LIVE IN PENNSYLVANIA (2CD + DVD)

In my 'eternal progrock quest' I stumbled upon very positive reviews about Le Orme their early Seventies albums in the mail-order catalogues of Musea (France) and Syn-Phonic and Laser's Edge (USA) in the late Eighties. So I decided to order the albums Felona E Sorona, Collage and Uomo Di Pezza. During my first listening session I was delighted about Le Orme their music and it's still my favorite Classic Italian Prog band. I even compare Le Orme to the captivating sound of Gabriel era Genesis and early King Crimson because of the stunning blend of (as Edward Macan describes in his excellent book Rocking The Classics) femine (warm and mellow) and masculine (more agressive and bombastic) elements: on one hand the pleasant vocals, acoustic guitar, sitar and Mellotron and on the other hand the fiery electric guitar and sumptuous sound of Hammond organ and Moog synthesizer). In 2005 Le Orme was invited to perform on the annual Nearfest Festival in the USA in order to present their new line up (including original members Aldo Tagliapietra and Michi Di Rossi) and latest album L'Infinito (2004). It turned out to be a legendary gig with Le Orme at their peak and and awesome tracking-list! Here's my review about their DVD, the tracklist is similar to the 2-CD's.

Le Orme starts with five songs from L'Infinito: the instrumental Il Tuono E La Luce featuring majestic choir-Mellotron samples and then propulsive drum beats, fiery guitar and intense guitar runs on a 'keytar' and the musical brainchild Aldo on a wonderful double-neck (all in mesmerizing blue light), La Voce Del Silenzio with howling guitar and beautiful work on piano and Hammond, the dreamy Shanti, the very compelling and impressive titletrack with great classical orechestrations, choir-Mellotron and fat synthesizer flights and finally Aldo on the sitar in La Ruota Del Cielo. Then Le Orme starts to play songs from their early Seventies albums: Una Dolcezza Nuova (bombastic church organ intro, followed by lush Hammond along varied piano play and warm vocals), Gioco Di Bimba (Aldo on the 12-string guitar of his double-neck) and a breathtaking version of the mainly instrumental La Porta Chiusa (exciting bombastic keyboards with Hammond, Moog and church organ) from Uomo Di Pezza (1972), Cemento Armato (loaded with excellent solos on violin, keytar and Hammond) from Collage (1971) and the absolute highlight of this evening, the complete version (nine parts) of the mindlbowing epic Felona E Sorona: we are carried away to Progheaven with a wide range of captivating shifting moods, wonderful keyboard work and a splendid 'grand finale', for me one of the highlights of Classic Italian Prog, goose bumps!

My euphoric conclusion: outstanding, very inspired musicians (with the dual-keyboards as the musical focus), a thrilling tracking-list, a beautiful lightshow, several camera positions (even some multi- screen) and a good sound quality, "you can't beg for more!", HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

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