INCASTRO

Mid-70's found Madrugada at their most prolific period.The trio had a great live activity, playing alongside Area, Claudio Rocchi and Biglietto per l'Inferno among others, and even abroad like with Kevin Ayers in Switzerland.Additionaly Pinto and Zanelli were involved in the great one-shot project Pangea and their very good 1976 ''Invasori'' album.In 1977 it was time for the band's sophomore effort and ''Incastro'' sees the light again on Phillips, featuring some guest musicians, among them future-P.F.M. violin player Lucio Fabbri.

''Incastro'' shows Madrugada at their most proggy phase and the long opening ''Romanzen'' is a good proof.Dreamy Soft Progressive Rock with Folk references, where synths and flutes lead the way along with ethereal vocals, still the ending section is trully experimental, featuring groovy percussion along with a dissonant piano improvisation in a very Avant-Garde BATTIATO-like style.''E'Triste il Vento'' was originally a composition of the already disbanded Perdio, which had strong links with Madrugada (members of both bands played with Terza Classe in early-70's).This is very romantic organ/violin-driven Italian Prog with a smooth atmosphere and excellent vocals.The all instrumental ''Aragon'' opens as a good Heavy Rocker, but soon becomes a Prog/Fusion type of composition with spacey keyboards and violin solos till' the very end, trully energetic but a bit repetitive stuff.The title of ''Katmandu'' suggests an Eastern vibe and the truth is close, being a psychedelic instrumental with sitar, percussion, which gives its place to a totally dull rocker with an awful chorus, definitely heading as the album's single for promotional reasons.''Noter de Berghem'' is an a cappella attempt by the band with choir-type of singing and ''Hobbit'' will close the album in a very strange way.Avant-Garde experiments with flutes, sax and keyboards improvisation until the middle, when a groovy part appears in a Fusion-type, led by the rhythm section, saxes and synths.

This meant to be the last contribution of Madrugada in the prog world, as the punk attack prevented the trio to record any further.Gianfranco Pinto continued his career as a session musician next to various well-known pop singers and in late-90's he was also part of the Perdio reformation.Zanelli and Rapelli seem to have left the music industry for good.

While ''Madrugada'' was just an introduction of the band to prog arrangements, ''Incastro'' shows a huge development in terms of composition, often bordering with experimental forms of music, not always conveincing, but definitely interesting.Go for the BTF CD reissue, which also contains three additional live cuts by the group.