SHOCK

After touring in Italy, supporting Banco Del Mutuo Soccordo, Libra had a great chance to meet success when offered a 10-album contract by the US label Motown, the management of which had listened to the English version of the debut.They travelled to the States, playing alongside Frank Zappa, Chicago, and Steppenwolf and recorded the album ''Winter day's nightmare'' in 1976, which ended up to be a complete bust, far from the prog roots of the band.After conflicts with their manager they returned to Italy at the end of the year, only to dissolve a bit later.But in 1977 Sandro Centofanti, Dino Cappa and Walter Martino joined forces with Goblin's keyboardist Maurizio Guarini and Etna's/Flea's guitarist Carlo Pennisi to record the soundtrack of Mario Bava's horror film ''Shock''.The album was released on Cinevox.

Guarini's presence and, of course, Bava's Horror Film background somewhat inspired Libra, which now sounded a lot like GOBLIN, displaying a turn towards cinematic music with experimental flashes and, still, some strong progressive elements.The album ended up to be actually a mixed bag of sights and sounds, containing the obvious and expected leanings towards Classical and Electronic Music, but -unlike GOBLIN- they even flirted with FRANCO BATTIATO-like Avant-Garde/cosmic/minimalistic edges with lots of percussion and weird keyboard lines.''Shock'' scans different aspects and excerpts of the film and thus comes as a genuine mix of Symphonic Rock, Fusion, abstract electronics and Experimental Rock, showing flashes of a trully talented line-up and promises of a solid chemistry, which apparently didn't last long.Certain moments come close to the melodic, artistic and gentle vibe of IL VOLO with symphonic and jazzy keyboards on smooth rhythm lines, other pieces are completely outlandish with odd sound effects, a dark minimalism and a cinematic background.Apart from some chants there are no vocals to be found in the album, which often moves away from the typical music theory and delivers sinister echoes, attached to the film, usually breaking shortly afterwards in piano interludes, nice dual keyboard parts and even some grandiose organ-drenched Classicism.

The sole album by this short-lived and unconvential Libra line-up.All musicians from this formation remained involved in the music industry with decent to less succesful careers.Band's leader Nicola Di Staso continued his musical journey as a session man, playing also with Claudio Simonetti in his Daemonia project.Former guitarist Federico D'Andrea died tragically in 1978 at the age of 30, after he was ran over by a car.

GOBLIN-like diverse Prog/Avant-Garde/Experimental Rock with connections to horror movies.Really a great effort, when you're in the mood for something more cinematic and haunting.Warmly recommended, Cinevox has also made a CD reissue available.