SACRIFICIO

The city of Modena is known for being the center of luxurious car companies like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati as well as having one of greatest universities of Italy.But it was also the birthcity of the most famous Italian Beat band of the 60's, Equipe 84, centered around guitarist/keyboardist/singer Maurizio Vandelli and bassist Victor Sogliani.The original line-up featured also Franco Ceccarelli on guitar and Alfio Cantarella on drums, but the group suffered several come's and go's during a 10-year span, once a young Franz Di Cioccio played drums for them before joining Premiata Forneria Marconi.Equipe 84 started as a pure Psychedelic Pop combo in mid-60's, before adapting new influences in their music like Baroque and Rock elements through the years, leading to their most experimental record ''Sacrificio'' in 1974, released on Ariston, with Thomas Gagliardone playing the keyboards.

The opening side of the LP is actually showing some unusual music compared to the standards of Equipe 84.The first three tracks are rather melancholic and somewhat challenging Italian Prog/Art Rock with good keyboard parts and evident psychedelic influences, connected with bizarre breaks, but always colored by warm Italian vocals.There are some fiery acoustic parts, light Classical influences in the organ washes and a Gregorian atmosphere on the dark opening piece, trully a step forward than anything the group had released so far.Before the side closed Equipe 84 return with the more conservative style of melodic Soft/Folk Rock with hints of their recent past.

The second side is rather unrelated to the first one with plenty of melodic Pop Rock, more simplistic song structures and dated orchestral moves in a typical Italian style, lacking the surprises of the opening cuts.Of course the group was always capable of producing nice, syrupy melodies and harmonies, but that was not actually where the album was intended to head to, listening to the very good opening textures.Groovy Pop runs, sweet orchestral ballads and secure choruses were a thing of the past, but the group recycles them in this work as well.The atmospheric closer ''Dicono'' is the peak of the second side, no doubt.Definitely not on par with the qualitive tracks of the opening side, but this is really cool Psych/Pop/Prog with a tight combination of female choirs, acoustic themes and spacey keyboards, showing the group was definitely talented.

After seven studio albums and countless singles Equipe 84 split in 1977 with Vandelli trying to revive its fame several times in the future until Victor Sogliani's death in mid-90's.He also has a few personal albums credited to his name, released from 1970 to 1990.

This historical Italian Beat combo shouldn't be necessarily among Prog fans reference points.Their ''Sacrificio'' album contains hints of the Italian Prog movement with both demanding and atmospheric parts and it maybe of some interest for lovers of the Italian sound.Otherwise you should look somewhere else for purely challenging Prog music...2.5 stars.