LOCANDA DELLE FATE

Released in their year of founding, Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Più (1977) was their sole LP until their reformation in 1999. A beloved record of the broad yet clearly identifiable Rock Progressivo Italiano idiom, Forse is a landmark Second Wave Progressive Rock statement. As such, Locanda Delle Fate had pulled from what came before, but produced music fit for the time, in some cases (frequently more than the host of their contemporaries) even raising the complexity and interest (of the norm). Not perfect, but excellent nonetheless.

"A Volte Un Istante Di Quiete" is Prog eccellenza, kicking us off with symphonic mastery of space and form. Throughout, there are callbacks to my ears to Gentle Giant and Genesis. To avoid typing it once more, our title track is next. Balladic and sweet, it begins with vocals and once again feels deeply rooted in Foxtrot-era Genesis. Things pretty quickly pick up and brighten. It is one of those situations where it's just interesting hearing this sort of older-sounding instrumentation in the late-70s. Not a big fan of Leonardo Sasso's voice, but the melodies are good and rich.

Sasso immediately has a much better performance, in the least, on "Profumo Di Colla Bianca". A shoutout is really due to Conta and Mazzoglia on keys and synths. It's not like they carry the whole band, but they are so vital to the sound of Locanda, it's not even funny. They're very good at what they do, and you won't get a much better example of that than here. Giorgio Gardino on drums is the other certain highlight to the whole affair. Such a great player. Overall "Profumo" is a wonderful composition. This was nicely juxtaposed with the quieted "Cercando Un Nuovo Confine". This is one of the first tracks that, given the style of piano, really shows its age. How do you spell 'AOR' anyways? Decent song, but naturally well performed, at least.

If I had my eyes closed, was unaware of what was on and "Sogno Di Estunno" began, I would have sworn it was Camel! Very cool, and ultimately, it is cool, because they are, in fact, contemporaries in a truer sense than we might think ('we' specifically those most familiar with the classic and most popular English Prog groups). This is quickly revealed to be yet another example of pure Second Wave excellence. Stupendous performances on this awesome, edge-of-your-seat composition. To me, on the level of Happy The Man; but classically Italiano, no doubt about it. A surefire highlight. Another stark juxtoposition is in the soft, near-acoustic "Non Chiudere A Chiave Le Stelle". Pretty, but offers little when compared to the lot.

And with a third 8+ minute composition to spare, we have "Vendesi Saggezza". Ah, Italians, you said? The bass here sounds somewhat like Chris Squire: bright and melodic. Another that I feel, compositionally, can be placed squarely in the late-70s. Things eventually rise and brighten further around minute 4. Great performance here. Picking up even more around minute 6, this is... forgive me... 'where the fun begins!' haha. Big build, then it falls back to still epic proportions. Again, clear lineage traceable to Genesis, to my ears. And finally, "New York". This is one of the better vocal performances [not Sasso? but then who?], and once again, we are in 'epic' territory (to clarify, in the way in which it's composed), bouncing from soft and feeling to the more grandiose (though not at all over the top).

And indeed, it's rather easy to realize how long this album is, at just short of an hour... Rewarding still, well balanced and well constructed, this album is.

"Lucciole per sempre", along with "The Missing Fireflies" from 2012, is a good complement to the band's 1977 masterpiece "Forse le lucciole non si amano pi'" and could be considered a celebration of their career. In fact, this CD plus DVD features two brand new tracks recorded in studio by the last line up, five tracks taken from a 1977 live show recorded in the studios of the Italian National TV and four tracks taken from a 1974 concert (the DVD includes only the videos shot for the two unreleased pieces and the complete video from the TV show). The album was released on the independent label AMS Records in three different versions: the first option is the standard edition, consisting of a tri-panel gate-fold support containing a CD, a DVD and a 64-page booklet full of vintage pictures and excerpts from Luciano Boero's book "Prati di lucciole per sempre" (with an English translation); the second option is a super-limited deluxe edition that, in a vinyl-size box, contains the standard CD plus DVD and booklet set, a white-coloured gatefold cover LP, a certificate of authenticity and an exclusive signed copy of the original promotional 1977 poster with the photograph here used on the cover and originally appeared in the 1977 LP sleeve; the third option consists in a simple gate-fold cover LP edition, on black 180gr. vinyl.

The album opens with the new compositions. The first one, 'Mediterraneo', is a beautiful track with some ethnic flavours inspired by the Mediterranean sea and by the efforts that men have to endure to overcome the raging force of the waves when the weather is bad and by the peace that its beauty could give when the weather is calm. The second one, 'Intro - Lettera di un viaggiatore' (Letter from a traveller) is another excellent track, this time inspired by the character of Cristoforo Colombo. Here the band imagined a love letter sent by the famous explorer to the Queen of Spain...

