JUMBO

Formed in Milan in 69 and releasing two single before this debut album on the Phillips in early 72, this sextet (named after their singer's nickname) is probably one of Italy's best kept prog secret, even if you would not believe by the present. Graced with a superb multi- layered cardboard winking artwork (which is very hard to find in good shape as it did not age well), this album will be probably a little deceptive if you actually know what is to come later, even if the recording quality is excellent.

Indeed, the album presents a mainly acoustic sound somewhere between folk, blues-based rock, which resembles nothing of their later works. But it does not mean that this is bad album, far from it: well produced, with a distinctive voice (reputedly difficult, but not really more than the average Italian "prog" singers of the era), a good rhythm section, rather competent guitar works, the frequent flute or odd harmonica lines, some brass section arrangements and a few prog twist thrown in for good deeds.

The lead track can make you think of a killer Yarbirds tune, but the succession of RnB tracks is not really that captivating, as most sons are built around Fella's acoustic guitar playing. Among the better tracks are the opener, the Che Senso Ha (with its great organ and flute), Dio E (which will be reworked for their second album) and Amore Sono Qua (great piano track and their progiest track). The only weak track being the almost-punkish Artista, on the whole this is surprising album from Italy , but which Jumbo album was not?

As mentioned above, this album is not really representative of Jumbo's works (it could even be seen as a Alvaro Fella album with an accompanying group if you did not know better), so it cannot be considered as essential (I'd even say that it could be for fans only, but that is almost too severe) but should you choose to invest in this one, you might want to make the effort to find a mini-Lp copy because of its