All Prog From Italy Appreciation Thread

Once while surfing the net I came across an Italian website dedicated to prog rock. There was an album high up at number 7 on it's list of 20 best Italian prog albums that I had never heard of... a quick topic search found a grand total of zero threads dedicated to the album so I got intrigued. So I threw caution to the wind and got a copy of this album. Wow! what an album. Fans of guitar driven prog like Osanna or groups like Quella Vecchia Locanda will LOVE this album.

First off some research... De De Lind was named for a Playboy model of the 1960's. Naturally my curiousity was aroused so I googled the name and found some ..inspiring pictures of her.. rather inspiring hahah. Unfortunately.. as so often happens De De Lind was a one and done group. However as many did do.. they came in and left with a bang. Very surprised.. like I was the RRR album that this album is not more popular. Part of that may be that the album is placed in Art-Rock. The music has nice symphonic touches, which is more than some that are and have been in symphonic have.. but that is a matter for the forums not the review. Don't be mistaken by the Art-Rock moniker. This is a great statement in Rock progressivo italiano that upon first listen.. as well as subsequent listens.. is worthy of such a high ranking on that website. The album title.. abbreviated for space constraints on the page is ' Io Non So Da Dove Vengo e Non So Dove Mai Andrò, Uomo e' il Nome Che Mi han Dato' quite a mouthful of course which translates roughly to 'I Do not know From Where I come and I do not know Where Never I will go, Man is the Name That I've been given' Yeah we do love prog don't we. As far as the album itself... great stuff in the QVL vein. Lots of great flute and guitar, though not much of anything in the way of keyboards here, other than some piano in places way in the mix, good reason... there is no keyboardist in the band which was not exactly commen in prog those days. As far as the album itself...

The Album kicks off with Fuga E Marte and something a bit unexpected.. a kettle drum intro which is joined by the accoustic and wah guitars. After a nice little intro the drums herald a upbeat bass and guitar melody which give way after a bit to the enterance of vocalist Vito Paradiso. I love his vocal style.. more on that as we go through the album.. here he has a urgent very masculine quality to it. A sudden tempo and stylistic shift brings us a lovely clean flute melody in conjunction with some accoustic guitar.

The next song Indietro nel Tempo starts with a flute and accoustic melody which is slowly drowned by by the first apperence of a recurruinrg dramitic musical 4 chord musical theme highlited by some bouncy bass playing and great wah guitar. Trama's blazing saxophone runs enter out of nowhere after several times through the theme. Paradiso enters along with a change in rhythm that can be best described as bouncey and his vocals lines match it perfectly.. his delivery is letter perfect at this point. Great guitar riffs abound in this song. Sounds very good turned up to 11 on the stereo. A reprise of the theme takes us right into Paura del Niente with some nice accostic playing. Paradiso enters with some plantively spoken vocals that while nice aren't as effective as when he lets it rip. A nice Tull inspired flute/guitar section follows the 4th verse. The song really gains character with a solo bass line that with each repeated play gains both tempo and limber. The drums come in and are followed by a nice guitar solo. The kettle drums signal the end of that and the begining of a nice and rather flighty flute solo. A very nice track.. interesting arangement on it.

Next comes what must be considered the centerpiece of the album. Smarrimento begins with a strident militant line done Ian Anderson style. This line quickly turns quieter and more reflective with a nice clean sounding flute section.. however something is coming.. the pace pice up.. the tension builds...you hear the memacing guitar chords warning you that something is coming until .....release... the e-guitar and flute explode together which of course soon dies down into a acousitic guitar line repeated until Paradiso enters with pleasant plaintive vocals that work much better than they did on Paura del Niente. A great track and my favorite on the album.. great use of dynamics and tension.

Cimitero Di Guerra brings the kettle drums back punctuated by guitar power chords. Very nice intro. A rather hypnotic track due to the subdued flute, and accoustic guitar with some effective vocal delivery. The track ends with a reprise of the strident flute lines of the beginning of Smarrimento ..this time delivered by the flute and guitar. The next song Voglia De Revierre has a nice rather pleasing accoustic melody with the bass drum tempo shift into a reprise of the Indietro Nel Tempo theme with some stinging lead guitar work with some saxophone low in the mix. Very nice song. The album ends with E Poi with slashing guitars over strumming acocoustics with suddenly stop and leave us with Paradiso delivering a plainive verse before the slashing guitars come back and bring the song and album to conclusion.

