10 ANNI IN CONCERTO-1988-1998*

In the early Nineties I bought the LP "A wood of tales" (from 1991) after I had read a positive review. I was delighted about the long track "A pyrimid's street" featuring hints from Jethro Tull and an ethnic touch. Since then I follow this fine Italian band that showed a more early Marillion influence on their next albums. This DVD (running time 150 minutes) is a very comprehensive musical view on their progrock carreer spanning the period between 1988 and 1999. You can divide "Malibran 10 anni in concerto" into three parts. The first part contains live recordings from the second half of the Ninities. Remarkable is the powerful, tight and enthousiastic approach by the band, live Malibran is on its best: great shifting moods (from dreamy with flute, twanging guitars and mellow organ to a propulsive rhythm with Eastern inspired flute work) in "Pyramid's street" and classical interplay between flute and guitar and a Ritchie Blackmore-like guitar solo (between classic and heavy metal) in "Prelude". Most of the other live tracks delivers powerful and sensitive guitar soli from the two guitar players (mainly the splendid Jerry Litricio), some nice work on the keyboards from Benny Torrisi, a dynamic and adventurous rhythm-section (especially bass player Angelo Messina) and swirling flute play by Giancarlo Cutuli (often Thijs van Leer inspired). The second parts features Malibran on tv specials, mainly playback, on one moment the flute player starts its solo too early! The final part contains amateur live video shots, a bit bootleg but very worth to watch because it showcases the enthousisastic performances from Malibran on stage featuring the funny stage antics from the fluteplayer with his 'air-playing' on his flute during several guitar soli and at one moment he takes one of the guitarists on his shoulders! One of the highlights is "Le porte del silenzio" (the great titletrack from their second CD), a very compelling but short rendition in the vein of the early Marillion. You can argue about the value of the tv specials and the (bootleg) amateur shots but in my opinion this DVD is worth buying because of the first part (almost an hour) featuring the EXCITING SOUND OF MALIBRAN ON STAGE!