COME IN UN'ULTIMA CENA

"Come in un Ultima Cena" (which can be properly translated as "Acting Like being in The Last Supper") comes after a long period from the Banco's masterpiece "Io sono nato libero" and several group internal problems. It's a concept album based on relationships of the components among them ("E' cosi buono Giovanni, ma...") and outside the group ("Voilà Mida"). The cover is very emblematic: A man who eats the heart of another crucified man, probably once his best friend (Don't ask me why I think so... it comes out in this way in my mind after listening to the album and analysing the lyrics!). The sleeve notes of the LP describe the crucial moment, during a friendly supper, when one of the commensals, bored and stressed, puts in discussion his own and his relations with the others. Even it seems to be more simple in the musical structure than the other Banco albums, the songs are very powerful, complex and well performed. Francesco Di Giacomo comes back to sing after the instrumental album "Garofano Rosso" and seems to be more inspired and less technically oriented. The result is a singing enriched with pathos and affection, as you can listen in one of the best moments of the CD "Si dice che i delfini parlino". The whole album is, as ever in Banco, keyboard oriented, where the two Nocenzi brothers act their best, but all the musicians are at their top. Someone can say that this work is more "song oriented" with the respect to other Banco albums, but it isn't my opinion. OK, the songs are not so long, but they are linked together by the concept and it was important for the group to explore several moods of the relationships among them. Moreover there's some brilliant examples of beautiful prog songs as "Si dice che i delfini parlino", "Fino alla mia porta", "Il Ragno" and the introducing "...a Cena per Esempio".

Even if not their best, this album is at a very high level. Very interesting for the italian prog listeners.

Not less than 3.5 stars