Hard album to rate for the forum.. it's one of the better albums of Rock progressivo italiano that I've heard. Quality wise.. 5 stars easy. Is it essential to understanding prog or even Italian prog. No it's not.. but I strongly recommend you check this album out. You will like it, trust me on this. For myself.. 5 stars... for the forum at large 4 stars.

Michael (aka micky)

Hailing from Venetia, keyboard maestro Luciano Basso delivered one of the most beautiful prog albums from Italy ever- "Voci". This is, naturally, an album centered on his arsenal of grand piano, organ, harpsichord, mellotron and electric piano, although there is also room for important violin flourishes and guitar leads, as well as relevant manifestations of the rhythm duo's power. Basso's musical offering manages to be overwhelmingly Italian due to the abundant doses of Baroque, Manierism and Neoclassical textures that flow on and on in the basic melodies and their subsequent arranged developments. His style is related to those of the keyboardsmen from Le Orme, BMS and Latte e Miele: in turn, this cleverly affects the ensemble's sound as similar to the former ("Uomo di Pezza"-era) and latter aforesaid bands. The album's first half is based on a whole three-part opus, consisting of a prelude and two promenades. The 'Prelude' has a 7 ½ minute span, starting with stylish piano arpeggios and violin lines resting elegantly on mellotron layers. This serves as a scheme of a further exploration that takes place when the guitar, bass and drum kit join in. The second motif states a dynamic conclusion that I wish were a bit longer, but it's quite effective in its evolving ambience. 'Promenade I' finds Basso and friends displaying the early Le Orme similarities in full range, exploring the dynamics of the previous track's final minute with enthusiasm and richness: Basso's organ progressions lead the way for the whole band as a well-oiled symphonic machinery. The Baroque- infected harpsichord interlude is very much BMS, in my opinion. 'Promenade II' sort of combines the ceremonious majesty of 'Prelude' and the full frontal colorfulness of the first 'Promenade': as a result, the track's mood turns out to be serious and gray, yet with a playful twist that serves equally as a counterpart and a complement to the reflective trend of the serious passages. The inclusion of some occasional jazzy undertones helps the track to achieve interesting variations. The album's second half starts with the namesake track. 'Voci' is the longest track in the album. It heavily features the grand piano, which is basically elaborating a constant prologue that remains solidly stable on a floating atmosphere. The alternations between the extroverted and introverted passages are fluid, and that is largely due to the fact that the contrasts are not too pronounced. It is as if the voices mentioned in the title were perceived as waves and breezes by Basso, in this way determining the composition's overall statement. 'Echo' brings a much more elaborated dynamics, especially regarding the development of the main motifs and the sort of magnificent delivery that the band assumes as a guide: the motifs are distinct within the whole picture, with this same whole picture serving as the perfect scheme for the melodic variations. This one and the two Promenades reveal the most ambitious side of Basso as a composer: it is really convenient that 'Echo' should close down "Voci", so it could state a remarkable climax to the whole concept. All in all, "Voci" is an amazingly, captivatingly beautiful prog album that should not be missed by any real Italian prog lover or any symphonic prog fan at all.

— First review of this album —

For Italians and fans of Italian music, Lucio Battisti needs no introduction. One of the most genuinely innovative musicians of the past few decades, he is one of those artists who have left their indelible mark on the whole scene - even on bands or artists that apparently belong to a very different musical world. On the other hand, those who are mostly familiar with his late Sixties output will wonder what he is doing on a prog site, even in the Prog-Related section.

As a born-and-bred Italian, and someone who grew up with Lucio's music - I remember anxiously awaiting every one of his new releases when I was little more than a kid - I can safely state that there is much more to Battisti's output, spanning almost three decades, than the light-hearted, pop-beat songs included in his first couple of albums. Much like Fabrizio De André, though in a less socially and politically conscious way, he was a ground-breaking figure - for his musical intuition (he was the author of the music of all his songs), for the often provocative lyrics penned by his long-time partner Mogol (who also wrote the lyrics for PFM's "Per Un Amico"), even for his distinctive vocal style, so sharply at odds with the Italian tradition of 'bel canto'. Many of his songs were censored by the official radio stations because of their too-frank references to sex, and traditionalists hated his thin, somewhat strained, yet highly effective voice. Progressive? You bet - though not always in the fashion that the average visitor to this site might wish.

