TAKE OFF

Italian keyboardist Tony Sangiuliano (from Turin) released this unique album in '78, it was produced by Adriano Monteduro. This is one of those albums to make the vintage keyboard enthusiast go crazy with delight. Sangiuliano plays everything under the sun, specifically listing Polymoog, Omni-Arp, Steelphone, Eminent, Mini-Moog, Arp 2600, Hammond L22 & X77, Mellotrons, Piano, Clavinet, Harpsichord, Xylophone, and Tubular Bells. Three lengthy pieces add up to a rather short 32 minute album all based around keyboards, with some occasional drumming and vocals. No guitars in sight.

The music reminds me of Klaus Schulze albums I have heard but with more of the "Italian flair" shall we say. Rather than getting lost in spacey soundscapes with little human emotional connection, his employment of piano melody, drums, or the distinct operatic vocals of Elisabetta Delicato appear at just the right moments to provide something more satisfy and interesting. The music itself is nearly impossible for me to describe because I don't have enough knowledge of the hardware to tell you what is making the sounds at a given moment. I certainly relish the piano and mellotron I hear and they are mixed with lots of other keys in arrangements that are sometimes serene and other times very feisty. There is enough drama and beauty on display along with the keyboard pyrotechnics to make this album a satisfying spin even for those of us who are not hardware junkies. I did find a few helpful comments at Planet Mellotron to describe the sound for you, they note "it constantly surprises with its adventurousness and melodic invention, particularly during the superbly-orchestrated 'string' arrangement on the title track... His 'Tron use concentrates entirely on different choirs; I suspect he uses male, female and 8-voice, though it's not always easy to tell. There's an awful lot of it, anyway; the male voices are one of the first sounds you hear on the side-long Time Control, and can be heard across all three tracks, supplying the requisite 'epic' quality that his music required, with the Wagnerian stabs on Take Off itself being particularly noteworthy." [portion in quotations from Planet Mellotron review]

I believe "Take Off" to be a good album although one with rather limited appeal. I recommend the album to two groups of people: Italian fans working towards the deep collection, especially fans of female soprano operatic vocals (though she sings only occasionally) and keyboard fans wanting to hear yet another celebration of vintage keys played with great enthusiasm and talent. For the rest of the readers I think 3 stars is appropriate; good, challenging, but probably not essential. I can almost guarantee that most of you do not have an album in your collection that sounds quite like this one, and perhaps for that reason alone it is worth investigation.