Italian Prog...

 

 

1		PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi) No doubt about it, one of the best-known and finest of Italian prog bands. They actually even became known in America once they started recording in English for ELP's Manticore Records.
2		Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
3		Le Orme This band actually started off as a psychedelic pop band in the late '60s, but then hopped on the prog bandwagon, after moving to Philips Records in 1971. Their best albums were released in the 1972-74 time period.
4		Goblin Group best known for soundtracks to Dario Argento horror films. They do have about three non-soundtrack albums.
5		New Trolls A group with a pretty eclectic history. Started off as a beat band, and moving to prog in the 1970s. Styles often ranged from pop to hard rock to classical.
6		Ibis Group that consisted of New Trolls defectors (amongst them, Nico di Palo, and Maurizio Salvi) who preferred a heavier rock direction.
7		Cherry Five Band with three Goblin members (including Claudio Simonetti and Fabio Pignatelli) with drummer Carlo Bordini and ex-L'Uovo di Colombo vocalist Tony Tartarini. Much more conventional prog here than Goblin, heavily influenced by Yes and ELP, with lots of Emerson and Wakeman-like keyboards.
8		Rustichelli E Bordini Paolo Rustichelli was the son of film composer Carlo Rustichelli, and Carlo Bordini was future Cherry Five drummer. Paolo was a teenager when this album came out, and while he isn't the greatest of singers, his keyboard playing is incredible. It's also intersting to note this is entirely a keyboards/vocal/drums album, with absolutely no outside help!
9		L'Uovo Di Colombo Keyboard-driven prog with future Cherry Five vocalist Tony Tartarini (who was going by the name Toni Gionta here). If you wondered how he sounds like singing in Italian (since he sung in English on the Cherry Five album), look here.
10		The Trip [ITA] The Trip is an odd one for inclusion. They actually started off as a British band, formed in London in 1967, as a beat band, but then moved to Italy and started acquiring Italian musicians, most notable being future Arti & Mestieri drummer Furio Chirico (who appeared on their final two albums). They of course, hopped on the prog bandwagon in the 1970s. Interesting note I just found out, when they were still a British band back in '67, they featured none other than Ritchie Blackmore! Of course, we all know what happened to him: he earned his fame and fortune once he hopped on board with Deep Purple.
11		Arti & Mestieri This is where Furio Chiroco went to after The Trip released their final album,  Time of Change and broke up. The music here is much more fusion-oriented prog than The Trip.
13		Semiramis Band consisting of future Italian pop star Michele Zarrillo (who was just 16 when this album came out), his brother Maurizio Zarillo, and apparently relatives completing the rest of the band (except for Michele, the rest of the band were 18 years old). For a 16 year old, Michele was quite an accomplished guitarist, and for the rest of the band, you'll never guess none of them were even 20 yet.
14		Osanna Incredible band, with lots of great sax and flute work. Their English could be better, but they always did best singing in Italian.
15		Città Frontale This band has a rather confusing history. If I remember right, an early version of Osanna was called this, with future Il Balletto di Bronzo guy Gianni Leone, this was before they ever got to record. After Osanna called it quits after  Landscape of Life, then a couple of former members went and called this group Citta Frontale.
16		Uno Another Osanna-related band.
17		Cervello Osanna-related band, featuring guitarist Corrado Rustici, who was the younger brother of Osanna guitarist Danilo Rustici. Corrado did join Osanna during their demise in '74, and during their '78 reunion. He was also a member of Nova, and in America, playing with some truly horrendous commercial acts like Whitney Houston and George Michael.  Melos is quite similar in atmosphere and structure to  Palepoli, but Corrado's guitar playing was closer to John McLaughlin (who makes no bones about being one of his guitar heroes).
18		Museo Rosenbach A truly amazing band, with lots of great guitar, Mellotron, and Hammond organ, with aggressive playing all around. Also quite controversial, leading people to think they were right-wing extremists or fascists (thanks to the lyrics being based on Nietzsche's philosophies, and a bust of Mussolini on the cover). But never mind that and enjoy the music, which demonstrates, in my book, everything that was great about prog in the 1970s.
19		Il Balletto Di Bronzo First album,  Sirio 2222 is said to be hard rock/psych that's of little interest to prog fans, but  YS is a totally intense prog album with insane guitar and keyboard work.
20		Flea on the Honey
21		Flea I believe Flea on the Honey/Flea was another Goblin related band. Attention Red Hot Chili Peppers fans: no, the bassist for the band didn't go solo, this is an Italian band.
22		Sensations' Fix Incredible band combining prog with spacy electronics.
23		Franco Falsini Sensations' Fix leader and main guy. Here, it's completely solo, guitar, Eminent, Moog, vocals. His only solo effort was a soundtrack to a never completed documentary film, on cocaine abuse.
24		Libra Here's an odd band. They're the only Italian band to ever record for Motown (at least their US releases). What was Berry Gordy thinking? You can be certain this isn't the Surpremes, Temptations, Stevie Wonder, or Marvin Gaye. The band was, to my understanding, Goblin related, and explored some prog.
25		Campo Di Marte Band with future Sensations' Fix bassist Richard Ursillo. Only Italian prog act I know of on the United Artists label. Strangely this album also received a release in Argentina, and they gave the band a more Spanish name of Campo  de Marte.
26		Etna Another Goblin-related band.
27		Murple
28		Area [ITA]
29		Il Reale Impero Britannico Yet another endless Goblin-related band, including ex-Cherry Five vocalist Tony Tartarini. Their only album, unsurprisingly, is a soundtrack album.
30		Reale Accademia Di Musica
31		Celeste
32		Metamorfosi
33		Biglietto Per L'inferno
34		Baffo Banfi Ex-Biglietto per L'Inferno keyboardist pursued a career in electronic music, in which he was discovered by Klaus Schulze and was recording for his Innovative Communications label.
35		Riccardo Zappa Guitarist who tended to the acoustic end of prog, kinda like Italy's answer to Mike Oldfield. My dad used to own a copy of  Celestion way back when I was a small kid, I seriously doubt he knew what he was buying.
36		Il Paese Dei Balocchi Heavily classically-influenced prog act who released one album in 1972, and many years later (1979), released a truly dreadful, pop-oriented single that was truly better off forgotten.
37		Locanda Delle Fate Mellow-end of the Italian prog spectrum. Large, seven piece band, with vocalist, two guitarists, two keyboardists, a drummer, and a bassist. Thanks to the rise of punk and disco when  Forse le Lucciole... came out in '77, the album pretty much went under, but regarded by many as one of the finest in the Italian prog scene.
38		Ezra Winston
39		J.e.t. Another one of those Italian prog bands similar in style to Biglietto per L'Inferno, Museo Rosenbach, Semiramis, etc., except this band predates them a bit earlier. J.e.t. is connected to the pop-oriented outfit Matia Bazar, as that band featured ex-J.e.t. members.
40		Matia Bazar This band would not have been included had they not had connections to prog bands. This group featured the former Museo Rosenbach drummer, and ex-J.e.t. members.
41		De De Lind I am pretty certain until Fiona Apple came around in 1999 with her album  When the Pawn..., De De Lind's one and only album had the longest album title.
42		Stormy Six
43		Finisterre
44		Deus Ex Machina
45		RDM (Rovescio Della Medaglia) Started off as a hard rock outfit, with  La Bibbia and  Io Come Io, then went full on prog/classical with  Contaminazione (in which they recorded an English-language version for the international market,  Contamination) after they included a keyboardist. Great stuff.
46		Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno
47		Jumbo
48		D.F.A
49		Formula 3
50		Cico Cico was actually none other than Toni Cicco, who was the drummer for Formula 3, who only managed one album on his own in 1974, after that band broke up.
51		Il Volo

