FLORIAN

LE ORME was clearly becoming a more overtly commercial enterprise as the 1970s wore on, culminating with two excellent albums in that style: "Verita Nascoste" and "Storia del Leggenda", and, with the decade drawing to a close, one might have expected that trend to continue. But the group's first 10 years had been full of surprises, and "Florian" would be one of the biggest and boldest, simply by virtue of its unplugged nature and move to a more classical romanticism.

For the more adventurous prog listener who doesn't insist on a minimal rock quotient, the opening and closing cuts are the most interesting as well as being the longest. Both instrumental, they employ orchestral instrumentation in a partially unstructured manner. However, they lack the emotional impact and concise expressions of the remaining tunes, which fit loosely into an acoustic soft rock vein analogous to the MOODY BLUES or AMAZING BLONDEL, to a point. In particular, "Calipso" is a gem, with a delicate yet robust melody in which the acoustic guitar and piano back Tagliapietra's soft and sensitive vocal. The man even plays a poignant violoncello here, while Germano Serafin takes on the more familiar violin. This combination of lighthearted and baroque warmth permeates "Jaffa" and "Il Mago" as well, while "Fine Di un Viaggio" is closest to singles territory thanks to a more rousing chorus.

If your taste in prog ranges to the classical, lite jazz and/or folk, you will find something to like in "Florian", even if you may not dig the whole 33 minutes. Ultimately, the half star gets added to commemorate Le Orme's bravado in taking on such a project at such an unlikely moment in popular music history.