Then it's the turn of the historic pieces taken from the 1977 TV broadcast. The sound quality is good enough and we have the chance to watch and listen to the heartfelt live versions of 'Forse le lucciole non si amano pi'', 'Profumo di colla bianca', 'Sogno di Estunno', 'Non chiudere a chiave le stelle' and 'La giostra' (the last one not included in the 1977 album and officially released only in 2012 on the album The Missing Fireflies).

The last four tracks were poorly recorded in 1974 and, in my opinion, can be appreciated only for their historical relevance. The first one, 'Ti penser' con tenerezza' is a cover of Gentle Giant's 'Think Of Me With Kindness' but with Italian lyrics. Then other three covers follow, 'Nothing At All' (Gentle Giant), 'Appena un po'' (PFM) and 'Bambina sbagliata' (Formula Tre).

On the whole, a perfect item for Italianprog collectors with a wonderful packaging and a lot of great music.

The story of this Italian prog band is the story of many that came a bit too late to the prog party which reached its apex in the early 1970s and started waning around the 1975 timeline. LOCANDA DELLE FATE which translates into "Inn of the Fairies" and referred to a closed brothel in the band's native Asti in Northern Italy, formed in 1977 and featured the already established tried and true romantic symphonic prog established by the bigwigs such as Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and countless others who rode the prog train.

Despite the decline in knotty complex prog music that had left an indelible mark on the rock music world, some bands decided to swim upstream and craft their own masterworks in the vein of those who came before even while the most popular prog bands including the Italian greats started watering down their compositions with more accessible pop infused banality. When it comes to airy fairy symphonic prog, a trend that was popular with certain English prog bands like Genesis as well as the more subdued Italian bands, perhaps none was more so than LOCANDA DELLE FATE with its one and done album tenderly titled FORSE LE LUCCIOLE NON SI AMNO PIÙ which in English means "Maybe the Fireflies Do Not Love Each Other Any Longer."

This septet featured a double whammy with both twin guitar and twin keyboard attack which gave the music a rich tapestry of contrapuntal prog majesty with much of the melodic development initiated by arpeggiated piano rolls and a procession of moody subsections that wend and wind into beautifully intricate motifs of symphonic prog splendor. Despite the core trio of Oscar Mazzoglio ( keyboards), Luciano Boero (bass) and Giorgio Gardino (drums) forming the band after dissolving a prior band fixated on cover songs from bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and even Blood, Sweat and Tears, the music of LOCANDA DELLE FATE was indecisively as prog as one could possibly hope for in the late to the game year of 1977.

While firmly placed in the traditional symphonic prog of the Italian scene, LOCANDA DELLA FATE displayed a much mellower version with less bombast and jittery workouts than that of the wild and untamed early 70s provided. In fact in many ways FORSE LE LUCCIOLE NON SI AMNO PIÙ is more like an album of sappy ballads all dressed up with clear and concise progressive workouts inserted at key moments with occasional outbursts into more energetic rock episodes. Lead vocalist Leonardo Sasso provided the perfect romantic lyricism without missing a beat and although the album is dominated by the rich tapestry of keyboard sounds that include everything from the Hammond organ, Fender electric piano to Polymoog synths and a harpsichord, the addition of the flute and vibraphone gives this album a pastoral sensuality unlike many others, especially from the late 70s.

This is truly an album that took me a looooong time to warm up to. For those who enjoy the more upbeat and brutal versions of Italian prog, this one can come off as a bit to schmaltzy and overweening for its own good upon first listen but after time and a shift of focus to the intricacy of the compositional fortitude, my respect has elevated severalfold as the album is subtly brilliant while remaining defiantly chilled out however there are moments that generate some true rock bombast albeit never to the point of breaking into the knotty sinew crushing riffage of bands like PFM or Banco. While this band was masterful at nurturing soothing melodies, so too could this group of masterful musicians break into extremely complex outbursts of instrumental gymnastics.

This is one that i have to be in the right mood for and while LOCANDA DELLA FATE hardly makes my top listing for favorite bands of the Italian prog scene, there's no denying that this one shot album has certainly stood the test of time in which it evolved from the commercial dud upon release to one of the more respected albums of the entire Italian prog 70s. Due to the resurgence of popular in all things prog in the 90s, LOCANDA DELLE FATE was revived and released "Homo Homini Lopus" in 1999 and regrouped again for yet another album titled "The Missing Fireflies" in the year 2012 that tried to duplicate this early style. Despite all these attempted comebacks though, it's clear that this early offering is the album that showcases the band firing on all pistons.