52		Acqua Fragile This was the band Bernardo Lanzetti was in before joining PFM. PFM produced both their albums, by the way.
53		Franco Battiato Major fixture in the Italian pop scene, but this isn't your Eurovision Song Contest type of music, to be sure. He's explored prog, avant-garde, electronic, you name it!
54		Alusa Fallax
55		Quella Vecchia Locanda
56		Capitolo 6
57		Osage Tribe
58		I Califfi
59		Panna Fredda
60		Jacula Odd group that flirted with the occult and conducted séances, with tons of pipe organ, and Moog (usually used for sound effects). I have a real difficult time calling this rock. Not to everyone's taste, and I bet a few of you save this for Halloween, that is if you ever heard of this group.
61		Antonius Rex This is what happened to Jacula after their keyboardist Charles Tiring was given the boot, they changed their name to Antonius Rex, which was also the name given to band leader Antonio Bartoccetti. According to an interview with Bartoccetti, Charles Tiring was a madman, was hardly young at all (68 years old when  Tardo Pede In Magiam Versus came out, leading me to believe his musical background had to be classical, rather than rock), and married to an 18 year old, which his antics apparently didn't endear himself to the rest of the band, so he was given the boot, and Antonius Rex was born.
62		Pholas Dactylus Maybe musically, not the most surprising band out there, the ELP and Gentle Giant influences might be rather obvious, as well as certain Italian bands of the time, like Museo Rosenbach (and even one section influenced by early Pink Floyd and the Krautrock scene, like Ash Ra Tempel), but what separates this band from others is the "singer". Instead of singing, he does nothing but narrate. So upon first listen, you might get thrown off, because you expect him to sing any time, but never does.
63		Latte e Miele
64		Blocco Mentale
65		I Cocai
66		Triade
67		FancyFluid
68		Atlantide [ITA] Not to be confused with the French act (who were often accused of being a Yes ripoff, like Starcastle in America), who also released an album the same year as this Italian outfit. That's why RYM gives the [FR] tag for the French band and [IT] for this band, the Italian band. From my understanding, was this band members consisted completely of brothers, and while being Italian, they were residing in Germany since 1973.
69		Dik Dik
70		Garybaldi
71		Gleemen
72		Circus 2000
73		Il Giro Strano
74		Delirium [ITA]
75		Il Sistema Historic, early recordings (1969-1971) from a band that featured future members of Museo Rosenbach and Celeste. None of this was released until the 1990s.
76		Picchio Dal Pozzo
77		Capsicum Red
78		Apoteosi
79		Mo.Do. [ITA]
80		Saint Just
81		Corte Dei Miracoli A wonderful duo-keyboard lead band, that brings to mind Banco, Le Orme, ELP, although with a spacy feel at times.
82		Horus
83		La Compagnia Digitale Another one of those million artists that Mellow Records unearthed. This one is a Celeste-related band since the former drummer was in this band. Very unlike Celeste, the music is said to sound just like Ozric Tentacles! Except one major thing: this was recorded in 1979, before the Ozrics even existed!  This recording never surfaced at the time, but it did in 1992, when Mellow Records finally unearthed it.
84		Asgard
85		Abiogenesi
86		Alphataurus
87		Maxophone
88		Gli Alluminogeni
89		Nova This was the band Corrado Rustici went to after Cervello, and before coming to America and being a side-musician for some really lame, but MTV-friendly acts.
90		Nomadi
91		I Giganti
92		Samadhi
93		I Pooh
94		Luciano Basso
95		Festa Mobile
96		Nuova Idea
97		Alan Sorrenti
98		A Piedi Nudi
99		Enzo Capuano
100		E. A. Poe
101		Dedalus

