A journey through the Italianprog scene

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   A WINTER TALE

Arpia are an Italian prog band from Rome that have been active since 1984. The present line up features multi instrumentalist and composer Leonardo Bonetti (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass and keyboards), Paola Feraiorni (vocals), Fabio Brait (acoustic guitar) and Aldo Orazi (drums). Racconto d'inverno (A Winter Story) is their third album and it seems to mark a change in the musical direction of the band. It is conceived as a long acoustic suite where melancholic musical landscapes are drawn by male and female vocals... 

The rhythm section is never invasive, acoustic guitars are omnipresent, there are not spectacular solos but the music perfectly fits the mood of the lyrics and flows away describing with notes what Leonardo Bonetti described with words. In fact “Racconto d’inverno” is not only a musical work but also a novel. They’re like two faces of the same coin. It’s very difficult to appreciate the mood and the atmosphere of this album without knowing what it’s about. The main sources of inspiration for this opera were Stalker, a 1979 science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and “Racconto d’autunno” (An Autumn Story), a novel by the Italian writer Tommaso Landolfi (1908-1979)...  

Well, cine-concerto plus readings!

According to Leonardo Bonetti it was impossible for him just to put in music and words the work of Landolfi and he decided to write his own novel to shape his feelings in a better way. The result in my opinion is very good and I enjoyed both book and music. The plot is settled somewhere in the mountains of Northern Italy, not far from a border, during the period 1943-1945. After the Italian army disbanded, Northern Italy was poisoned by the conflicts between Nazi-fascists and bands of partisans... “Crime and Pride / Our lady the Black Death / Is marching without pain...”. Desperation, death and hunger are the background for this work that tells the story of a desperate man, running away from this gloomy country looking for an escape. The fugitive arrives in a tumbling down villa built upon the ruins of an ancient abbey, a kind of labyrinth haunted by a strange presence... A man tries to help him to cross the border but they are trapped in winter weather and have to come back to the villa. Here dreams and reality melt while hope and love come out under the shadows of an impending death. The titles of the tracks are just like the titles of the chapters of a book. The tracks are not separate entities but movements of a long suite while lyrics recall the story narrated by the book evoking images and feelings. The contrast between male and female vocals is the strength of a bold and complex album with a peculiar “unplugged” rock sound. Then, on stage they alternate music and readings...

Well, quite different atmosphere if compared with Arpia’s previous album Terramare  from where is taken this other video, inspired by Monsieur Verdoux, a film directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1947 about the story of  an unemployed banker who becomes a serial killer... “If a single crime never pays / With nine killed wives you are a hero / Monsieur Verdoux!”

More info about the band:

Official Website: http://www.arpia.info/ARPIA/ENTER.html
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/arpia1
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=70282207124
Last.fm:  http://www.lastfm.it/music/Arpia

