GUERCIA FIGURA GOFFA

***1/2

Guercia was a seventies Italian group that recorded this album back then but it was never released at the time. I'm surprised because this album is solid. The album was only later released in the eighties but you can easily hear that it's a much earlier work despite the fact that the tracks are supposedly re-recorded. The keyboard and guitar work in this album is very good. The piano playing of Vittorio Bonetti deserves to be mentioned. It is also his nice piano runs that create some jazziness and classical feel to the music. The vocals of the drummer Daniele Ferretti sound somewhat dated and could be better even though he isn't bad.

The album starts with the title track, which is fantastic. The rest of the album doesn't quite reach the heights of this song but the quality is rather good throughout anyways. Some songs like "Tigna", "Viaggio" and "Fine Settecento" are almost as good as the title cut.

It seems that this album is very little known even though the music is competent with many of the better known Italian 2nd category groups. I believe this is mostly due to the late release of this album.

Conclusion: This is a very good and rather obscure album.

i agree with the above writer! this album is one of the good ones and you will like it, if you like the melodic italian prog with more voice inside! very pleasant melodies in nearly evry track; so the band don't have to hide behind the "great" names like PFM, Banco etc.

i think this peace of music is one of the forgotten goodies from this great scene. the singers voice is very good, accoustic guitar and keyboards play also very well!

if you like the italian prog music you should give this album a chance to get into your ear - and what is more important - into your heart!:) recommended!!!!

it's hard for me to give only 4 stars, for me it's 4 3/4 stars...

try it!

There are some gemstones in the gravel.......

This Italian band only released one album before they disappeared again. Which is a great shame.

The Rock Progressivo Italiano genre is a home for a lot of styles. It's doors is as open as the doors of a Burger King restaurant. Guercia is spreading themselves wide in the Rock Progressivo Italiano genre with a rich blend of symphonic prog, fusion/jazz, heavy prog and pastoral folk rock. Comparissons can be made to ELP, The Nice, Biglietto Per Inferno, PFM, Le Orme and a lot of other bands. Their sound is vintage Rock Progressivo Italiano with some Italian Beat influences too. The vocals are in Italian too. The instruments are tangents, flutes, guitars, bass, drums and vocals. The songs are both pastoral, symphonic and jazzy. Nothing on this album is easy listening and immediate though.

What this album has too is some really great songs. All of them. The vocals are superb. The musicians does a brilliant job on their respective instruments. All songs are very cleverly crafted with tonnes of bridges and intricate details which really makes the listener sit up, forget what he/she is doing (don't listen to this album when driving, please) and listen intently to the music. You never knows what happens next. It is an untraditional album in that respect and an album with a long life.

This is one of the hidden gems in the scene which deserves a lot more attention. It is hereby given.

4 stars

La Guercia Figura Goffa was an Italian band from Ravenna, active in the 70's but, as with many Italian acts of the time, unlucky to release an album during the prog heydays.The line-up consisted of Vittorio Bonetti on keyboards and vocals, guitarist Giuliano Pantoli, bassist Adriano Tarroni and Daniele Ferretti on drums, vocals and guitars.Only in 1982 with the name shortened to Guercia this group released a self-titled private vinyl.

Much of the band's inspiration has gone in 1982, while the period of the release was just not aprropriate for trully progressive experiments, so Guercia's overall style was now a bit softened like a mix of 70's Progressive Rock with light Pop/Rock aesthetics, while the production has a certain 80's feeling.However the prog elements really exceed in this album and the tracks have a nice number of shifting moods despite the careful, non-risky performances.From the smooth guitar playing to the symphonic synthesizers, from some keyboard acrobatics to the fair dose of breaks and from the sensitive Italian vocals to the jazzy electric-piano instrumental sections, Guercia was a good and tight prog group, no question.But as the time had moved on, all these good elements were often mixed with some straightforward rock tunes and light poppy breezes, which spoil the album's cohesion at some point.

In 1999 Mellow Records re-issued the album in CD format, including 4 tracks from the band's early years.Obviously these tracks sounds more progressive and additionally they are quite long, like the 11-min. ''L'omino delle candele'', which is very complex Progressive/Folk Rock with numerous complicated parts and vintage flute work.''Mosaico'' and ''Nascere pazzo'' sound quite similar and they are also great, a mix of Heavy Rock with Symphonic Rock with nice work on piano and electric guitars, again La Guercia Figura Goffa deliver an alternation between hard and softer beats through a number of sudden breaks.''Astrobarca'' is a live track with a dramatic opening keyboard section, which turns into a Heavy Rock monster with guitars in evidence, still piano and synths play a dominant role towards the lighter ending theme.

Guercia kept playing in the 80's and appear every now and then with some brief reunions during the millenium.Keyboardist Vittorio Bonetti released a personal CD in 2002 under the title ''Anime marine'', same situation with drummer Daniele Ferretti, who released a solo work in 2006 under the name Gil'O.

This is among the hidden little treasures of the past prog scene of Italy.Melodic still challenging Progressive Rock with this lovely Italian flavor, which needs to be discovered by a wider audience.Recommended, as you go for the CD reissue, which seems a bit more interesting and of course easier to find than the very rare vinyl.