UN PO' DEL NOSTRO TEMPO MIGLIORE

Shouldn't care much about this Italian act, cause their material was largely Pop-oriented.Haven't sinked deep into their music, but reputedly several albums of them had proggy leanings with ''Un po' del nostro tempo migliore'' being the most progressive one.Hailing from Bologna and starting around 1966, they recorded mostly for the Vedette and CBS labels.Roby Facchinetti (vocals, keyboards), Mario Goretti (guitar), Mauro Bertoli (guitar), Riccardo Fogli (bass, vocals) and Valerio Negrini (drums) was the original crew, Bertoli left in 1968 and the following year Goretti was replaced by Dodi Battaglia.In 1971 Stefano D'Orazio became the drummer of the band with Negrini remaininig the main lyricist.Fogli left in 1973 to pursue a personal career and he was replaced by ex-Capsicum Red Red Canzian.''Un po' del nostro tempo migliore'' was released in 1975.

This album by I Pooh sounds like a typical Orchestral Pop affair from the early-70's, I think it's often mistaken as a Prog Rock album, because it sounds no cheesy at all plus it was a bit more guitar-oriented than most albums of the style, avoiding the dives into syrupy melodies and hillarious vocal arrangements.Instead the material here is extremely polished and refined with light Classical influnces, well-performed orchestrations, decent guitar and keyboard work and some soft, progressive sensibilties.But this also remains vastly a more Pop-oriented album with lack of trully devastating instrumental passages, being strongly vocal-based and centering the whole concept around melodious themes and variations.Orchestral moves and Soft Rock moments are the leading styles, the band did a great job on both acoustic and electric moments (the combination of which recalls a bit of RICARDO ZAPPA's works) and the music flows nice and easy.At the end of the album it is placed their most ambitious attempt, the 11-min. ''Il tempo, una donna, la citta'', a good effort on Orchestral Rock with sentimental and romantic vocals, pronounced electric guitars, dominant piano themes and grandiose string arrangements.Sweet, emotional and well-crafted stuff.

I Pooh have sold over 100 milion records throughout their career, marking them as one of the top Italian Pop bands.They perform regularly nowadays with drummer Steve Ferrone having replaced Stefano D'Orazio since 2009.

Accesible Orchestral/Pop/Prog.With a strongly Classical background and the secure case of melodic vocal- and musical themes they went for another hit in their career.Will be appreciated by fans of Italian Music and gentle semi-Prog Rock...2.5 stars.