For more info about the book click HERE

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andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 01 2010 at 14:19
	A WINTER TALE Arpia are an Italian prog band from Rome that have been active since 1984. The present line up features multi instrumentalist and composer Leonardo Bonetti (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass and keyboards), Paola Feraiorni (vocals), Fabio Brait (acoustic guitar) and Aldo Orazi (drums). Racconto d'inverno (A Winter Story) is their third album and it seems to mark a change in the musical direction of the band. It is conceived as a long acoustic suite where melancholic musical landscapes are drawn by male and female vocals... The rhythm section is never invasive, acoustic guitars are omnipresent, there are not spectacular solos but the music perfectly fits the mood of the lyrics and flows away describing with notes what Leonardo Bonetti described with words. In fact “Racconto d’inverno” is not only a musical work but also a novel. They’re like two faces of the same coin. It’s very difficult to appreciate the mood and the atmosphere of this album without knowing what it’s about. The main sources of inspiration for this opera were Stalker, a 1979 science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and “Racconto d’autunno” (An Autumn Story), a novel by the Italian writer Tommaso Landolfi (1908-1979)... Well, cine-concerto plus readings! According to Leonardo Bonetti it was impossible for him just to put in music and words the work of Landolfi and he decided to write his own novel to shape his feelings in a better way. The result in my opinion is very good and I enjoyed both book and music. The plot is settled somewhere in the mountains of Northern Italy, not far from a border, during the period 1943-1945. After the Italian army disbanded, Northern Italy was poisoned by the conflicts between Nazi-fascists and bands of partisans... “Crime and Pride / Our lady the Black Death / Is marching without pain...”. Desperation, death and hunger are the background for this work that tells the story of a desperate man, running away from this gloomy country looking for an escape. The fugitive arrives in a tumbling down villa built upon the ruins of an ancient abbey, a kind of labyrinth haunted by a strange presence... A man tries to help him to cross the border but they are trapped in winter weather and have to come back to the villa. Here dreams and reality melt while hope and love come out under the shadows of an impending death. The titles of the tracks are just like the titles of the chapters of a book. The tracks are not separate entities but movements of a long suite while lyrics recall the story narrated by the book evoking images and feelings. The contrast between male and female vocals is the strength of a bold and complex album with a peculiar “unplugged” rock sound. Then, on stage they alternate music and readings... Well, quite different atmosphere if compared with Arpia’s previous album Terramare from where is taken this other video, inspired by Monsieur Verdoux, a film directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1947 about the story of an unemployed banker who becomes a serial killer... “If a single crime never pays / With nine killed wives you are a hero / Monsieur Verdoux!” More info about the band: Official Website: http://www.arpia.info/ARPIA/ENTER.html MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/arpia1 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=70282207124 Last.fm: http://www.lastfm.it/music/Arpia For more info about the book click HERE

Finnforest Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 03 2007 Location: The Heartland Status: Offline Points: 16913	Post Options Post Reply Quote Finnforest Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 01 2010 at 18:04
	Bravo! Arpia's album was one of my top 5 picks for the Collab poll. Amazing album.

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 02 2010 at 15:23
	A PRESENT FOR CLASSICAL GUITAR LOVERS... Do you like classical guitar? Well, then you have to listen to this guitarist from Genova... MAURIZIO ODDONE is an experienced guitarist that arranged for solo classical guitar some rock-prog favourites like “Stairway to Heaven” and “From The Beginning” ... You can legally download for free his album White Lilium just clicking HERE More info about the artist: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mauriziooddone Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maurizio-Oddone-Chitarrista-Compositore/197020792982 Edited by andrea - December 28 2010 at 08:31

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 04 2010 at 08:29
	A NEW PROG-PROJECT FROM PADOVA LAATIA is a psychedelic/space project from PADOVA featuring drummer Enrico Pintonello and multi instrumentalist Marco Martin. In 2009 they released their first demo that you can check just clicking HERE. More info: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/laatia Well, Enrico Pintonello (MySpace - Facebook) plays also with APHELION, a “prog/fusion” band based in the near city of Treviso that in 2008 released a debut album for Lizard Records called Franticode, mixed by DEREK SHERINIAN... More info: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/aphelionspace

