The Italian Prog Appreciation den

As much as I love all those other genres, there's no doubt that the Italian stuff is frequently the most precious to me, Tom. It's the most lavish, sophisticated and at times daring prog you can find, and so many of my favourties prog albums come from that country.

Meh, still not going to get me to love that `Gudrun' nightmare ever....I've wasted years being patient with it. Maybe if they'd ditched that horrendous female wailing I'd be a little more patient with it, but it totally breaks the album for me. If I recall, there's barely anything resembling an actual tune on it either, just fragments of experimental sounds. I can't for the life of me work out why it's considered such a masterpiece...if it was thought of as a `curious, daring, challenging experiment that's interesting to explore' sort of thing, I'd be more understanding! I'll take the subtle, fragile beauty of the first one any day.

We all love her, Jim.  

Finnforest wrote: I like Odissea! How do you lads feel about Opus Avantra?  I love their albums but I notice very little love around the PA community for them.

Guldbamsen wrote: Michael: I know how you feel about Gudrun (damn you!!!!!), but do you feel the same listening to say Cos (providing you know of them of course)?  I've always felt that the two female singers share a mutual love of vocals that sound like the Blairwitch come alive.

Dave, I know and really like the first Cos album (`Viva Boma'' if I recall?), but it sure wasn't love on arrival! Took many spins before I clicked with it. But I will get back to `Gudrun' at some point. I do like other more experimental Italian albums (for instance, maybe that `Pholas Dactylus' one comes to mind), but I think it's the ones that mix that element inside a framing of decent tunes, etc, will keep my interest longer.

Anyway, I'd like some opinions on this. Here is a CD I bought recently that I have been dying to hear, seeing as some consider it to be a bit of a classic. Now, bear in mind I'm cranky after several days in a row on screwy night-shift hours (plus it was daylights savings ending tonight, so we actually had to work an extra hour! ), but I played this for the first time in the car on the drive home....



And to say I was underwhelmed would be an understatement...I was expecting some lovely Italian prog jewel, instead it seems like fairly straight-forward pop/rock music with nice playing and nothing more.

Any opinions, people?

Edited by Aussie-Byrd-Brother - April 04 2015 at 18:06

Latte Miele complete work is the best thing to come out for the whole of the year.

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Hey there Coaster! Yep, I spun it again at work last night, it's terrific. Very distinctive vocals on that one too! I think you might like the recent Sezione Frenante CD as well, that has a definite sound similar to the 70's Italian albums, really won me over!

Gentleman, thank you both. I promise I'll give the Il Volo debut plenty of proper listens. My initial dismissal was all based on a half-concentrating listen on a busy drive home with barely any sleep!

I should also say sorry that sometimes my opinions and comments on certain things Italian prog related can be a little blunt! I certainly don't mean them to ever come across as arrogant or aggressive, not the case at all.

*****

Coaster, great Le Orme `Florian ' review from you on the front page too! I seem to recall Jim wrote a terrific one a while back too. It IS a great album, one that I don't listen to all the time, but when I do, it's very special. May do so again in the next day or two

*****

Thanks, Sagi, I'll spin that clip when I'm home from work!

Edited by Aussie-Byrd-Brother - April 06 2015 at 11:19

I have a tendency to jump straight into Il Canto della Preistoria, whenever I listen to Il Volo's debut It's the "angry duck" sound of the moog that does it methinks. Man I love that track!

I looked up Frenante Sezione on Amazon and there was only one CD available

I'm curious, how come Italian prog is in it's own separate sub-genre?