IO SONO MURPLE

Io Sono Murple really is an "undiscovered gem" as has been said by other reviewers. I purchased this album just because of the other reviews that sang its praise, and also because the cover seemed to call out to me, "buy me, buy me." The album cover reminds me of the Beatle's movie "Yellow Submarine."

I was actually blown away by this album. I was expecting it to be good, but not this good. The highlights of the albums for me are the keyboards and the drums. The guitars are also great and very moody. The singing is not exactly the greatest, but some of it is actually very good. The guitarist and the keyboardist share the job of singer, and I am not sure which one is which when listening to the album, but one of them is definitely a better singer than the other. Whoever sings the Tra I fili part (and some other parts as well) actually has a very nice voice.

The album is basically two epic tracks, each about 16 or 17 minutes long. The album starts out kind of slow and takes sometime for it to really take off. The beginning is still enjoyable though; the very first part reminds me of "The Great Marsh" from Camel's The Snow Goose. The album ends with the same theme also, just as The Snow Goose ends with the same theme. And hey, both are about birds. The music leading up to the first singing section is quite amazing with the keyboards taking center stage. Each of the singing parts, of which there are four, has a great musical interlude in the middle. The interlude in the middle of the first singing part of the second track actual starts off sounding like a techno song, but once the drums kick in it has a totally different feel.

I can't really compare the sound of this album with anything else, but I am sure that if you like any of the big three bands of Italian prog (BMS, PFM, or Le Orme) that you will definitely enjoy this album. Words I would use to describe the overall sound of this album would be majestic, melancholy, joyful, and powerful. I guess that the only negative about the album is the poor production quality (not uncommon with most Italian prog bands in the 70s). I enjoy the music and emotion of this album so much, that I am going to give it five stars. I am also hoping that more people will discover this album, as it is truly worth discovering.