CORTE DEI MIRACOLI

This would appear to be an interesting album: a five-piece Italian symphonic Progressive Rock band comprising singer, bassist, percussionist and two keyboard players. However, despite being a fan of Italian Progressive Rock, ultimately I found the album disappointing even though many Prog fans rave about it. There are some nice moments but, overall, to me the album does not compare favourably with many of the Italian albums of the 1970s. Weak vocals are one of the problems. Another is the sometimes-unsubtle use of piano and synthesizer. The music has a jazz-rock feel but there is a bit too much noodling for my liking. I also find Zippo's voice irritating, not to mention the temple blocks (think frenetic tapping on coconuts), which really grate.

The dark, spooky start of '.E Verrà L'Uomo' sounds promising but the track mellows to a melodic but somewhat insipid song (although it improves midway). 'Verso Il Sole' has a very jazzy feel to it. There are some nice parts, but the temple blocks drive me nuts. 'Una Storia Fiabesca' again suffers from overuse of synthesizer and temple blocks. 'Il Rituale Notturno' is not bad, although some of it sounds like the soundtrack of a James Bond movie (the scene where Bond walks onto a moonlit veranda and looks out over a palm-fringed lagoon!), even down to the horn-sounding synthesizer. The end of the track is odd, though. The 12-minute 'I Due Amanti' is the best track in my opinion: the structure and melody are good, the sounds pleasant (apart from those damn temple blocks!) and the piano and other keyboards more effective, although this track also suffers from a weak ending.

The album is not something I personally would buy. If such a thing were possible I'd rate it at 2.5 stars but I'll go with 2 stars (Collectors/fans only). I'm probably being hard on it, but I can think of many Italian Progressive Rock albums from the 1970s that I would listen to before this one.