Prog.You should give this one a try,even if the final taste will not be the same as this of a total masterpiece.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.