LA ROSSA

Review Nº 439

La Rossa is a French progressive rock band from Toulouse. It's half-composed by French and German musicians. The band was founded in 1980. Their name was taken from a Van Der Graaf Generator's composition with the same name that appears on their sixth studio album "Still Life", which was released in 1976. This can give to us a general idea of the musical content of the band. However, besides the clear influences of Van Der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill, we can also see some clear influences of Yes, Gentle Giant and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, besides classical influences.

La Rossa released their only album in 1983. The line up on the album is Benki (vocals and acoustic guitar), Jean- Pierre Baile (guitars), Wolfgang Holler (keyboards), Dino De Rossi (bass guitar) and Marc Neves (drums and percussion). The album had also the collaboration of Robert Licciardi with some additional acoustic guitar work. As for the music in itself on "A Fury Of Glass", it's quite emphatic and structurally very complex, as well as created on irregular rhythms. Some frenetic piano parts which are obviously influenced by the classical composer Béla Bartók, accentuate the fever, the urgency, the music's obvious romanticism as well as its tension and its dramatic intensity. But fear not, there's zero radio rock in this album of this French/German band. Perhaps it's not a mindblowing album. Still, the album is rich and filled with a refreshing energy. The selling points are arguably an eccentric vocal delivery and the richness of keyboards. The vocals, both tortured and full of feelings, evoke Peter Hammill. I hope you like the sounds of the piano, because this album is drenched with them, but in a good way. A more laid back and pastoral feel appears sometimes to contrast the hectic side of the material which can get pretty schizophrenic like in "This Unbreakable".

Speaking about the tracks, the album has twelve tracks. Still, I believe that the original track list ended with track nine, but a reissue expanded it to twelve by adding three songs that were initially cut. So, this new Musea reissue also includes those three excellent and previously unreleased studio tracks, recorded before the album was then issued.

So, we are in presence of another obscure symphonic progressive rock band brought to us by Musea. La Rossa's, "A Fury Of Glass" is a very welcome reissue for all progressive rock fans, indeed. Featuring excellent keyboard work played in the classical style, and solid musicianship from the guitarist, bassist, and drummer, this album sounds like it would be at home being released on the symphonic progressive side. Instrumentally, it's very strong, with fast and furious playing from all musicians, in particular from the keyboardist. His emphasis is on the acoustic piano, which is the center point of many of the tracks, and it's great. Still, the vocals are competent at best, and tend to be high mixed and intrusive. The singer's accented English and the dramatic style, detracts from what would otherwise be a very solid performance. While La Rossa doesn't break a new ground in terms of style, they do add an interesting twist within the established boundaries of symphonic rock. Fans of that style may enjoy this album despite the vocals. As I mentioned before, the comparisons include Emerson, Lake & Plamer, Van Der Graaf Generator, Yes, ELP and Asia Minor, mainly.

"A Fury Of Glass" highlights the singer who is as theatrical as Peter Hammill. Both vocals are very similar at times, but still more similarities reside in the vocals of The Waterboys' singer. Speaking of them, "A Fury Of Glass" is also close to a folk rock album with both that piano leading the way and elsewhere the acoustic guitar, imposing the rhythm and supporting the words of the singer. La Rossa's pianist is simply superb. I like the piano and organ at many points during the album, especially during pieces like "To The Life". I can hear him playing all day. Compositionally wise, it's a wild ride, too. It took me ages to find the whole album and it's definitely a nice gem, the walking bass on "The Unbreakable" is just spot on. If you keep the time they're clearly following the tempo, the album sounds incredibly raw and genuine. This is certainly an album that I could certainly listen very often. It probably will sound better with time.

Conclusion: "A Fury Of Glass" is a very eclectic album with music influenced by Van Der Graaf Generator, Yes, Gentle Giant and above all, Emerson Lake & Palmer, as well as the classical music. As I mentioned above, the name of the band, La Rossa, wasn't certainly a coincidence. The influences of Yes, or if you prefer, the influences of Rick Wakeman are very clear, especially on the first track. I can also see influences of Triumvirat, which isn't a strange thing due to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The vocals, sometimes reminds me Eloy, mainly due to the German accent. In general, the tracks aren't very long. The short pieces contain nice piano parts and the long pieces have some really great and intricate instrumental parts. The great highlight on the album is, in my humble opinion, "Faces We Move", which is a great track, really. This band deserves certainly some credit and praise for putting up a so good and competitive progressive album in 1983. We can't really forget that the 80's were very troubled times for prog rock music, indeed.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