In the ever more saturated crevices of my musical hippocampus, I was sure I had long since reviewed this memorable Italian one off, perhaps in fact the quintessential representative of that all too common phenomenon in the 1970s. I had it pretty much mapped out - a sparkling instrumental followed by an equally effervescent title followed by largely interchangeable and unmemorable albeit pleasant pieces culminating in an unabashed crooner anthem bonus that perhaps highlighted their strengths best. After years shelved, I have returned to it while listing it for sale, and, while my impression hasn't changed much, I do need to fill in a few blanks.

If albums be judged as sequences of robust and oh so romantic - the title translates to "Maybe the fireflies don't love each other anymore" - vocals and eminently pleasurable arrangements of keyboards, guitars and flutes, "Forse de Lucciole..." is top drawer, no question. I am not saying this is an invalid way to assess an offering of substance such as this, just that in and of itself it is not enough for me. Given the emphasis on melody here, it's shame how few are more than ephemeral, here now gone in 10 seconds. Is this fair? After all, music is meant to be savoured in the here and now, isn't it? Who cares if you can't hum 2 bars after it's over when you are buoyed for 40 minutes? I get this argument too, but part of my enjoyment is in scaling the lattices and gaining a 30,000 foot view of the production, and unfortunately with LOCANDA little is gained from the exercise beyond the exercise itself.

While others have offered GENESIS comparisons to which I cannot vehemently dissent, I am inclined to think of another one off, "SENSITIVA IMMAGINE', but I do prefer the latter because they are equally charming while offering more indelible compositions. In case I have been no more succinct LOCANDA themselves, I want to clarify that I have the utmost respect for this passionate exercise as well as for the overwhelming appreciation it garners in the prog world. 3.5 stars rounded down.

A very polished album of piano-based progressive rock music with a kind of combined RENAISSANCE-GENESIS Foxtrot/SEbtP-era feel to it.

Line-up / Musicians: - Leonardo Sasso / lead vocals - Alberto Gaviglio / electric guitar, 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals - Ezio Vevy / electric guitar, 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, flute - Michele Conta / piano, electric Piano, synthesizer (Polymoog), harpsichord, clarinet - Oscar Mazzoglio / Hammond organ, Fender electric piano, synthesizers (Moog, Polymoog) - Luciano Boero / bass, Hammond organ - Giorgio Gardino / drums, vibraphone

1. "A volte un istante di quiete" (6:31) opens as an up tempo, piano-based rock song sounding quite a bit like a peak-era Jon TOUT-led RENAISSANCE song. The band plays quite nicely together--nicely tight band. The synth lines in the fourth minute are almost straight out of the finale of GENESIS' "Supper's Ready" and the guitar sound that joins in later is also quite Steve Hackett-esque. The fast-paced jazzier section that takes over at the 4:40 mark returns the band more to a RENAISSANCE/ "MacArthur's Park" sound. (9.5/10)

2. "Forse le lucciole non si amano più" (9:48) opens with a piano and vibes duet, establishing melody that the vocalist soon uses. By the end of the first minute the full band has joined in, establishing a fairly slow, methodical pace and sound. The instruments amp up into a little harsher ground at the 1:40 mark before falling back into support for the husky-voice male singer (Leonardo Sasso). Chunky bass (think John Camp) with well-integrated drums lead into an instrumental section with electric guitar 'power' chords and harpsichord in the lead. The more aggressive, jazzier section in the sixth minute feels a little discombobulated from the multiple vocal lines--very theatric--but it's working in a dramatic way. (8.5/10)

3. "Profumo di colla Bianca" (8:25) opens with a collection of sounds and riffs that make it sound like it comes straight off a YES album--Relayer or later. When things calm down for the vocal to enter at the one minute mark it feels all Italia(--all Banco). The next sections--instrumental and vocal--magically blend themes and sounds from the early years of both GENESIS (Gabriel era) and KING CRIMSON (ItCotCK). A more piano-based section returns to the beautiful realm of Italian melodrama--which is then carried forward and enhanced by an interesting section that feels like a blend of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS and STARCASTLE. Very interesting and deftly crafted song. (9.5/10)

