VOLO MAGICO N. 1

Claudio Rocchi was the bass player for STORMY SIX early in their careers, playing only on their debut before going solo. Claudio's debut would be a mellow, folky affair before he released this second album "Volo Magico N.1" in 1971. This is more like it! While it is still folky at it's base, it's psychedelic and adventerous with that side long title track at 18 1/2 minutes being the absolute highlight. The second half has two short, more straight forward folk songs, but "Giusto Amore" at 11 minutes gets close to reaching the adventurous highs of the side long track. The vocals are at their best on this piece and we get some harmonica too. Some passion and emotion in those vocals man.

Claudio himself plays guitar and sings on this album, and has a keyboardist in tow, but the rest are guests, and all on the two longest tracks only. We get several vocalists adding a lot on that side long track, while he brought in some guitarists and a drummer for those two long pieces. One of the guitarists is Ricky Belloni who would go on to play with NUOVA IDEA and NEW TROLLS. While I'm not big on the two shorter tracks, they add up to 6 1/2 minutes together so no big deal.

Man, Italy was such a fertile place for music in the early seventies. Some of these solo artists should be legends over there. This is Claudio's best released in 1971. How about Lucio Battisti's "Amore E Non Amore" also from 1971, or Alan Sorrenti's "Aria" from 1972. Should I throw in Franco Battiato? More experimental and adventerous but he may have influenced Claudio's "Suoni Di Frontiera" album from 1975 which is dominated with electronics. "Volo Magico N.1" is a solid 4 star record that drips with character and emotion.

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