LANDSCAPE OF LIFE

I bought this LP in Eugene, Oregon at the Eugene Hilton in February 1995 the same time I bought "Milano Calibro 9". And like that LP, this was too was an American pressing on Peters International.

This is perhaps the most inconsistent OSANNA album I have heard. The band was obviously wanting to return back to the style they done on "L'Uomo". Here the music is more simple, less complex and less challenging. The title track, although has some good ideas, get's bogged down with repetitive singing. "Two Boys" is a more or less straight- ahead hard rock that sounds like it came off "L'Uomo". But actually this is a great piece, and lots of great flute. "Il Castro Dell'e" harkens to the best moments of "Palepoli" with the mysterious flutes and equally mysterious Mellotron. Here the band chose to sing in Italian, which also really benefits big time. "Fog on my Mind" starts off rather crappy. The bad English really detracts, and it starts off rather poppy. But then the music gets more aggressive and improves, and then you get a bunch of ethnic percussion. "Promised Land" features some even poorer English. Although not credited on the American release, apparently it was Corrado Rustici (younger brother of Dalino Rustico) handling the vocals. It seemed that he was about ready to join OSANNA because his previous band CERVELLO (who released the album "Melos", which is a totally essential prog album, as far as I'm concerned) apparently disintegrated, but then OSANNA went the way of CERVELLO after "Landscape of Life" came out. But then the album rebounds big time with "River/Somewhere, Somehowe, Sometime" (the Italian LP uses an Italian title).

Again the band goes back to singing in Italian, and this is where they really soar. Again, it's reminiscent of the best of "Palepoli", lots of mysterious flute, great vocals, and aggressive passages. Two cuts with Italian vocals really show the best in the band, the English vocals cuts really need some improving. Though "Landscape of Life" has worthwhile material, this should be the last of their four albums you should worry about.