4. "Cercando un nuovo confine" (6:41) opens delicately, beautifully, like the "play me a song" part of Genesis' "The Musical Box." In the second minute, piano, mellotron and background singers are added to the foundational acoustic guitar and electric guitar arpeggi. Then the song bursts into full rock dynamics in an almost ELTON JOHN way but then quickly settle back into more Genesis-Renaissance domains. An new theme is introduced at the three- minute mark that is piano-led, enriching the dimensionality of the song in a Tony Banks kind of way. The vocalist becomes more forceful but it sounds strained and makes the song suffer (in my opinion). And then the song quiets down, moving more toward the opening in its delicacy--though the piano continues tinkling away for a bit. The vocal harmonies in the final minute are nice. (8.5/10)

5. "Sogno di Estunno" (4:41) opens with flute and piano playing melody line in unison while bass and drums build in support. When Leonardo's vocals are introduced, the mood becomes more assertive, even aggressive. But then a delicate Genesis-like section ensues before it, too, is absorbed in the aggression of the next vocal-lead section (verse 2). The instrumental section that follows is peppered with soli from Arp synth and piano before Leonardo returns. It is my opinion that his voice is just to gruff for these beautiful instrumental weaves. I also believe that the piano is too dominant. One can see how these songs were created (and could be performed solo) by the piano, but it should have been mixed down a bit in the final mixes--to allow the weave of instruments to seem more even keeled. (8.5/10)

6. "Non chiudere a chiave le stelle" (3:34) opens with a pretty multiple guitar- and all-arpeggi-based weave which is soon joined by the gentle voice of a different male singer than the previous songs. Nice, gentle background harmony vocals used as well. Thought the song never really 'goes' anywhere, it is nice--and probably would mean much more to me if I knew what he was singing about. (8.5/10)

7. "Vendesi saggezza (9:37) is another piano and chunky Jon Camp-led song with Leonardo's gruff, aged-sounding voice in the lead vocal spot. The instrumental section in the third minute is quite nice--even powerful--and helps the next singing section by bringing in quite a sophisticated weave with it--or could it be that Leonardo Sasso's voice is mixed a bit further back in the soundscape? Whatever, this is the first time on the album that the instrumental dynamics has felt perfectly mixed! The GENTLE GIANT-like section that opens at the 6:20 mark is a nice twist--and then the next section at 7:10 is pure GENESIS perfection. (9.5/10)

4.5 stars; A near-masterpiece of progressive rock music.

Being a massive fan of the original 1977 album as well as their reunion concert in 2010, this EP provides some more really enjoyable listening material. I'm talking of the first four tracks here of course. As mentioned before, they were composed in the 70s and never made it to an album (apart from Sequenza Circolare, which is a new composition by Maurizio Muha to introduce La Giostra). All of the four tracks (Muha provided an excellent link) are highly enjoyable with all the elements and sounds we love about their 1977 album. The sound is also great, which already makes it a worthy investment. As the RPI performance (and the live snippet here) show, "Non Chiudere A Chiave La Stelle" was originally sung by guitarist Gaviglio with Vevey doing backing vocals. It is too bad neither were involved in this album or there was a vocal recording as it would have been great to hear this enjoyable song in good quality with their vocals, which sound great in the RPI video. This is of course not to say Sasso's voice does not sound great but this alternative would have been interesting. Now, the first 4 tracks I would definitely rate with 5 stars as they capture the lovely 70s sound with very warm and rich textures. The Live tracks are, of course, a great disappointment with regards to their sound. "Non Chiudere A Chiave La Stelle" is only a strange 1-minute snippet in basically unacceptable audio quality. The recording of the others is a bit better but still not anything you would want to listen to a lot, which is a shame since the performance is great (that much you can tell). Therefore, I wouldn't really count them for the album, which is why I consider it more of an EP than an actual album - even though it is sold for the price of a full album. I'm not sure if new ideas would have been disappointing but it is a shame that this release only offers such a short glimpse of the lovely compositions I wish there would be more of. Still I'll rate it as four stars because of the nice songs included here - probably it's enough to buy those in digital format.

The reunion concert of Locanda Delle Fate (this time featuring singer Leonardo Sasso who was not present on the 1999 album) is a real treat to fans of their 1977 classic, even though the principal composers Vevy, Conta and Gaviglio did not join in. But pianist Maurizio Muha and guitarist Massimo Brignolo surely do an excellent job at delivering the missing bits.

