ORME

Nobody here (I hope) really enjoys writing negative reviews, especially about a favorite band fallen on hard times. Nevertheless I feel obliged, strictly as a public service, to warn fans away from (Le) Orme's self-titled career nadir, released at the tail end of the anti-Prog 1980s.

Without wanting to repeat my belated tirade against their 1982 studio sell-out "Venerdi", I'll just say the music here makes the worst compromises of '80s YES and GENESIS sound downright avant-garde by comparison. If morbid curiosity, stubborn fanboy loyalty, or some form of insidious retroactive masochism should bring you within earshot of the album, expect a lot of schmaltzy, radio-friendly ballads, all bathed in a coagulating syrup of synthetic strings and passive rhythms, lacking even the tepid New Wave energy of its predecessor.

Years later, talking about the youthful Progressive idealism of the band's earliest efforts, frontman Aldo Tagliapietra would say, "What we wanted to do was change the world, change the music, and change society" (quoting from Will Romano's book "Mountains in the Sky: the Illustrated History of Progressive Rock"). In the end the opposite happened: the world, and society, changed them. But the less said about this unfortunate phase of Le Orme's career, the better.

So, enough already.