ROLLER

This instrumental group grew out of the Italian band Cherry Five. Some call them the Italian Tangerine Dream, which is silly because they sound nothing like TD and were making movie soundtracks before them. Roller is one of the few non-soundtrack albums from Goblin. The music here is symphonic, funky, electronic and rocking. I have to make a special mention of the bass sound here. Terrific!

The title track has a spacey beginning. It then goes into an almost Gentle Giant part, then a more symphonic part. Water drips can be heard at the beginning of "Aquaman". Then some acoustic guitar, Rhodes and synth. Later bass and drums then a bluesy guitar solo. "Snip- Snap" is a very funky number. Good clavinet riff. Awesome bass and synths in this song. Good drumbeat. Has an electric piano solo. "Il Risveglio Del Serpente" starts spacey with percussion. It gets very classical sounding with piano and acoustic guitar. Then saxophone. There is crowd applause at the end but I think that was added after; this doesn't sound like a live recording.

The song that shares it's name with the group is great. You can listen to this song on PA. Starts with crackling and other weird noises. Then piano and synth. Bass, drums and a nice synth melody later. 3 1/2 minutes in there is a ripping guitar solo. Starts to mellow out. Beginning 5 1/2 minutes in a beautiful synth melody starts. After 8 minutes there is a great funky part with congas/bongos and maracas. Before 10 minutes we get a mini-drum solo. This whole song has great drumming. At the end we hear the synth melody at the start. Tape speeds up at the end.

"Dr. Frankenstein" begins spacey. When the bass, drums and guitar comes in it oddly reminds me of what Tortoise would be doing 20 years later. Gets more funky and jazzy later. Awesome bass sound. Over halfway through the music stops. A new fusion-y part starts. It rocks intensely. There is some amazing electric marimba playing. Or is that part done on a synth? A great RPI album. Maybe a little more funky and spacey than your average RPI band. 4 stars.