IO NON SO DA DOVE VENGO E NON SO DOVE MAI ANDRÒ, UOMO È IL NOME CHE MI HAN DATO

Once while surfing the net I came across an Italian website dedicated to prog rock. There was an album high up at number 7 on it's list of 20 best Italian prog albums that I had never heard of... a quick topic search found a grand total of zero threads dedicated to the album so I got intrigued. So I threw caution to the wind and got a copy of this album. Wow! what an album. Fans of guitar driven prog like Osanna or groups like Quella Vecchia Locanda will LOVE this album.

First off some research... De De Lind was named for a Playboy model of the 1960's. Naturally my curiousity was aroused so I googled the name and found some ..inspiring pictures of her.. rather inspiring hahah. Unfortunately.. as so often happens De De Lind was a one and done group. However as many did do.. they came in and left with a bang. Very surprised.. like I was the RRR album that this album is not more popular. Part of that may be that the album is placed in Art-Rock. The music has nice symphonic touches, which is more than some that are and have been in symphonic have.. but that is a matter for the forums not the review. Don't be mistaken by the Art-Rock moniker. This is a great statement in Rock progressivo italiano that upon first listen.. as well as subsequent listens.. is worthy of such a high ranking on that website. The album title.. abbreviated for space constraints on the page is ' Io Non So Da Dove Vengo e Non So Dove Mai Andrò, Uomo e' il Nome Che Mi han Dato' quite a mouthful of course which translates roughly to 'I Do not know From Where I come and I do not know Where Never I will go, Man is the Name That I've been given' Yeah we do love prog don't we. As far as the album itself... great stuff in the QVL vein. Lots of great flute and guitar, though not much of anything in the way of keyboards here, other than some piano in places way in the mix, good reason... there is no keyboardist in the band which was not exactly commen in prog those days. As far as the album itself...

The Album kicks off with Fuga E Marte and something a bit unexpected.. a kettle drum intro which is joined by the accoustic and wah guitars. After a nice little intro the drums herald a upbeat bass and guitar melody which give way after a bit to the enterance of vocalist Vito Paradiso. I love his vocal style.. more on that as we go through the album.. here he has a urgent very masculine quality to it. A sudden tempo and stylistic shift brings us a lovely clean flute melody in conjunction with some accoustic guitar.

The next song Indietro nel Tempo starts with a flute and accoustic melody which is slowly drowned by by the first apperence of a recurruinrg dramitic musical 4 chord musical theme highlited by some bouncy bass playing and great wah guitar. Trama's blazing saxophone runs enter out of nowhere after several times through the theme. Paradiso enters along with a change in rhythm that can be best described as bouncey and his vocals lines match it perfectly.. his delivery is letter perfect at this point. Great guitar riffs abound in this song. Sounds very good turned up to 11 on the stereo. A reprise of the theme takes us right into Paura del Niente with some nice accostic playing. Paradiso enters with some plantively spoken vocals that while nice aren't as effective as when he lets it rip. A nice Tull inspired flute/guitar section follows the 4th verse. The song really gains character with a solo bass line that with each repeated play gains both tempo and limber. The drums come in and are followed by a nice guitar solo. The kettle drums signal the end of that and the begining of a nice and rather flighty flute solo. A very nice track.. interesting arangement on it.

Next comes what must be considered the centerpiece of the album. Smarrimento begins with a strident militant line done Ian Anderson style. This line quickly turns quieter and more reflective with a nice clean sounding flute section.. however something is coming.. the pace pice up.. the tension builds...you hear the memacing guitar chords warning you that something is coming until .....release... the e-guitar and flute explode together which of course soon dies down into a acousitic guitar line repeated until Paradiso enters with pleasant plaintive vocals that work much better than they did on Paura del Niente. A great track and my favorite on the album.. great use of dynamics and tension.

Cimitero Di Guerra brings the kettle drums back punctuated by guitar power chords. Very nice intro. A rather hypnotic track due to the subdued flute, and accoustic guitar with some effective vocal delivery. The track ends with a reprise of the strident flute lines of the beginning of Smarrimento ..this time delivered by the flute and guitar. The next song Voglia De Revierre has a nice rather pleasing accoustic melody with the bass drum tempo shift into a reprise of the Indietro Nel Tempo theme with some stinging lead guitar work with some saxophone low in the mix. Very nice song. The album ends with E Poi with slashing guitars over strumming acocoustics with suddenly stop and leave us with Paradiso delivering a plainive verse before the slashing guitars come back and bring the song and album to conclusion.

Hard album to rate for the forum.. it's one of the better albums of Rock progressivo italiano that I've heard. Quality wise.. 5 stars easy. Is it essential to understanding prog or even Italian prog. No it's not.. but I strongly recommend you check this album out. You will like it, trust me on this. For myself.. 5 stars... for the forum at large 4 stars.

Michael (aka micky)