L'UOMO

Osanna's debut album from 1971 is often overshadowed by the monumental later follow up, Palepoli. Even I had this pushed to the back of my to do list until I ran into an original copy online and jumped. I am glad I did, as this album is far more complex than I'd been led to believe.

Album opener Introduzione is a show stopper for a beginning-a song that transitions through several sections. It starts out as something that would have fit very easily on Hawkwind's contemporaneous second album In Search of Space-acoustic guitar driven proto space rock. Powerful sax riffs, great vocals, unexplained explosions to transition, and an underpinning of acid madness make this album fairly unique in Italian prog. Drums and guitars can wander but things never get too far from control. Some might point to pre Benefit Jethro Tull as a touch point, and that isn't that far off in some places, but overall Osanna have developed a sound that is all their own. These guys are a more harder edged and harder rocking version of Tull or any Italian bands extant at the time. A powerful evolution of pop into something distinctly Italian, albeit in this instance with a heavy dollop of acid in the mix. Yet they don't really fit in with the proto prog organ and guitar driven bands of 1971 very well, as they can dip into jazz and space rock adeptly. Already Danilo Rustici and Ellio D'anna on guitar and sax are already a force to be reckoned with on the scene. Side one is four songs, but really functions as a suite. The band also switches back and forth from Italian to English, but with the heavy reverb on the vocals one might not even notice this is happening.

Side two starts with a straightforward rocker Vado verso una meta. Second song In Un Vecchio Cieco features some of the most amazing complex vocal interplay heard in Italian rock, but disappears quickly much like many of their ideas seem to-there are so many to get into a song, some ideas are just not allowed to linger. Sometimes they dissolve into laughter in the recording booth at the absurdity of it all, only to confidently drop into third gear and deliver some very convincing British hard blues rock (Everybody's Gonna See You Die) at the drop of a hat. Finishes with the same acoustic guitar and In Search of Space electronics we came in on side one with. Wild and wooly stuff-early Hawkwind and early Tull filtered through early Plastic People of the Universe isn't too far off.

One of the more underrated linchpin albums of the early Italian prog scene, this album has it all-virtuoso sax and flute, a guitarist that can deliver riffs that explode out into the universe and acoustic guitar work that can bring you deep into yourself. It's highly recommended to all RPI fans, Hawkwind fans and fans of heavier prog. Great stuff.

So many sunsets......tonight....

4 stars