ORFEO 9

As you can read in the artist's biography, back in 1970 this was the first rock opera to be represented on stage. By 1973 Tito Schipa jr. was able to record it with the help of a prestigious cast of singers and musicians (Brainticket's Joel Van Droogenbroek, singers Renato Zero and Loredana Berté - who were to become Italian mainstream pop superstars, percussionist Tullio De Piscopo and Bill Conti, who some years later would write the Academy Award winning soundtrack to the first Rocky). This demanding and ambitious work (also matched with a filmed version) failed to obtain a full mainstream success then, but with the passing years it managed to raise a real cult status, so that today any lover of Italian rock (in general, not only progressive) cannot help considering it a real milestone - and besides some inevitable flaws, it really is! Tito Schipa jr., considering his famous father and his attending the operatic world, had a very clear and consistent idea of what an opera was, and conceived a very coherent work, with leitmotifs, reprises, themes, a strong overall structure and the capability to match the best features ot Italan progressive rock and the songwriter's style; his young age, on the other hand, together with a (sometimes) heavy dose of self-indulgence, brought to some drawbacks: the plot is not very clear, the hippy philosophy nowadays sounds a little stiff, some Beat-era remains are somewhat out of place (the country sounding Pane Pane, Senti Orfeo or Da Te, per Te), the introduction is beautiful, but way too long (it takes four tracks to be introduced to the main character), and - most of all - Schipa keeps for himself the protagonist role, despite his voice being at length annoying, if not irritating (for instance, when he repeats several times No in La Città Fatta Inferno). But the music here is so good and well performed that you simply forget these flaws, and finish up by enjoying a very deep and emotional musical experience, rich in a strong epical feel, which is better described by following the plot it narrates (even if it took me several listenings - and some internet research - to understand it). The story opens introducing a group of young people inhabiting a former church: the jazzy Tre Note and Invito (with beautiful vocal harmonies and fine arrangements) create the right setting for the whole narration, while the delicate L'alba, including a choral and emotional climax, and the rhytmical and rocking Vieni Sole complete the description of the environment where Orfeo (the main character) can move his first steps. He starts singing his difficulty to understand himself in Il Risveglio di Orfeo, a well crafted jazzy piece, where Schipa is involved in a dialogue with his own voice. Orfeo's meditations are interrupted by the arrival of the bread boy (Pane Pane), coming from a deserted city which he describes in La Città Sognata, a very interesting track, epic and not far from some contemporary Rice/Webber's achievements. He notices Orfeo's torment and understands that the hero needs a girlfriend (La Ragazza che non volta il viso). Orfeo manages to find the object of his love in Euridice; this moment is described in the (IMO) most moving piece of the opera, Eccotela Qui: the song starts with a loop of two simple guitar chords, overlayed by several voices of interviewed people describing their views about happiness; then Schipa/Orfeo starts singing in a painful mood, eventually flowing into Conti's compelling orchestral arrangements and a delicate coda. Senti Orfeo, at this point, describes the marriage of Orfeo and Euridice, a moment of happiness which is spoiled when the Happiness Merchant (overtly a pusher) breaks in imposing the bunch to be happier and happier by using his stuff: this is the theme of Il Venditore di Felicità, a very good tune with a very expressive and theatrical Renato Zero on a funky background. Euridice disappears, yielding the Happiness Merchant's proposals, and Orfeo set on a trip to find again his beloved one. Here begins disc 2, the weakest one, to be honest. Despite a good introduction with the funky and dynamic Ciao (another good performance by the narrators), Per la strada (where Orfeo meets a couple of hitchhikers), a cheesy example of parish rock, and the shy raga rock of Seguici risk to turn into the most boring pieces of the whole work. Luckily enough, the Happiness Merchant comes back and introduces Orfeo to a Clairvoyant who tries to distraught him from his search, and the good music comes back with the obscure and energetic La Chiromante and the acoustic Eccoti Alla Fine, a very heartly and delicate tune featuring astounding lyrics and ending by a reprise of the final part of Eccotela qui. Orfeo arrives to the city, a chaotic reality where everybody is afraid of a mysterious bomb, described in the jazz rock of La Bomba A. Here Orfeo declares his love for Euridice (Da Te Per Te, which sounds as if it were recorded by a beat group in 1967), and looks for her in the underground levels of this hurban environment: this passage is depicted in La Città Fatta Inferno, a heavy (almost doom) metal piece - maybe a bit too long, but intense and desperate. Left alone, Orfeo will be again teased by the Happiness merchant, but in the end will be obliged to admit that he has definitely lost Euridice. The end of this sad tale is left to the words first of a blues singer in the bluesy acoustic Una Vecchia Favola (with English lyrics) and then of the narrators, but only to let Orfeo close this opera by singing his regained self consciousness and hope in the future in the reprise of Eccoti alla fine, which develops the theme of the song by inserting a different verse and references from Da Te Per Te, with a hurried and clumsy result. Such a story would have deserved a (musically speaking) better ending but, overall, this album remains one of the best and most convincing operas in the history of rock music, standing comparison with works such as Jesus Christ Superstar and, on a conceptual point of view, The Lamb Lies Down.... In the end you'll find yourself perceiving Orfeo as a sort of brother, deserving all your simpathy and digging deep into your own heart - provided a good translation of the lyrics, of course!