The Italian Prog Appreciation den

Two years after crafting and polishing the paragon of recordings that shook the world of RPI in 1976, il maestro Luciano Basso appears to have accomplished an almost impossible task: producing an opus satisfactory enough to have a take on Voci. Hence, on Cogli Il Giorno, playing it safe was not an option. The thoroughly organised, almost mathematical structure present on every single Voci track seems to have vanished, leaving room for more experimental approaches. Basso thus, immerses into previously unexplored waters, even finding himself venturing in the realm of avant garde, which he so beautifully manages to transpose into his classical upbringing.

As the listeners embark on this acoustic journey, they are greeted by the ever so gracious piano thrills, which are slowly blending into the array of strings only to father a dazzling sunrise moment, because, after all, in order to seize the day, one has to commence early in the morning. Thus, with a linear transition Mattino upholds the joyous piano which is soon accompanied by Baiocco's flute. At first, the two do not interweave acoustically, but as the song develops, they almost become one and along with Dosso's bassoon tunes, they help paint the uplifting atmosphere that had been dominating the record up to this point. However, in a dramatic twist of events, the tempo suddenly drops, synthesisers replace the piano and soprano vocalises now dictate the direction in which the composition is heading. The overall uncanny ambience on Ruotare is sustained by the occasional rough sounding guitar and the return of Basso's grand piano notes which shift from allegro to an allegretto cascade like sensation, then it finds itself building and fluctuating recurrently augmenting the eeriness until towards the end when it finishes on a relaxed piano tone. The second part of the title track does not reiterate the heavenly mood created in the first one; instead, the intro is spine-chilling, almost Jacula-esque, with the grand piano and vibraphone creating organised chaos, which soon continues with a jazzy soprano sax solo accompanied yet again by the piano. The further dissonance and avant approach in the use of the soprano sax is at times reminiscent of Third Ear Band's oboe playing style. Surprisingly, out of all this sonic turmoil, a main theme emerges with the precise scope to elegantly glue the cluster together. Lastly, Aliante revolves around Basso's mellow, but forever building piano playing. The wind instruments follow the keys as guitars seem to pop up at times, making way for an unexpected sitar appearance, which goes along with the melody and succeeds in not sounding indo/raga. With all the countless tempo changes, the album ends in a rather eerie note, thus distancing itself from the symmetrical arrangements on Voci.

With the above in mind, Cogli il Giorno is a striking and absolutely spectacular record with practically inexistent dull moments, a breath of fresh air on the RPI scene and not only, even more than 30 years after its release. Sadly it is lacking a certain 'something' that prevents it from being a true masterpiece and condemns it to lead its existence in the shadows of Voci.

4 stars!