My Old & New Interesting Progressive Bands Thread

RUSTICHELLI & BORDINI – Opera Prima

- Rustichelli & Bordini was a duo who made this wonderful album that turned out to be their swan song. The cover picture is very original: a nude and bald heavy weight man who tenderly holds a baby in his arms. To me this is a metaphor for the music, ranging from warm to bombastic. By the way, later drummer Carlo Bordini joined Goblin and Cherry Five.

1 – Nativita : This album starts with a swinging rhythm featuring inventive drums, a warm bass sound and lush keyboards with Hammond organ, Mellotron and piano by Paolo Rustichelli. The climates alternate from mellow with soaring violin-Mellotron and classical inspired piano to swinging with lots of Hammond. The interplay between the keyboards is wonderful and the rhythm- section sounds great.

2 – Icaro : A mid-tempo song with splendid play on the Hammond (featuring a church organ like sound), a jazzy piano part and strong vocals with an emotional undertone.

3 - Dolce sorella : Again we can enjoy a wonderful lush keyboard sound delivering classical orchestrations, synthesizers and sparkling piano. The vocals sound melancholical and fit perfect to the bombastic atmosphere.

4 - Un cana : The first part contains beautiful classical piano, then a full symphonic climate, emphasized by synthesizers, Mellotron and piano along emotional vocals.

5 - E svegliarsi in un giorno : This track features many Hammond organ floods and strong vocals, it carries you away to progheaven !

6 – Cammellandia : First bombastic organ, fat synthesizers flights, then an ominous sounding violin- Mellotron and dynamic drums. The climate turns into bombastic with propulsive drums and a lush Hammond and Mellotron sound, gradually the Mellotron becomes more and more omnipresent and is blended with the Hammond and drums in an exciting way! In the end the atmosphere returns to mellow with tender piano and strange sounds.

(LUCIANO) BASSO – Voci

- Luciano Basso is a classically trained and experienced musician, specialized in Grand piano and writing compositions, he has made 4 LP’s (source: book Progressivo Italiano by Barotto & D’Ubaldo): Voci (1976), Cogli Il Giorno (1978), Frammenti Tonali (1979) and Luciano Basso (1980) on the Ariston label. Later he released 5 CD’s and nowadays he is a music teacher in the known Italian city Padua.

- Listening to his instrumental debut album Voci the music reminds me of keyboard oriented Seventies Prog bands like Trace, ELP, Le Orme and Triumvirat, also driven by virtuosic play on the Grand piano: from fragile (Voci) and sparkling (Promenade II and Voci) to jazzy (Promenade II) or wonderful interplay between Grand piano and the violin like in Preludio, Voci and the experimental Echo (lots of good ideas but sometimes it sounds a bit too fragmentic to me). Although the Grand piano is omnipresent, you can also enjoy a wide range of vintage keyboards, from the mighty Hammond organ and the unsurpassed Mellotron to the harpsichord, clavinet, string-ensemble and even a church organ sound. Some songs contain sensitive work on the electric guitar like halfway Preludio and in the final part of the Voci. The Vinyl Magic CD release features the poorly recorded bonustrack Mignon (almost 3 minutes), it is a bit disappointing end of a beautiful Seventies Italian Prog album, layered with great work on keyboards, especially in the titletrack Luciano Basso shows his skills in playing keyboards and writing compositions!

 

                              SENSITIVA IMMAGINE - E Tutto Comincio Cosi

- Almost every inch of this CD (transferred from 1976 tapes) has the spirit of the early Genesis, only the Italian vocals let you realise that this album is not a kind of ‘lost Selling England By The Pound tapes’! Even a live picture on the inside of this digipack (I own the Japanese Melos label version) looks like the early Genesis. The six compositions (the Musea re-release has three bonus tracks) sound pleasant and melodic featuring warm vocals, great sensitive electric guitar work and lush keyboards. They don’t have the elaborate compositional skills of the other famous Genesis-inspired band Neuschwanstein but I’m sure Sensitiva Immagine will not be a disappointment if you want love the 70-77 Genesis-era.

 

                                                                                       

 

 

ASTRALIS – Bienvenida Al Interior (****)

1. Bienvenida Al Interior : A melodic and alternating sound featuring pleasant and modern keyboards, propulsive guitar riffs, howling guitar, warm Spanish vocals and lost of shifting moods. A great start, gentlemen!

2. Nocturno Urbano : After a spacey intro the atmosphere changes into a kind of ‘symphonic blues’ with moving guitarwork (like Nick Barrett from Pendragon), this in combination with ‘choir-Mellotron-like keyboards’ carries me away to Progheaven.

3. Novento Y Nueve : This long track (12 minutes) contains lots of variety, strong plau on guitar and keyboards and inspired vocals, the music often reminds me of early Marillion, this is neo-prog at its best!

4. Doble Arcoiris : After a spacey synthesizer intro and fragile guitar with soaring keyboards, a slow rhythm with piano and synthesizer solo follows but this songs is build upon the wonderful, often moving guitar play, goose bumps.

5. Bajo El Domo De Cristal : Another composition with lots of shifting moods, I am delighted about the beautiful, very moving guitar solo and a captivating breamk with an impressive  church-organ sound.

6. Kinnara : This final track (10 minutes) contains in the first part a blend of dreamy parts with soaring keyboards and sumptuous pieces with sparkling piano and sensitive guitar. Then we can enjoy a Brian May inspired guitar interlude with echo and fiery runs, culminating in a final part featuring an up-tempo with flashy kebyoards and propulsive guitar.

- This CD is highy recommended to all early Marillion and Pendragon freaks, what a wonderful and moving neo-prog album! 

ROCK PROGRESSIVO ITALIANO - The Complete Discography