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 04 2010 at 14:55
	MURPLE LIVE On March the 21^st 2010 MURPLE will play live in Rome (Free entrance!) More info: http://www.crossroadsliveclub.com/ The band will perform pieces from their debut album, Io Sono Murple and from their last one, Quadri di un'esposizione. Murple was one of the many “one-shot bands” of Italian prog scene of the early seventies. After the release of their very good debut album in 1974, they disappeared... “Io sono Murple” is a concept album featuring two long suites, about the feelings of a penguin compelled “to bow and act as a juggler”, “like a reed bowed by the wind”, “among the threads” of “a world of dwarfs and clowns” that “penetrates into your bones promising to be faithful without knowing any faith”… Well, I quoted part of the lyrics trying to explain the subject with words while the wonderful album cover try to explain it with images… Now all that you have to do is close your eyes and listen to, because if the subject is rather strange the music is excellent… In 2007 three of the original members, Per Carlo Zanco (vocal, piano, keyboards), Duilio Sorrenti (drums, percussion) and Mario Garbarino (bass) reformed the band and, with the help of some guest musician like Sabina Gagliardi (vocals) and Edoardo Massimi (guitar), recorded a brand new album that was released by the independent label Btf in 2008. The album came out with a good packaging and an interesting booklet where you can find the explanation of the “conceptual work“... In 1874 took place in St. Petersburg an exhibition dedicated to the work of the Russian painter Victor Alexandrovich Hartmann. Modest Mussorgsky, who was a friend of the painter, composed his piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” on the emotional wave that was provoked by the paintings... Well, Murple’s work is not a rock interpretation of Mussorgsky music (like EL&P’s one), but an original work inspired by the same paintings. On the booklet you can find the images of the paintings with a short commentary, so you can match music and images and have a “promenade” through the tracks of the album. “Quadri di un’esposizione” is a good work, although not outstanding. Sometimes vintage and modern sounds are mixed together a little bit clumsily, but the music flows away smoothly enough, track after track, during its less than 34 minutes length... The first painting, “Promenade & Gnomus”, represents a wicked dwarf wondering in a forest and a sound of spacey keyboards introduces a beautiful short symphonic track... “In the deepest dark of your wood / The meeting with that hidden being / Twisted limps spread fear...”. The second scene “Promenade & il vecchio castello” is settled in Italy where a troubadour sing his song before the walls of an old medieval castle in a sad landscape... The dreamy and baroque atmosphere is enriched by female vocals and by a good instrumental break in “Seventies style”... The third scene “Tuileries” is settled in Paris where some happy children play in a garden while the music is a short and joyful instrumental led by classical guitar and piano... The fourth painting, “Bydlo”, represents an heavy Polish chariot towed by oxen and here the music curiously swings from vintage sounds to definitely more “synthetic atmospheres”... The fifth painting, “Il ballo dei pulcini”, represents some dancers disguised as chicks coming out from the eggs, while the music reminds me slightly of some works of Rondò Veneziano and Lucio Battisti. Next paintings “Samuel Goldenberg & Schmuyle” represent the meeting of two antithetic men and the music is built upon a “dialog” between piano and synthesizers. “Promenade & Limoges” represents a noisy scene in the market square of Limoges and here pop sounds are intertwined with a short drum solo and a “vintage organ flavour”... The eight scene, “Catacombae”, depicts a visit to the catacombs of Paris and the music features a church choir and a good gothic atmosphere... The ninth painting represents “Baba Yaga”, a bizarre witch, and the music inspired by this image in my opinion is by far the weakest track on the album, definitively too “poppish” (some melodic lines reminds me of a song of Zucchero, “Solo seduto sun panchina del porto...”). The last painting, “La grande porta di Kiev & Promenade”, represents a project for a gate in city of Kiev while the music reminds me of Le Orme’s “Verità nascoste” and features strings on a marching beat and a delicate piano outro... However, if you are in Rome in this period, don’t miss the concert! More info about the band: Official Website: http://www.murple.it/www.murple.it/index.html Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/MURPLE/203017700210?v=info Edited by andrea - March 04 2010 at 15:05

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 06 2010 at 11:08
	PSYCHEDELIA PADANA BABA JAGA are a psychedelic prog band from Suzzara, near Mantova After a demo (that you can legally download for free just clicking HERE), they have released a debut album, It's wonderful to stay sit. More info about the band: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/baba-jaga

