CELESTE [AKA: PRINCIPE DI UN GIORNO]

CELESTE was one of two bands that formed in Sanremo, Italy in 1972 following the disbanding of the group Il Sistema, the other being Museo Rosenbach which formed the exact same year. This group was the brainchild of Ciro Perrino (percussion, flute, mellotron, lead vocals) and Leonardo Lagorio (flute, sax and keyboards) who were joined by bassist Giorgio Santiano and took the complete opposite approach of Museo Rosenbach that delivered one of the most complex and demanding Italian prog albums of the entire 70s scene. Considered one of the most pastoral albums in the earliest prog years, CELESTE clearly adopted the sounds of early Genesis as did many Italian bands but accented the mellower parts even further thus making an entire album's worth of a style that many Italian prog bands were only using as introductory segments.

Recorded in 1973 - 74, CELESTE delivered a very light and breezy form of prog that offered softer chamber folk styled acoustic guitar parts with dreamy atmospheres courtesy of the soaring psychedelic atmospheres created by the synthesizers and mellotrons. While the bass and percussive parts are found throughout the album, they too are completely on mellow mode and only used to contrast with the almost new age styled melodies that were clearly inspired by the better known Italian bigwigs such as PFM, Banco and Le Orme. Sounding something like Anthony Phillips' late 70s albums such as "The Geese & The Ghost," CELESTE looked more towards the mellowest moments that early Genesis had to offer and left all the knotty time signatures and bombast behind.

The album CELESTE wasn't released until 1976, a bit after the initial Italian prog boom and didn't find a second released until archival material in the form of "II" emerged in 1991. The album has been nicknamed "Principe di Giorno" after the album's title track. The original album featured eight tracks at just over 37 minutes playing time but subsequent releases have offered varying numbers of bonus tracks with the 2020 digital streaming version featuring a whopping sixteen which effectively doubles the number and playing time. This is a true slow burner with soft arpeggiated acoustic guitars, lush flute melodies and beautiful classical piano rolls. While considered symphonic prog by some, it is more a form of symphonic prog folk since the music never really takes off into the world of rock even at its most feisty which would be moments when the saxophone parts can be heard on tracks like "Giochi Nella Notte."

The music is so pastoral that it makes you think of a soundtrack in some distant past in a quaint quiet village unaffected by any outside influences and despite being in the middle of one of the most sophisticated musical movements in the history of recorded music, CELESTE managed to completely drift off into a world of its own making where only fluffy clouds and zephyr winds gently blowing forest canopy provided any inspiration. Resembling non-Italian bands such as Quebec's Harmonium, the English Mellow Candle and of course early Genesis and Anthony Phillips, CELESTE surely must have stood out from the more complex and brash bands that populated the 1970s Italian scene. Despite these differences, the style is clearly rooted in that classic Italian symphonic prog sound but just set to acoustic mode. The lyrics are completely in Italian and eschew the turbulent topics of politics and rather craft an uplifting even triumphant soundtrack.

This one took a while for me to warm up to as i much prefer the whole enchilada effect that not only implement these soft and lush passages but take things into the world of heavier rock and beyond replete with mind numbing technicalities but after a few spins of this one, it's admittedly a bit hard to resist these soul piercing melodies that are polished to perfection with gorgeous compositions fortified with a beautifully woven tapestry of guitar, bass, flute, piano, violin, saxophone and tons of synthesizers including the mellotron. Definitely one of the most distinct and accomplished mellower albums from the 70s prog scene and probably one of the only examples to emerge out of Italy.