PER UN AMICO

"Appena un Po'" (8.5-9.0 / 10) - An epic that almost feels years ahead of its time. Everything's in place here. The mellotron, the expressive drumming, the dissonant sections, the dramatic sections, flute, harpsichord, but this is a track which has its own sound. A great opener that's really fresh, while holding many Progressive elements that its English counterparts established, there is its own sense of style with the guitar playing and lyrics (obviously). The timbre aspects don't prohibit it from being its own stand-alone sound. Great tune.

"Generale" (7.5-8.0 / 10) - A more hectic piece, more electric guitar, violin, and piano feature. Many passing and arpeggiated rhythms in a driving jam that make up this song. Many different sounds to be heard and followed. It's an exciting tune full of fast melodies and soloing until being taken over by a piccolo playing a fanfare and organ playing blocked chords in a transitional few segments concluding with an almost confused-sounding guitar-violin-piano segment before returning to the more hectic playing from the beginning of the tune to finish out. Not a bad piece.

"Per un Amico" (8.0-8.5 / 10) - So far one weight carrying through the album is tight, but expressive drumming. This piece even has a more ballady feel for some of its first half, and the performances are still interesting, almost even exciting! Again there is the impression of many textures creating a wall of sound through multiple instruments playing 16th notes. This song, much like the rest of the album, has a really good pace with some explosive, exciting moments. This piece flies by with many drum fills, melodies on acoustic, electic guitars, keyboard, and with a rocking rhythm section, it's just a very full tune. Big wall of sound created. Great, great sounding band.

"Il Banchetto" (8.0 / 10) - Most of my comments will remain the same with this tune as the previous ones. The musicians just all have great, balanced sounds. This piece features some acoustic interludes with some tension building in the first half of the song. Good melodies once again. The contrasting keyboard versus the acoustic sounds work effectively. The song pulls down into more confusion lead by the keys player in a random, unwarning transition. But the following piano section is luscious and flows despite being atypical with some unusual intervals between odd chord movements. The playing picks up, the sound thickens with tension before the rest of the band come in with the earlier verses and finishes out nicely.

"Geranio" (7.5-8.0 / 10) - A more relaxed tune at the start. Though the previous few tunes were very showy of the capabilities of the musicianship of the band, this song has a two-minute soft more soothing feel before the big swing rhythm comes in to set the tone for the rest of the piece. Some other sections are explored before terracing down to a dynamic low, where the build starts up to reach another section that serves as the actual buildup to the climax of the pie-wait, no. It actually just starts to fade out from there. Interesting choice for final track on the album.

This is a classic, and it is one of my favorite Italian Prog albums. It's overall very exciting and solid, very very thickly textured! "Appena un Po'" is, in my opinion, the best track, but do not stop listening right after it, cause the rest of the tracks are solid, too!