All Prog From Italy Appreciation Thread

Andrea!  

DVD/Video, 2007
3.00 | 1 ratings
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Anthology Live - Due salti nel passato
Jumbo Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by andrea
Prog Reviewer

— First review of this album —

This DVD features a short documentary about the history of the band. Alvaro Fella, Daniele Bianchini and Aldo Gargano talk about the beginnings of “Jumbo’s adventure” and the Italian prog rock scene of the early seventies while some excerpts from “DNA” and “Vietato ai minori di 18 anni?” are in the background (the dialogs are in Italian with English subtitles). You can see also many old pictures that can give you an idea of the “halcyon days” of the band. An unplugged version of “La strada porta al fiume”, from Jumbo’s debut album closes the first part of the DVD.

The second part features some live excerpts from a concert in 1995. Many tracks are taken from the most recent albums (“Folle corsa”, “La mia vita”, “Bella & finta”, “Metropolis” and “Lakota”). Nothing special indeed, although the final track, a long and original version of “Suite per il sig. K.” is absolutely worth listen to.

The DVD ends with some short excerpts from a live performance in Paris in 1990. The Paris concert should be released on a future DVD although the quality of the videos taken from that show that you can see here are very far from perfect...

The booklet and the packaging are poor: no photographs and the biography of the band by Augusto Croce is taken from Italianprog.com website... So, on the whole I found this DVD interesting but a little bit disappointing.

Report this review (#207097) | Posted Saturday, March 14, 2009, 11:23 EST
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Studio Album, 1973
4.21 | 24 ratings
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Review by andrea
Prog Reviewer

“Diario di viaggio della Festa Mobile” is a concept album where the band describe with music and words the experience of a company of comedians returning home after the celebrations in honour of the new king of a far (imaginary) country, Hon. The opener “La corte di Hon” (Hon’s court) is introduced by a dizzy piano pattern, then a frenzy rhythm section and vocals come in... Lyrics depict the atmosphere of false joy put up by the oppressive power of the new king... “Hon’s celebration lasts hundred days / For hundred days the sun won’t set / Hon sits on his throne / The moving feast lives on / It seems a celebration of love / But it’s just a false mask... Peace seems to rule / But it’s war that rules... It seemed a celebration of love / But it was a celebration of death...”

On the second track “Canto” (Song), the comedians end their performance in honour of Hon singing a song inspired by their extraordinary travelling experience and by the contrast between an ideal world full of love and peace and the cruel reality... “I sing the colours of time and the rhythm of the wind / That are living in me... I sing the story of happy people living into ingenuity... I sing the future I dream / A new day that’s lost and will never come...”. The rhythm is complex and fiery while vocals depict a dream that turns to nightmare...

On the third track “Aristea” the mood is more relaxed, almost mystic. After the celebration, our “heros” are on the way home. They stop to rest in a mysterious abbey where the great priestess Aristea silently looks at their hands and reveals them a prophecy... “You will go there / Where the sun doesn’t shine / Where men do not know happiness...”. So, they become aware that freedom is in danger even in their homeland. Well, you can feel almost a sense of impending doom at the end of the track when a “nervous” rhythm section comes in...

The fourth track is about despair and mercy. “Ljalja” tells about the meeting with a young girl crying in a country ravaged by war. She was still clasping her dead son in her hands, she was a still baby but without a future... “Then slowly she smiled / She couldn’t speak anymore”.

The long and complex last track “Ritorno” tells about the comeback and the fear that what the protagonists have seen during their journey could happen in their homeland too... It’s like a wake up with a nightmare still hanging on: “We were travelling back to home / And the souvenirs in our minds seemed made of stone / Red stone because of the innocent’s blood / People who died in the name of their truth / Martyrs of Hon and of the dream of a new reality / Under a different sky we’re looking again at home... Where sooner or later Hon will come / With the rules of the strongest”.

The music is excellent and the lyrics are poetical and committed. On the whole I think that this album should find a place in every Italian prog lover collection...

1. Quella Vecchia Locanda – "Il Tempo Della Gioia" 

The heart and soul of romantic Italian, heavily classical with great piano and violin.  Very beautiful music… creative songwriting fusing the rock, classical, and jazz genres; immaculate production with great attention to recording details; exceptional use of violins, flutes, and other classical elements; warm and passionate Italian vocals; and perhaps most importantly an unabashed willingness to project a most romantic style of music.  Don't miss their first album either.

