CONCERTO ZERO - LIVE 1972/2003

The Italian five piece formation Campo Di Marte existed between 1971 and 1974 and released an eponymous LP in 1973, considered as a minor gem. In 2003 the band recorded 'live' music in the studio and decided to release it, in combination with a 1972 live recording.

CD 1 is the registration from a concert in Florence, Campo Di Marte plays exciting and dynamic (with hints from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Dutch pride Focus) featuring fiery and raw guitar play, swirling work on the flute traverse and floods of Hammond organ. It sounds as typical live Seventies rock/prog, with a lot of room for instrumental interludes and extented soli. The sound quality is at the level of a decent bootleg, so if you don't have a problem with this Campo Di Marte live 1972 turns into an interesting musical experience.

CD 2 is recorded in the studio but played as a 'live concert', in one take. In comparison with CD 1 the sound quality is very good, this is a boost to listen to the powerful and compelling Campo Di Marte sound, alternating between mellow and bombastic.

The interplay between the guitar and organ/piano is exciting, loaded with fiery runs,heavy soli, obviously inspired by the legendary rock guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. The Italian vocals contain a lot of emotion, I always like the choice for the native language.

The acoustic guitar is wonderfully blended in Back In Time and Otalian Irish, accompanied by soaring flutes.

In Bluesy Rocky the guitar work is outstanding and exciting featuring lots of blistering and biting runs, very compelling, in between a jazzy piano solo.

The lay-out of this 2-CD is beautiful: a digipack with a FOC, each CD contains a small booklet (8 pages with history, lyrics and pictures). The price is at the level of an average 1 CD so the mediocre sound quality of CD 1 cannot be a huge problem.

Like so many Classic Italian Prog bands, here's another strong return to the world of prog, Campo Di Marte is a band with excellent and enthusiastic musicians delivering a varied blend of rock and prog.

My rating: 3,5 star. .