The Italian Prog Appreciation den

Studio Album, 1976
3.00 | 1 ratings
BUY

 

Review by psarros
Collaborator Neo Prog Team

— First review of this album —

A musician from Trieste,Gino D'Eliso was born in 1951 and studied philosophy and applied psychology.By mid-70's Gino was working as a programmer and director at the bilingual channel RTV Capodistria (in Slovenian and Italian),but Gino was also a talented musician and songwriter,so in 1976 he recorded his first solo album ''Il mare'' with the help of Claudio Pascoli from Pangaea on saxes and flute,released on Numero Uno.

''Il mare'' contains elements from both the typical Italian singer/songwriter style and progressive rock,thus combining different music styles like Folk,Symphonic Rock and Melodic Pop.D'Eliso's voice can be heard all over the place and it is absolutely great,being warm and sensitive.The arrangements are well-performed with intense use of moog synths,acoustic guitars,piano and Pascoli's flutes and saxes,offering a delicate dreamy light symphonic feeling throughout,blended often with the Meditterenean-inspired tunes.Do not expect extended instrumental parts here,the few ones you can detect are dominated by the piano and analog synths,somewhat in a symphonic New Age/Rock mood.The album ends up to be a very soft and gentle listening with no sudden changes or complicated themes,but still with an inner beauty of its own.

D'eliso kept producing albums till mid-80's,but with a less artistic approach and deep into commercial grounds.On the same time he still remained a producer as well as a soundtrack composer for several TV productions.''Il mare'' will definitely leave satisfied all fans of Classic Italian Prog,but could be a great listening for anyone into the lighter and more melodic side of progressive rock.Recommended.

Studio Album, 1976
5.00 | 1 ratings
BUY  

 

Review by presdoug

— First review of this album —

It is not hard, really, to understand that this brilliant, over-looked album had a hard time being promoted and accepted. Firstly, it was on the Motown label, and one has to wonder if they had any real idea how to market an Italian progressive rock band in the first place. And for the music itself, it is something that was probably "too mainstream for the prog listeners, and too progressive for more mainstream taste". But in giving this record a complete listen, one realises that it had a lot more going for it, musically and lyrically, that it was given credit for. Yes, the album does include main songwriter/guitarist/singer the late Federico D'Andrea, who was the main force behind the band, and his at times quirky and always passionate singing and playing make this still a true Libra album. It is somewhat mainstream, i say somewhat, because that element of the sound is never present in a blatant or annoying way, and Winter Day's Nightmare is still progressive enough to be a great companion album to the band's first and best English spoken album "Libra". The music in Winter Day's Nightmare is quite beautiful, but never trite, and all the songs in it fit in quite nicely. One can always make out what D'Andrea is singing (something not to be take for granted in rock music!), and his unique, almost philosophical perspective at times is fascinating to listen to (especially in Nothing Comes, Nothing Goes) and one is always impressed with what he is singing about. Instrumentally, the band plays tight, and unites a whole host of influences in a way that is accessible without being a blatant sellout in any way-it is a shame that absolutely nobody, the band included, promoted Winter Day's Nightmare in any way. Given a serious look at the music therein, that was definitely a mistake. I give the record five stars.