ARIA

In a strange decision, yesterday i was having a look to the Alan Sorrenti´s page here in PA, the fact is that i had also the idea of reviewing Aria, though i first had a look to the single that comes from this studio album, which features 2 songs and decided to review it first, that single contains the second and fourth songs of Aria, maybe i found it easy or i dont know but in order to have the same thoughts written, i will stole from my own review what i wrote about those songs and put it here, hope that doesn´t bother you.

Alan Sorrenti, luckily, could left an album that is memorable to Italian progheads and non-Italian ones who know Aria, i said luckily because this was actually the only album of hims who had a recognized success due to its uniqueness, sadly, after the release of this album he could not reach the same level with the other ones, and his music became pop and not so good, anyway what this magnific album offers is a mix of avant-gardism oriented passages with folk tones and even some experimental jazz moments, those things is what makes this album different, special, unique, i wish he was followed the same pattern in order to create other albums like this, but anyway, sometimes we can get enough with only one album, why should we want more.

This album has 4 songs, the first one is by far the best and most ambitious composition which lasts almost 20 minutes!, this song alone is really a worth listening, believe me, it starts with a very melodic sound but something strange happens that since the first minutes it caughts my total attention and shows that is not the classic RPI album, it is different, very experimental and avant-garde to be from 1972, when probably Italian prog scene was having glorious moments, the voice of Sorrenti is also unique and awesome, he has his own style which is not easy to dig, trhoughout this long song we will find some calm and melodic passages, others which shows his vocals with a more chaotic feeling, also we can listen to a nice variety of instruments such as violin or mellotron (besides guitars ,drums, bass etc, you know), some dramatic changes in the song with a dark atmosphere provoked by his vocals and the texture of the music. Overall a unique and magnific song, you will be amazed.

The second song is the first one who appears in the single "Vorrei Incontrati" with almost 5 minutes of lenght is a beautiful song, very pastoral with a delicate and beautiful voice as well, also as i am a lover of Italian language, then i enjoy more this kind of songs, the pronunciation for me is beautiful, the song has a lovely acoustic guitar and a very relaxing mood, we can listen to accordeon there.

Then "La Mia Mente" is another great song, with again acoustic guitar and his voice making some noises here and there, it also has a very progressive flavour due to its piano sound and the bass notes, it has a very jazzy style when piano and trumpet sound each one in his own but that is what i like of this style, not in the same channel but at the same time together, another good song here.

And the last is "Un Fiume Tranquilo" this time we can hear a more intense song starting with piano notes and then the vocals (beautiful vocals) and a total progressive flavour which you can notice due to the synths work, there are also a trombone sound but the song is still pastoral, there are some moments that the vocals may remind you to Peter Hammill, so you know wheter to give a try to it or not, then the song has a change and the acoustic guitars appears.

I have finished, this album deserves 5 stars just for its uniqueness, it is difficult to find another album like this, but since i consider it a difficult album i believe some people could not enjoy it as i do, so 4 stars would be better, excellent addition to any prog lover and highly recommended!

Enjoy and love it! (or not)

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