This French-German group came to life in Toulouse in 1980 by German bassist/keyboardist Wolfgang Holler and drummer Marc Neves, who intoduced Benki to Holler and the later soon became the lead singer and acoustic guitarist of the band.Benki was a huge Peter Hammill fan and suggested the name ''La rossa'' after the eponymous track from Van Der Graaf Generator's ''Still life'' album.The trio recorded an 8-track album and passed it to various companies, but no interest surfaced for La Rossa.Then, at the end of 1981 they became a sextet with Dino De Rossi on bass, Jean-Pierre Baile and Robert Liccardi on guitars.They visited the Studio 621 at the fall of 1982 to record the album ''A fury of glass'' with the rehearsals lasting about three weeks.Liccardi left during the sessions, but the album was eventually released in early 83' on AG Records, a small label linked to the Studio 621 owners.

To say that this album sounds a lot like classic VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR would be an excess.But it is pretty surprising that this group played such an out-of-trend style with a strong lyrical content and emphasis on Classical interludes and complex themes.Because that is what's going on in ''A fury of glass''.Guided by the VDGG/PETER HAMMILL fundamentals and adding a touch of GENESIS and GENTLE GIANT, La Rossa proposed an uncommercial and refined Progressive Rock with plenty of acoustic guitars, smooth electric runs and constant use of piano themes, eventually creating lyrical soundscapes with Benki's theatrical vocals in the forefront but also series of adventurous instrumental moments.Some organ washes are also present, but you will actually admire the talent of Holler behind the piano equipment and the strong PETER HAMMILL vibes coming out of his performance next to Benki.As a result the band seems often to enter a more Singer/Songwriter style with all these acoustic sections and vocals popping up, but ''A fury of glass'' is a lot more than these.The tracks are not very long, but they contain lots of twists and breaks with electroacoustic manipulations and the piano as the constant regulator, while the longest ones burst some really intricate, instrumental parts.

AG Records promised the band a fair distribution, but the only way La Rossa could actually promote the album was climbing on stage.After a few lives inner frustration started to grow between the members, on a last attempt they travelled to Paris to find a distributor, but with no success they decided to call it quit after only five gigs, when De Rossi and Baille left the band.The original trio continued auditions, but when realizing that all efforts were hopeless La Rossa became part of history.The album was reissued a decade later on Musea with three bonus tracks, propably originating from the band's pre-''A fury of glass'' recordings.The folky ''Fade away'' will leave his place to the 8-min. ''This unbreakable'', definitely one of most challenging pieces the band ever recorded, a tour-de-force of symphonic and Avant-Garde music, filled with dark and complex themes, fantastic instrumental material and quite a bit of interplays, tremendously inspired by VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR.''Thoughts'' is another story, this is a haunting piano solo by Holler with a beautiful Classical atmosphere and a charm of its own.

Nice dark, symphonic-oriented Prog with a lyrical mystification.These guys deserve some praise for putting up a competitive prog album in 1983.Highly recommended to all VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR and PETER HAMMILL fans...3.5 stars.

3.5 stars really

La Rossa a forgotten and little known progressive act from early '80 from France with one album released in 1983 named A fury of glass, re issued on CD by Musea a decade after. This band is a curiousity for me, the line up was made by french and german musicians, the title of the album was in english and they were known in Tunisia for example, as much as in France, but in the rest of the Europe they were pretty much unknown. Anyway the music is quite great and eclectic, with influences from french prog school , from british school like Gentle Giant or Van Der Graaf Generator and from classical music aswell the result is a myriad of great moments with innspired songwriting. All pieces are short, I mean all are under 6 min, but each one brings the best in french scene around that time, pieces like Cosy chutte with ELP influence brings what La Rossa had best. Also their is a strong and energic rhythmic section and a good voice. All in all definetly a good towards great release in a period when prog was big time in the shadow of other genre. 3.5 stars for sure.

This is a German band that made only one album entitled "A fury of glass", released in 1983. In 1992 keyboardplayer Wolfgang Haller was asked by French progrock label Musea to give permission for a CD release, fortunately he reacted positive. The music from La Rossa is 24-carat symphonic rock featuring a splendid harmony of great vocals, (on "Cosy chute" and the ELP inspired "This unbreakable"), swirling play on the keyboards (Grand piano and organ) in "Chimera chill" and the solo piece "Thoughts", moving work on the guitar in "Wooden monologue" and the acoustic "This is to end it all" and a powerful and dynamic rhythm-section. The most beautiful composition is the long "Faces to move": an intro with classical piano and then wonderful soli on organ and electric guitar along many strong shifting moods. This is a CD to discover!

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