Unlike on the vinyl, this set features the full concert in both CD as well as DVD format. The audio quality is great and so is the overall performance. Sasso's voice is rich and intriguing, the guitar is mostly subtle but very well placed in the music, Giardino's drumming is on-point and never showy but as the very end of "A volte un istante di quiete" makes clear, he is still capable of some very fast drum fills. Maurizio Muha seems very relaxed while playing and adds details to the music, which show his great skills (perhaps a bit at the expense of Mazzoglio who seems less dominant but still great at what he is doing) and his short solo "Sequenza Circolare" fits in perfectly with the music. The tracklist is a great selection of almost the entire original album and one newer composition and there are so many details in the music that it simply does not become boring even if you listen to it multiple times in a row.

The DVD is an excellent addition to the live recording and makes this release a must-have for all fans of the original album. I think it is simply delightful to see how much fun the gentlemen are having playing their old music. There is not much of a show and no gimmicks, they simply play their music as a unit (perhaps similar to Camel), which is very sympathetic. The video quality is not amazing but definitely fine and the editing is very calm, which makes it an enjoyable watch. The packaging is a regular Mini-LP-papersleeve as usual from AMS, always nice to look at and to hold. So if you are a fan of the original album, I can only recommend this great reunion concert, whose only weakness is that it is not very long.

(my first PA review! Forgive my excitement) The only flaw in this album is the year of publication: in 1978 progressive music was already losing appeal throughout Europe, particularly in Italy, so this work was ignored even by those who, few years before, would have paid more attention. Locanda Delle Fate's only album is actually as good the other masterpieces of the genre (a word I personally wouldn't use for more than 6-7 albums). The music proposed is a symphonic prog with piano and keyboards in first place, well supported by guitar and flute, continuous changes of rhythm and melodies, and most of all, a sweet romantic attitude, marked with a veil of sadness, that costantly emerges along the entirety of the tracklist. Highlights of the album are certainly the instrumental opener "A Volte un Istante di Quiete", sort of presentation of Locanda Delle Fate's technical abilities; the title-track and "Vendesi Saggezza", the longest songs, structured as mini-suites (no more than 10 minutes long) where piano and voice touch the highest level of pathos and creativity. Musicians are all inspired and gifted; Leonardo Sasso's voice is not technically perfect but, as well as other Italian prog singers like Claudio Canali (Biglietto Per l'Inferno), compensates with a great dose of passion and expressivity, with some resemblances with Ian Anderson. "Forse Le Lucciole..." will probably appeal to fan of Genesis and Renaissance above all, but any prog listener could hardly resist the delicate, melancholy atmosphere that permeates these seven tracks. Well aware of the meaning of a five-star rating, I cannot give a lesser one: in my opinion, this is one the highest marks ever reached by Italian progressive scene, unmissable in a good collection. (it's not even expensive to buy, if you're interested; surely not a slight...)

What's a bit perplexing about this release is not the modern re-recording of old compositional ideas, but the questionable vintage source then used to complete them.

In fact, I found the modern recordings to sound absolutely brilliant. Better than could ever have been expected, they truly capture the spirit of how this musical work was surely envisioned in 1977. What is strange is that the 1977 recordings are from a distant audio source, when much of this material was already available via a different performance as a soundboard source, as evidenced by its release on Mellow in 1993. As I've noted in my review of that very Mellow CD, those recordings were absolutely butchered with digital noise reduction, but one would have to think the original tapes used by Mellow would exist. Could those tapes have provided a soundboard quality representation of the 1977 recordings which were used to finish out this fascinating, unreleased musical work?

I guess we can presume that the soundboard tapes available for Mellow's "Live" were unavailable for license or lost to the sands of time. I will say that the 1977 recordings of this material actually sound a bit better here than those on the Mellow CD. Again, this is down to the poor mastering on the Mellow CD. Nothing to do with a vast difference in performance.

So how to rate such a release? It's difficult, but given the quality of the modern version of LDF and their ability to capture a sound so truly similar to their original, I think 3 stars is entirely fair.

If ever you wish to understand why there is a sonic "crusade" against the use of digital noise reduction by many, this release is a fine example.

Even one of the finest reissue labels (Mellow) got burned by some engineer with the misuse of said technique, and the results are disastrous. Nice soundboard audio is simply ruined with no-noise here, and what I suspect were some bright, treble heavy choices on EQ are made to liven this up. But the sound of no-noise gating in and out is everywhere. It pulls at the vocals, and soft piano sections are so overcooked with it that you can sometimes hear the stuff ringing. The music often sounds like it is trapped under water, trying to grasp some air.

Perhaps not perfect recordings in the first place, but given the scarcity of live LDF, it would be wonderful to hear these get a proper release today.

The performances are excellent and it's essential for any devoted fan. However, I think the poor mastering will cause you to reach for this one only very rarely.