...DI TERRA

Jarring, to say the least. Banco without the VOICE, is like a banana split without the banana. A brass dominated, orchestrated album that has hints of the magic of Banco sprinkled here and there. In fact, if you played this without knowing who it was I would bet you would never guess it was Banco. I'll give them credit for trying something different, and there are some nice guitar and keyboeard work by the band, but the brass/orchestra overwhelms them. There is, however, a very nice melody theme that starts out the album, comes back again briefly on track 5, "Ne' Piu' Di Un Albero Non Meno Di Una Stella" which is the one song that gives you any hints that its Banco playing, and the theme again shows up on the final track, "Di Terra" rather beautifully on guitar and then piano. Overall, it's a good album and I miss Francesco's voice, but I would stick with the early albums and leave this one for last, if need be. 3 solid stars for trying!