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 07 2010 at 03:01
	THE TRAINS AT DAWN: VIDEO DESTROYERS I TRENI ALL'ALBA are prog band from the north western Italy that was formed between Aosta and Turin in 2002. The line up features Paolo Carlotto (acoustic and electric guitar), Daniele Pierini (acoustic and electric guitar), Sabino Pace (piano and keyboards) and Felice Sciscioli (drums and percussion). All the members are experienced musicians with different influences that managed to shape an amazing blend of folk and progressive rock. In 2008 they released their first full length album Folk Destroyers for the independent label Smartz Records. The album was recorded with the help of some guest musicians that contributed to enrich the sparkling sound of the band, with counter bass, flutes, sax, congas, trumpet, violin, accordion and many other musical colours. Some sources of inspiration could be find in the album “Anime salve” by Fabrizio De André, then you can find reminders of samba, tarantella, Ravel, Piazzolla, Le Orme and PFM... The single tracks have no titles but each track is described in the beautiful booklet by a drawing by Domenico Sorrenti (Official website). The music flows away like in a long suite where quiet acoustic and folkloric passages melt in fiery percussion rides and vice versa. Well, now you can listen to the music watching some videos shot by eight different “video-makers”... “Watch TV, buy, obey the authorities, do not think, do believe in the collective truth, no ideas, no imagination...” . The only vocal parts on this album are some ominous warnings freely taken from They Live, a 1988 film directed by John Carpenter where aliens rule on society and control humans through the TV broadcasts and mass media. Some words taken from a book by the Italian writer Stefano Benni that you can find on the booklet try to describe the right approach to this work: “We should always feel like we are leaving the next day, or like we have just got back. Everything becomes more precious: what we leave and what we find. To hear the tiny voice of hope , beyond the screams of pain. It could be interesting to come to a train station to find it... hope.”. The name of the band, I Treni All’Alba, means the trains at dawn... More info about the band: Official website: http://www.itreniallalba.com/ MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/itreniallalba Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Treni-AllAlba/40720258789 Smartz Records: Official website: http://www.smartzrecords.org/dblog/storico.asp MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/smartzrecords Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smartz-Records/151114943187 Edited by andrea - December 28 2010 at 08:37

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 09 2010 at 12:08
	A MUSICAL WITH A STRONG MEDITERRANEAN FLAVOUR BIZANTINA come from Firenze and have been active since 1996. Their repertoire features original tracks and traditional songs from the Mediterranean area re-arranged by the band... Their last work is a musical called Orlando tarantato, inspired by the “PUPI SICILIANI” More info: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bizantinaethnic Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bizantina/56791141418 Official website: http://www.bizantina.it/index.php Edited by andrea - December 28 2010 at 08:32

Nightfly Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659	Post Options Post Reply Quote Nightfly Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 09 2010 at 13:36
	Thanks Andrea, I've forgotten to look in this thread for a while being off the beaten track so to speak but there's always something fascinating to discover. I'll try to check in here more often.

Finnforest Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 03 2007 Location: The Heartland Status: Offline Points: 16913	Post Options Post Reply Quote Finnforest Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 09 2010 at 14:31
	Indeed. Keep it up Andrea.

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 10 2010 at 06:09
	PROG FUSION FROM BOLOGNA ALMA ENSAMBLE are an experimental project based in Bologna, led by drummer Alessandro Tozzi and keyboardist Marco Belluzzi, that should be of interest for jazz/rock and fusion-prog lovers ALMA ENSEMBLE’s MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/almaensemble On stage the line up features guitarist Daniele Faraotti, leader of the DANIELE FARAOTTI BAND... More info about DANIELE FARAOTTI BAND: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/danielefaraottiband Official website: http://danielefaraotti.com/ Edited by andrea - March 10 2010 at 06:20

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 12 2010 at 02:10
	PROG FROM THE ALPS... KING SUFFY GENERATOR are a young psychedelic prog band from Domodossola... Their first full length album, 60 Minutes Circle, can be legally downloaded for free from their official website; just click HERE If you want to listen to their first EP, Psychosurf, click HERE More info about the band: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kingsuffygenerator Official website: http://kingsuffygenerator.com/ Edited by andrea - December 28 2010 at 08:33

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 15 2010 at 06:47
	ANOTHER REUNION... RANE CONCAVE are one of the many prog bands that were formed in Rome during the seventies and then disappeared... They never had the chance to record an album, but 34 years after their split up RANE CONCAVE are back on stage and they’re working on new tracks! For samples and more info about the band: http://www.myspace.com/raneconcave