2. Balletto di Bronzi – "YS"

On most Italian top 10 lists, complex and keyboard heavy, on the dark and challenging side.  A phenomenal achievement in mood.  While noted as one of the finest keyboard albums bar none, the other players are equally top notch.  BdB is still  active and performing material from this period, be sure to check out their live DVD as well as this classic.

3. Cervello – "..Melos.."

So awesome, but from the "difficult" branch.  Heavy, sometimes harsh, always playful and wild.  From the darker side, would appeal to VDGG fans.  The musical approach and the sound are very sophisticated and unique. A combination of primarily guitars, flutes and saxes are tightly woven into a very dense, often dark, unsettling, and just plain eerie feel. Some sources say there are no (or very little) keyboards used to create this sound palette which is certainly unusual. Sometimes I think I hear some but I can't be sure the way the other instruments are employed. It took me many plays to really get past the rather exhausting outer shell and discover the melodies hiding inside…

4. Jacula – "Tardo Pede In Magiam Versus"

A masterpiece.  An absolutely out-of-this-world experience that contrasts pure beauty with nightmarish dreamscapes.  Classic cathedral organs, ethereal vocals, ritual chants, strange effects, a recital of the bizarre.  For the open-minded listeners only, this is not rock and roll.  See my full review, one of my favorite albums.

5. Giganti – "Terra in Boca"

this album is not as outwardly "weird and wild" as some of the 73-74 period albums would become, and there are not long extended instrumentals.  But it is no less rewarding.  The music rests on a bed of emotional, spicy piano playing and soft mellotron.  The acoustic guitars are crisp and vibrant, played with a bold passion while electric leads have a gritty yet reserved bite, a compressed distortion.  While not a consistently hard rock album they certainly dig in their heels in a few places.  Occasionally flutes add a nice touch to the edges.  But the real magic of Terra rests in the songwriting, the arrangements, and especially in the vocals.  These guys can sing and harmonize very well, it is pure joy to listen to their dramatic emotional delivery throughout. 

6. Rovescio Della Medaglia – "Contaminazione"

sometimes cited as one of the best, perhaps *the* best example of classical music with progressive rock. The stunning baroque arrangements are seamlessly tied to the RDM sound and are amazingly natural and unforced.

7. Panna Fredda – "Uno"

"Uno" is a dark and mysterious treat bringing to my mind elements of Sabbath, Purple, Atomic Rooster, J.E.T., Hero, and Uriah Heep.  Others have noted the nod to a track called "Heaven" from the first Gracious album and also Black Widow.  The influence of English hard rock and blues-rock are impossible to deny, yet Panna Fredda were beginning the Italian progressive movement by taking those influences and running with them.  Classical elements pervade the album along with some jazzy tidbits here and there.  A certain Baroque sounds creeps along the edges at times whimsical and at other times quite disturbing, bordering on madness.  The lyrics are equally dark and quite good, delving into "ancient folklore and classic literature traditions as well as popular culture" so noted in the CD booklet. 

8. Officina Meccanica – "La Follia ....del.... Mimo di Fuoco"

First, their sound was extremely provocative and daring, incorporating horns into the mix reminiscent of VDGG with even some lesser nods to funk and fusion. Second was their highly theatrical stage shows featuring a mime-faced lead vocalist pushing Ange-level expressiveness.  ..OM.. rest firmly in the more challenging bracket of Italian Prog.  While there are moments of great melodic beauty the main emphasis is on the edginess, tension, experimentalism and passion.  This band is every bit as important, every bit as wild as Semiramis, Balletto Di Bronzo, Osanna, or Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno in my view.    ....

9. Jumbo – "Vietato ai Minori"

Jumbo sounds like the Italian version of Ange! If you like Christian Decamps boisterous spirit and the bands rowdy theatrical sound you will love Jumbo. They are over-the-top sometimes but this music is lively, fun, and interesting despite the somewhat dark lyrical content. A special mention goes to drummer Tullio Gianatello who is nothing short of fantastic.

10. Semiramis – "Dedicato a Frazz"