FELONA E SORONA

The best progressive music acknowledges the dark and light sides of humanity and of our existence on this earth and beyond. In that sense works like "The Wall" and "Tales From Topographic Oceans", as significant as they may be, are flawed in their consistent pessimism and optimism respectively, and LE ORME's oft regarded pinnacle represents the archetypal expression of life's perennial dichotomies. This is a tale of two planets, one radiant and the other eternally bitter, so far apart in space. The story itself may hardly be headline news, but the music herein and the manner in which it communicates the schism certainly are.

While the individual track lengths are mostly modest, each leads into the next such that "Felona and Serona" flows like a suite, or two suites, the first 4 tracks more or less depicting Felona and the last 5 Serona. The black cloud over the better of these 2 (Felona) is that it was reprised even more potently in 1997 at LE ORME's Progday appearance, so I only ever listen to it in that rendition. But the silver lining is that the original studio version still eclipses 99% of what was and is out there for sheer clarity of musical vision, not to mention rapturous vocals conveying scintillating melodies and keyboard, bass and percussive histrionics to draw the emotional well up within any red blooded symphonic progger. The 9 minute opening segment and the epilogue "L'Equilbrio" are the best of the best.

On the flipside, the music is more maudlin and subdued, appropriately so, but just doesn't plumb the depths one would wish to contrast with the heights of part 1. The "Serona" part is reflective and profoundly sad but doesn't draw one in enough. However, the acoustic oriented "All'infuori del tempo" and the organ and moog frenzy of "Ritorno al nulla" do come close to, and in some aspects surpass what we experienced on Felona.

LE ORME demonstrates in barely 33 minutes how the sweet loving lady and her dreary self obsessed twin each need the better part of each other for completeness, which is all but achieved in this landmark effort.