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 16 2010 at 05:26
	NEW EXPLORATIONS OF THE PAST... Procession are an Italian prog band from Turin that was formed in 1972. In 2006 founder member and guitarist Roby Munciguerra reformed the band with a new line up to perform on stage the old repertoire with new arrangements. They recorded also a new album Esplorare featuring old stuff rearranged and a new track... On their debut album, “Frontiera” the line up featured Gianfranco Gaza (vocals, harmonica), Angelo Girardi (bass, electric mandolin), Marcello Capra (electric and acoustic guitar), Giancarlo Capello (drums, percussion) and Roby Munciguerra (electric and acoustic guitar). The album was recorded in a week in Rome for the Help label. The music alternates hard and raw passages with electric guitars in the forefront to delicate and reflexive atmospheres where acoustic passages prevail. It’s a concept album that deals with the problem of immigration from Southern Italy to the North and its industrialized cities like Turin or Milan. Lyrics were signed by Marina Comin, the same lyricist as Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno’s Per... Un Mondo Di Cristallo. The opener “Ancora una notte” (One more night) opens with an acoustic guitar arpeggio, then the electric guitar and the rhythm section bring in a dark sense of impending change. Lyrics describe the last night of an immigrant before leaving his native village for the big city and an uncertain destiny... “One more night and the train will set off / But in this last night I can’t sleep / I’ve waited too long for this day / Now I’m scared / I fear that my life could end there...”. The body is going to leave but the roots are not broken yet and this contrast is underlined by the music. “Uomini e illusioni” (Men and illusions) starts with a fiery electric tarantella (that could remind of PFM’s “E’ festa”). Lyrics describe the train carrying its burden of men and illusions while running through Italy, from South to North, men who feel strangers in their own Homeland... “I will have to live my life / Like a clown compelled to smile / Even when his son is dying / I can’t show any pain...”. “Città grande” (Big city) opens with a delicate acoustic arpeggio, music and lyrics describe the arrival in the big city and the feeling of pain for family and home left behind, the struggle for a job, then the feeling of hope for a better world and society where people can survive without leaving home... “Big city I’m here... I left my mother, my girlfriend and perhaps my joy to live / But hope makes me go on / And I will live of hope...”. “Incontro” (Meeting) is a joyful ballad featuring strummed acoustic guitar and flute. Music and lyrics describe the meeting between the protagonist and a boy about twenty years old. The boy talks about friendship, love, freedom and equality... “We’re all alike / You can find thousand friends / If you look for them with your heart / There are no limits / If you live into love...”. “Anche io sono un uomo” (I’m a man as well) is a delicate and melancholic track about equality and awareness. The protagonist thanks the boy for the new hope but then awareness that not everyone thinks in the same way rises... “How many people treat me like a man and don’t judge me? / How many people did understand that I’m a man like you?”. The long and complex “Un mondo di libertà” (A world of freedom) is more aggressive. It starts softly but then fiery electric guitars start storming enraged notes. Then vocals come in and tension slackens... “You have lost your freedom / But I’m not speaking with you just because of pity / There’s a whole world around you that loves you like me / It’s true that everyone here minds just to his own business / But you are a man and you’ll find your way...”. Lyrics are a kind of preach against resignation, all in all every place is the same and life is not so bad... “Solo 1” (Alone) begins as an electric rock and roll... “Alone again, alone again in the big city / You look around you / Trying to understand where to go...”. Then rock and roll melts in something very different and moody... “Un ombra che vaga” (A wondering shadow) begins with hard guitar riffs shaping a troubled and desperate mood... Then comes a sudden change of atmosphere and acoustic guitar and vocals describe what seems to be just a wondering shadow, a living ghost... “Your future life is like a dark shadow / You see your hopes into the eyes of the night / Houses seem big but they are colourless / You would like to be at home / But you can’t come back....”. Then, on “Solo 2” rock and roll and loneliness are back for another desperate ride in the big city... “Alone again, alone again in the big city / You look around you / Trying to understand where to go...”. Hopes and disappointments, rage and love, friendship and loneliness, hard rock and acoustic passages... On the whole a very good album with good ideas and some ingenuities. After the debut album “Frontiera” released in 1972, Procession released their second album for the record label Fonit Cetra in 1974 with a different line up festuring original members Gianfranco Gaza (vocals) and Roby Munciguerra (guitars) plus Maurizio Gianotti (sax, flute) and Paolo D’Angelo (bass). In studio they were helped by some guests musicians like drummer Francesco Froggio Francica (Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno), keyboardist Ettore Vigo (Delirium) and vocalist Silvana Aliotta (Circus 2000). The result was excellent. The overall sound is less raw and aggressive if compared with the previous album and dreamy acoustic atmospheres prevail while lyrics by Marina Comin perfectly fit the music blending dreams and reality. The opener “Uomini di vento” (Men of wind) starts with a rhythm percussion pattern, then electric guitar comes in... “The wind blows strongly by now / Men run away because they can’t stand it...”. Sax, flutes and vocals depict a world stormed by the wind where scared shadows are looking for a shelter. Reality and its hypocrisies are swept away... “Un mondo sprecato” (A wasted world) is more reflexive and darker and features good electric guitar and sax solos... “I wasted a world trying to understand / But I don’t know how to begin / Man, you look at me and you don’t understand / I used to live like you / A bitter life like many others / But I made up my mind and now I know / You’re laughing at a clown / That has stopped playing with the wind by now... You are laughing without asking yourself what this tale could mean...”. On the long and complex “C’era una volta” (Once upon a time) the band try to explore the “dark side of the moon” and sax and vocals every now and again run after Pink Floyd’s shadows... Lyrics are about a quest for true life: a child set off looking for the sense of life and when he thinks to have found it he realizes that he’s old by now and that he has wasted his time... “Notturno” begins softly, with acoustic guitar and flute drawing a strange and unquiet dreamy atmosphere... “A boat sails lightly on the see / There’s a man on the edge / And the breeze wets his face / And the night gets darker / The man seems looking for life / But what is he looking for? He’s not a fisherman... And the sea gets darker and darker / And the man leaves the edge / Now the boat is lighter...”. “Il volo della paura” (The flight of fear) is another beautiful dreamy track. Lyrics depict a flock of seagulls that darken the sky. When they land all together the earth is shaken. Men that can’t fly are scared and remain on their shaken world where there’s only a wall left, so hard to climb... Just thousand wings and so much fear! The final title track “Fiaba” (Fairy tale) describes a village on top of a hill where live people refusing the rules of the world and enjoy their peace... I think that the inlay painting featuring classical and rock musicians climbing the hill describes this track better than words... More info about the band: MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/processionroby Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Procession/36832029350

