IBIS

Third and final album from Ibis, and the weakest of the three in my opinion. While the debut album had no title and no discernible information on its cover except a giant question mark, it is generally considered the birth of Ibis and would be bettered on the excellent Sun Supreme. The self-titled offering here takes a step backward, into what I would consider classic rock or worse yet, disco rock. The first couple songs aren't bad; actually "Narratio" would not sound out of place on the debut with Nico Di Palo's screechy falsetto. But "Dedicated To Janis Joplin" is where things take a turn for the worse, and never really recover. The song sounds exactly like you think it would, a cross between Big Brother & The Holding Comany and New Trolls. It even quotes liberally from "Take Another Little Piece of My Heart" towards the end, and lasts about three minutes longer than it really should.

"Passa il Tempo" is somewhat interesting, at least it's sung in the native tongue and relies upon the band's signature sound more so than anything else on the album, but is ultimately forgettable. And I'm not quite sure what, exactly, "Ritrovarci Qui" is supposed to be; it begins as an acoustic piece and transitions awkwardly into what sounds like the theme to a cheesy Italian horror film. All style and no substance. The arrangement only derails from there, into an ascending-triplet riff and repetitive recapitulation of the "Premessa" theme. I'm usually a sucker for stuff like this when the album is self-referential and has some unifying coherence...but this kind of feels like an afterthought and, again, is hardly memorable.

"Strada" and "Keep on Movin'" are both so bad I usually can't even make it that far into the album. The former has some interesting ideas - the middle instrumental section wouldn't be out of place on a Volo album, but an opportunity to really stretch the idea and develop it is thwarted by a superfluous vocal section and flute solo.

I guess by 1975 the best days were behind most classic Italian Prog bands, and Ibis was no exception. I can't in good conscience rate the album three stars since I would not describe it as good. It is listenable I suppose, and necessary for Ibis/New Trolls fans and RPI collectors. It is not so bad that I would say it's only for completists...but it's pretty close. Two stars.