The Italian Prog Appreciation den

How is it possible this band is so overlooked at a site full of RPI fans? This is a wonderful classic period RPI release which belongs in the collection of every RPI fan. Odissea from Biella are one of the many "one-shot" RPI bands who made up the amazingly deep bench of the early 70s Italian scene. There is very little biographical information out there but we do know the band played at the third Naples Festival, had a solid live activity, and even opened for Genesis and Banco. This makes sense as the band would seem to be influenced by those bands and also early Yes. There is also the wonderful Italian essence running through the album and I am reminded of other RPI on the softer side of things, of certain works by Battiato, Blocco Mentale, Franco Giannini, Mario Panseri, and Stefano Testa. Only occasionally are any of these comparisons relevant as Odissea has crafted their own sound, with themes both sad and uplifting, sometimes dramatic and often sentimental.

Unlike many RPI bands who favored a heavily keyboard-dominated sound, Odissea places the guitar work of Luigi Ferrari on at least equal billing. Ferrari sounds like a fan of Yes Album-era Steve Howe and supplies the album with almost equal amounts of excellent acoustic and electric guitar. Meanwhile Ennio Cinguino bathes the album in generous amounts of piano, organ, and mellotron. He shades the work from soft and atmospheric with the tron to occasional Banks-like moments not unlike the Foxtrot era sound. The lead vocal is handled with great vitality by Roberto Zola, whose raspy throat is often compared to Jumbo's Alvaro Fella. Vocally it is a fair comparison although the music is Odissea is not as wild as Jumbo. The rhythm section is also decent with the occasionally jazzy sections finding a driving bass reminiscent of Chris Squire.

I suppose most of the tracks could be called light symphonic with brief bits of folk or fusion incorporated, the songwriting always interesting and melodic. The playing is intelligent and often very beautiful without being overblown. There are many musical highlights but my favorite was the joyous "Domanda." It is not often I find myself compelled to type lyrics into Google Translator to find out what a song is about, but I had to do it here. The reason, a small child named Simona. The song is a dreamy blur of beautiful slide guitar over which Simona and Zola have a priceless exchange. While the translation I got was no doubt a clumsy one, as they always are, I was able to deduce that the child is asking Zola those universal questions little kids often ask, about God, the universe, where we come from. A song like this could be a disaster but here it works so very well. Charming and memorable, it's another of those RPI tracks where the voices of children are put to good use.

For many prog fans this might well be a 3-star "good" album but I have to give this one 4. I disagree with some of the opinions of this album, Scented Gardens in particular is brutal to Odissea. While it is not the most daring or brash of RPI albums, it is warm and lovely music that most RPI fans would really enjoy.

Una Volta Eravamo In Sette are from Forli Italy and formed in 2008. In 2010 they released their debut work 'La ballata del vecchio marinaio' which was inspired by the Coleridge poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.' The album was published as a download-only from the website Jamendo and you can listen to it by linking from their artist page. The album is an enchanting mix of classic 70s prog spirit in an updated package. A concept album where you can feel the connection to the seafaring adventures, the story is told in large part instrumentally but there are occasional vocals and narration. The overall vibe is a mellow, often minimalist symphonic prog with a nod to the 70s RPI, and significant helpings of dreamy, low-key psych. Occasional tinges of hard rock, folk, and jazz come and go.

Tracks are often sparse and built upon ghostly piano melodies and atmospheric synth-scapes. Leading over the top much of the time are gorgeous flute melodies, this album is something of a flute lover's dream. While there is a brief early Tull flirtation with flute against hard rock, more often this is dreamy, luxurious, wispy flute playing. Lovely. Against this we have economical electric guitar patterns, often thoughtful but laid back chord progressions contributing to the 'distant' feel, a longing. Sometimes the sound opens up with wailing electric leads, often spacey in a Grobschnitt way with nice juicy sound. Other times dry acoustic and classical guitars lead the way. But overall the sound palette plays to the water theme and the vibe is one of melancholy, fogginess, possibly drifting and being lost. A bit of an ache for a return to familiar things. The vocals are decent but again are not the most out-front feature, they often are soft and relaxing, only occasionally getting dramatic in volume. Bass playing and drumming are quite tasty indeed, as are all of the musicians here. I believe Floyd is likely an influence as well, specifically the dreamy and bucolic vibes of Wright and Gilmour.

This is an album which should please prog fans of many stripes and is a very promising debut. The music is very good. I'd be lying if I said a download was as satisfying to me as a physical CD release with nice artwork and packaging, but if you just want to hear some good music, check this out. Again, the band generously offer this for free so there is no reason not to have a listen and let them know what you think!

Edward Burke said "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it", but we don't understand this message, people try to find new and original stuff in contemporary artists, but refuse to take a look to the past and research the unknown bands who made music so original that would make some self proclaimed innovators sound like copyists just because they never discovered this hidden gems.

This is the case of BUON VECCHIO CHARLIE, a pre PFM Italian band who released a fantastic self titled album in 1972 (recorded in 1971) with probably the most original adaptation of a classic. As a fact, I heard at least 5 or 6 versions of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the "Peer Gynt Suite" released years after by iconic Prog bands, but none of them so delicate and original as the one from this forgotten gem.

Last week I found this LP gathering dust in a box inside my deposit and decided to give them a chance, and what a surprise, whoever believes that PFM or Banco del Mutuo Soccorso were the pioneers of Italian Symphonic are wrong, this modest band, was there when the genre was in diapers.

Unlike most Italian bands who followed, BUON VECCHIO CHARLIE don't limit themselves to beautiful melodies and ´pristine Symphonic songs, they dared to be different, yes, they take "In The Hall of the Mountain King" as the cornerstone of their album as many Symphonic groups did later, but they add so many different elements that would be hard to catalogue them in a determined genre.

The beautiful lyric sections morph in a matter of seconds to Jazzy passages, acoustic tracks and even rock hard when it's required, the distorted guitars go hand by hand with sweet clear acoustic guitar tunes, the pastoral flute coexists perfectly with the tortured Hammond organ and the jazzy Sax. This may sound as a mess, but the arrangements are so strong and crafted with such good taste, that one blends with the other, no matter how contradictory their nature may seem.

And if this wasn't enough, the beautiful lyrics in Italian, sung by the beautiful voice of Richard Benson with Sandro Centofanti making incredibly beautiful backing vocals, there's not a single unnecessary or missing elements, everything fits perfectly as a 10,000 pieces puzzle.

Making a song by song review, may spoil the adventure of discovering the original proposal of BUON VECCHIO CHARLIE, but I recommend to listen the 15 minutes epic "All'Uomo Che Raccoglie I Cartoni" with special care, a Progressive Rock masterpiece that proves this band was capable of great things.

And if you are lucky to find the CD (As I did yesterday in a rarities store for 20 bucks) you may listen the Medieval and "Troubadouresque" "Il Guardiano Della Valle" with a new and clear sound..

No questions, this is a transcendental and essential masterpiece of Progressive Rock that deserves no less than 5 stars.