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 17 2010 at 08:07
	PROCESSION’s former guitarist MARCELLO CAPRA is still active too as a solo artist. He has just released a new album for Electromantic, Preludio ad una nuova alba More info: Official website: http://www.marcellocapra.com/ MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/marcellocapra Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marcello-Capra/50443771663#!

Todd Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator RPI / Heavy Prog Team Joined: December 19 2007 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 3472	Post Options Post Reply Quote Todd Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 17 2010 at 11:57
	Andrea, I really loved your insights into Procession, one of my favorite bands. Your comments inspired me to listen to the albums again! Grazie! And Capra sounds like interesting guitar music.
	"I have seen the broken sky turn blue." My Gnosis Ratings

AtomicCrimsonRush Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 02 2008 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 14258	Post Options Post Reply Quote AtomicCrimsonRush Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 18 2010 at 05:40
	I could spend all day in this thread alone. You should put this entry on Wikipedia! Certainly comprehensive and incredible report on Italian Prog Scene.


Nightfly Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: August 01 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3659	Post Options Post Reply Quote Nightfly Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 18 2010 at 12:03
	Thanks Andrea, I'm looking forward to checking out Procession.....when my Maxophone cd has finished playing.

andrea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: May 20 2005 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 2064	Post Options Post Reply Quote andrea Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 18 2010 at 16:41
	PROG IN CLASSICS! MARCO LO MUSCIO is a classical organist and pianist from Rome with a strong passion for prog... He has re-arranged and interpreted some prog classics for organ and piano solo... He recorded some albums featuring original tracks that should be of some interest for prog lovers. His last album “The Book Of Bilbo And Gandalf” features some guest stars like Steve Hackett, John Hackett and Pär Lind... More info: Official website: http://www.marcolomuscio.com/ MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/marcolomuscio Edited by andrea - December 28 2010 at 08:35

AtomicCrimsonRush Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 02 2008 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 14258	Post Options Post Reply Quote AtomicCrimsonRush Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 18 2010 at 23:15
	Okay all bets are off... this is the place to come to discover new Italian Prog - thanks Andrea!