RITRATTO DI BALLERINA

The Italian band Gan Eden ' Giardino Delle Delizie is the brainchild of musician and composer Angelo Santo Lombardi. The first CD entitled I Giorni Di Eurisko (2004) was released under his own name, but the second Lavori In Corso (2007) became a bestseller on the Italian Btf. Label. And this third album entitled Ritratto Di Ballerina (2009) is presented as Gan Eden : Giardino Delle Delizie.

I was very pleased with the lush vintage keyboard sound on Lavori In Corso but not every track succeeded to keep my attention, due to the experimental sounds in some compositions (3 long between 10 and 20 minutes and 1 short). Listening to this new CD I notice that Gan Eden sound more captivating and compelling than on the two previous albums, with strong symphonic rock hints. The focus is on the impressive keyboards skills of Angelo, this album is a Vintage Keyboard Heaven: a majestic church organ sound, sparkling and swinging Grand piano runs, lush Hammond organ, fat Minimoog flights and mighty choir-Mellotron eruptions, mouthwatering! The interplay between those vintage keyboards and the guitar and dynamic rhythm-section is exciting, with hints of Dutch keyboard driven band Trace. The atmospheres are often bombastic or contain fluent rhythms with propulsive guitar riffs or wah-wah guitar (Epilogi) and sumptuous keyboards. At some moments the music turns into more mellow, like a virtuosic solo piece on the Grand piano in the short Impatsi Emotivi (a kind of 'Emerson meets Rachmaninov'). Also in the epic Reazioni A Catena (a part with twanging electric guitar and powerful bass sound) and in the final (ghost) track Emozioni featuring acoustic guitar, emotional vocals and soaring classical orchestrations beautiful!

If you like Classic Italian Prog with strong native vocals and lush vintage keyboards (like early Le Orme, Metamorfosi or Rustichelli & Bordini) and you are up to some experimental interludes, this is an album to discover.

My rating: 3,5 star.