The Italian Prog Appreciation den

Hello everyone.

First, my apologies. I’m a frog. My english is terrible. So I’m just here to say hello... and goodbye.    

I’m not in prog, not more than in classical, pop, rock, jazz, soundtrack or brazilian stuffs.

A year ago, looking for new music, I started to listen to RPI albums of the seventies. Gosh ! What a revelation !  What an elevation ! I didn’t expect this. Not at all. “Those painters, those sculptors ... just as in Renaissance Italy.”

BMS, PFM, Le Orme, QVL, Stefano Testa, Panna Fedda, Cervello, Battiato, Odissea, Samadhi, Delirium, Alusa Fallax, I Giganti ... and so many others.

As in a Gustav Mahler’s symphony, I was not only listenning with my ears, but with my eyes. Both were wide open. It was a miracle, or maybe not. These sounds, shapes and colors were waiting for me. I was just looking in another direction.

So thanks to you, Jim,  Andrea and everyone for the great help. Reading you was very important these last twelve months. And I’m sure there’s many more to come. Rencently I’ve heard samples from albums by La Assemblea Musicale Teatrale, Gramigna or Barabba. They sound terrific and I can’t wait for CD’s reissues and your reviews.

Before I shut my mouth, I would like to give you some titles of albums with  a RPI flavour :

These Trails . These Trails (1974). A folk band from Hawai. Very strange. Great accoustic guitar and synths. Fantastic vocal harmonies.

Melody Nelson : Serge Gainsbourg (1968). A true prog album and the most terrific violins arrangements you will hear in your life.

Eden’s Island. Eden Ahbez (1960). The composer of Nature Boy. Simplicity and beauty. Not a disc for the desert island. The desert island itself.

Goodbye ... and hello.

Pierre.