The Italian Prog Appreciation den

Studio Album, 1972
 

Review by Guldbamsen
Collaborator Progressive Electronic Team

Our dear pomodoro pusher Jim recommended me this obscure record a little while back, seeing as I have a serious fondness of the more jagged edged, loose and experimental RPI. So thank you very much my friend! This has been a wonderful ride, and just like you said in the opening line of your review, the cover art truly reflects the music inside...

I must admit I laughed out loud, when I read that these guys previously to recording this sole album of theirs, worked as the local cruise ship band entertaining aboard the Flavia Costa in Caribbean waters. Trust me, if you've heard this album you'd be chuckling as well. I guess being a band that lives off crowd suggestions does rub off in terms of diversity and chops, because Tutto Deve Finire is anything but one track minded, conform and droning. It is above all an eclectic mix of fusion, RPI, folk and the odd avant guarde traces.

I hear a lot of differentiating moods in this offering. Sometimes I get pictures of an Italian burial cortege during the sloppy(and here I am using the word in the most redeeming way conceivable, because I just love how it sounds) and slowly moving bursts of organ and sax that occasionally come to the fore, - but the triumphing and most conspicuous mood of the day, the one that shines the brightest inside Tutto Deve Finire, is the feeling of sorcery. Either emanating from the skewed and blurry saxophone or the coughing stuttering rocking sections, which just so happens remind me of riding horses into the night blindfolded and ecstatic, - the essence of magic, the realization of something airy and intangible, that certain mystical flavour is all over the release.

This particular brand of fusion is one that I find extremely engaging. It's unlike anything you'd find in Italy around the same time. Whereas Arti e Mestieri, Etna and Perigeo all were caught up in the melodic and symphonic aspects of the Italian scene, La Seconda Genesi sound altogether more wild and reckless. Yes there are heaps of melodies inside this album too, often in form of some charismatic vocals and the underlying organ sweeps, but a large portion of this album comes out swinging like a deranged heavyweight boxer after a bottle of red wine. Maniacal saxophone and flute bits weaving wildly about in great big gulps of mildly avant guardistic musical flows. The music turns sloppy and heavy, shifting away from the melodically enhanced gentler sections - creating a beautiful counter-pointing effect that sweetens and highlights both of these contrasting elements to the fullest.

The cruise ship gene is certainly here as well, as you will be guided in between furious rampaging drums and guitar lead hard rock pieces, only to wind up in a classically inspired acoustic guitar interlude. All of this happens without warning, but that is part of what makes this album work so incredibly well. This band is able to pull off something that is very difficult, which is making chaos and harmony flow together as one - yet without any natural build ups or bridges. Come to think of it, this kind of music works much in the same manner and under the same sort of premises as Gentle Giant does. It's music that successfully merges bits and pieces of irregular sizes and shapes - creating a delightful multicoloured cockentrice of sound.

If you can imagine a musical cyborg created by leftovers from Premiata Forneria Marconi, Exmagma, Stormy Six and Il Volo, then this one is for you matey! I for one would have loved to have experienced these guys kicking ass down in the Caribbean seas - playing this album in its entirety in front of what must've been a completely dumbstruck pensioner crowd.