102		Napoli Centrale
103		Elektriktus Electronic act that no one even knows who was involved or even their origins, but they did record for the Italian PDU label (who issued many German acts there like Ash Ra Tempel). Not sure if they should be on this list because so little is known about them.
104		Castello di Atlante
105		Il Baricentro
106		Calliope
107		Maad
108		Jester's Joke
109		Procession [ITA]

I don't want to offence anyone, but the right starting point is always important. I was lucky, one of the first Italian prog albums I heard was Banco debut album and it really blew me away. If I started from, for example, Gli Alluminogeni or Circus 2000, I don't think I was so impressed.

And MATIA BAZAR "Tango" is a good pop album, the song "Vacanze Romane" is a hit for all times, but it has nothing common with prog.

 

But for those, who are familiar with key Italian albums and want more, the list, no doubts, is helpful.

Glad you like it.

 

Great !

But I would add Opus Avantra, Sangiuliano, Pierrot Lunaire on this list. They are very popular in Japan since late 70s' Italian prog reissue movement.

 

Though these artists may not be for newbies, I think Tito Schipa Jr., Riccardo Cocciante, La Bottega Dell'arte, Il Giardino Dei Semplici, Quasar Lux Symphoniae, Eris Pluvia, Malleus, Ossi Duri etc have released excellent albums.

 

Most of it you will find surprisingly available  

anyway i love your lists and i love Itaian Prog, thanks ANDREW

 

P.S. De De Lind´s - Io Non So Da Dove Vengo

      J.E.T- Fade Speranza Carita

      I Giganti - Terra in Bocca  

 

I love them all