After years of flirting with the all-pervasive influence of progressive rock on the Italian music scene of the early Seventies (as shown by his third album, "Amore e non amore", recorded with the collaboration of most of the members of PFM), Battisti finally surrendered to the lure of the hottest trend of the day with his eight album, released at the tail end of 1974, when the prog movement was still in full bloom, though slowly heading for a decline. Though initially as successful in commercial terms as most of his previous releases, "Anima Latina" is not as firmly rooted in the collective musical memory of Italians as most of the latter are. In spite of Battisti's connections with prog, such as his collaboration with Formula 3, his fans saw him more as a purveyor of pop songs (though intelligent, sophisticated ones) than a genuinely progressive artist. Indeed, the longer-than-average running time of most of the songs on "Anima Latina", coupled with the complexity of the arrangements and the lack of instantly catchy hooks - as well as the often cryptic nature of the lyrics, a celebration of 'innocence and experience' touching on such typical Seventies topics as free love, nature worship and anti-imperialism - make the album a definitely tougher prospect for those looking for more conventional material.

As the title implies, the album's structure revolves around a variety of Latin musical influences, reinterpreted in a manner that relies heavily on a rich, diverse instrumentation, emotionally intense vocal arrangements, and unpredictable alternations of slower, atmospheric passages with livelier ones. Not surprisingly, percussion plays a leading role on "Anima Latina", with the contribution of no less than four percussionists (including Toni Esposito, known to RPI fans for his collaborations with Alan Sorrenti and Perigeo) . While, as is the case with most RPI classics, the centuries-long tradition of the Italian 'canzone' provides the underlying structure, the disc displays many of the standard features of concept albums, such as the lack of actual breaks between the songs, and the presence of recurring musical phrases and themes. The lush orchestration guarantees a sense of well-rounded fullness to those moments when a powerful sound is required, yet is equally able to create sparse, suspended moods which seem to perfectly complement Battisti's distinctive vocals - not beautiful in any conventional sense, but possessed of an expressive force comparable to De André's deep, world-weary drawl. On this album, Battisti delivers the thought-provoking lyrics (undisputedly among Mogol's best work) in tones that range from the barest whisper to clear, careful enunciation, moulding his voice around the music

Even more so than many so-called concept albums, "Anima Latina" is a strongly cohesive effort, in spite of being technically divided into 11 tracks. At every listen, it will be perceived as a whole, perfectly conceived and executed, never flagging in terms of overall quality. Extremely innovative in a musical sense, it feels nevertheless somewhat different from the output of the conventionally prog bands active at the time. In some ways, Battisti's compositional approach on this album is closer to what we see now in the 21st century - a successful collision of genuine experimentation and mainstream tendencies. From the airy, atmospheric opening of "Abbracciala, abbracciali, abbracciati", with its triumphant horn section and jazzy overtones, to the upbeat, dance-like rhythm of "Due mondi", in which Battisti duets with Mara Cubeddu (who had also guested on "Il nostro caro angelo"), "Anima Latina" immediately shows its intriguing, multi-faceted nature. Then, it gradually unfolds in all its unabashed eclecticism, a veritable pot-pourri of sounds and influences, shifting from the hypnotic, rarefied electronics of Anonimo" to the avant-garde leanings of the endearingly naïve double-entendre of "Il salame".

Following the two-part suite "Gli uomini celesti" (featuring some splendid percussion work, as well as an ironic reference to another Battisti composition, "I giardini di marzo") and a slowed-down reprise of "Due mondi", the title-track brings the album to its natural climax in a triumph of exhilaratingly intricate rhythm patterns and magnificent lyrics celebrating the beauty and strength of Latin America - as opposed to the sterile, mass-produced nature of the Anglo-American model of society. Finally, "Macchina del tempo" sums up the whole album, blending electronics and Latin rhythms, laid-back melodic lines and experimental dynamism in a heady brew, with a brief citation from the title-track at its very close.

If Lucio Battisti (just like Fabrizio De André) had been born in any English-speaking country, he would nowadays be hailed as one of the greatest artists of our time. Multilayered and sophisticated, "Anima Latina" is his undisputed masterpiece, and an indispensable listen for every fan of vintage Italian progressive rock - as well as a very rewarding one for lovers of great music, regardless of tags or classifications. Five well-deserved stars for yet another gem from the Italian Seventies.