ACQUA FRAGILE

Another italian band from the early 70's but this time the weird thing is that this band sung in English and resembles more to the 70's british or US bands than the italian ones.So if you symphomaniacs out there expect something close to the italian romanticism and tradition of prog,you better search somewhere else.ACQUA FRAGILE hail from Parma and were formed around 1971.The band came to birth right out of the ashes of GLI IMMORTALI,a band where the singer was Bernardo Lanzetti.The band made their debut in 1973 with the self-titled album ''Acqua Fragile'',which was co-produced by members of PFM and where Lanzetti was accused firstly of singing in english than italian and secondly of imitating PETER GABRIEL...Well,I trully consider a crime a singer of an italian band of the 70's not to sing in his native language,the sound of the band loses its magic...On the other hand Lanzetti has -in my humble opinion-an excellent non-accented voice reminding and not imitating Gabriel...So,the voice in this album isn't a major problem...

About the tracks now...My opinion and review about this album won't get out of the line the previous reviewers have drawn...The album contains some beautiful moments along with some rather uninteresting ones and is heavily influenced by GENESIS and GENTLE GIANT.''Morning comes'' is a nice starter with Hackett-ish influenced guitar and Banks-influenced keyboards,an almost total GENESIS rip- off,but do not expect the amazing grandiosity of GENESIS.''Comic strips'' is dominated with complex musicianship and endless vocal harmonies in the vein of GENTLE GIANT.''Science fiction suite'' is a pleasant acoustic folk/pop song dominated again by vocal harmonies resembling to DELIRIUM.''Song from a picture'' is a decent ballad in the vein of GENESIS with Gabriel-esque vocalisation and interesting keyboards.''Education story'' reminds again of GENTLE GIANT with its complex rhythm and the vocal harmonies,another decent track in the line.''Going out'' is a boring ballad with little interest while ''Three hands man'' is a good closing track.This time the influences are balanced between GENTLE GIANT and GENESIS,while the track opens with complex arrangments and ends up in a more symphonic sound...

At the end of this listening I almost forgot that this band was italian!So,this album should be better categorized as a symphonic prog one in the vein of GENESIS...An album with some really strong moments worth checking out...One more 3 star rating by me...