VIETATO AI MINORI DI 18 ANNI ?

With all the complaints i've read about the singers vocals i'm surprised there wasn't a warning label about it on the cd cover. As Finnforest mentions in his review, at least "the guy has a pulse". I found this to be a bit of a grower,and it's still growing. Haha.This has truly become one of my favourite Italian records. Excellent flute, organ and guitar throughout. Yes, the vocals can be harsh but they are also reserved a lot of the time. Oh, I almost forgot about the mellotron on three of the tracks. Nice. I love the picture of the band in the liner notes. The seventies were a special time.

"Specchio" features a good contrast between the aggressive and mellow sections. The vocals hit you right away like a bucket of cold water in the face, with the usual response being "What the ..." Hammond organ followed by some fine guitar play 2 minutes in. Flute and more organ follow. The guitar is back 4 minutes in just ripping it up. Violin after 5 minutes with piano.The rough vocals return before the song ends with organ. "Come Vorrei Essere Uguale A Te" opens with a distant sounding piano which gives way to acoustic guitar then electric guitar and reserved vocals. It kicks into gear 3 minutes in with fast paced drumming and sax blasts as the organ rides shotgun. "Il Ritorno Del Signor K" is a 2 minute track that features piano, acoustic guitar and vocals.

"Via Larga" opens with a collage of different intricate sounds all blending together perfectly like an early PRESENT album. Vocal melodies arrive before the song stops and returns with a pastoral section with flute leading the way. Retstrained vocals with some violin and acoustic guitar a minute later. "Gil" is an experimental song with some mellotron after 2 minutes. The vocals are experimental too. I like this one. The percussion 5 1/2 minutes in to the end is cool. "Vangelio ?" has some atmosphere to it. Church bells and haunting vocals will do that. We get a melody 3 1/2 minutes in with vocals. Some nice piano as drums come pounding in. Guitar tears it up for a while. Flute and piano to end the crazy ride. I love the sound in "40 Gradi" once it gets going about 1 1/2 minutes in. It reminds me of ANEKDOTEN. This is my favourite track. It gets fairly atmospheric after 4 minutes. Mellotron waves crash the soundscape with sax in tow after 5 minutes. "No !" features theatrical vocals, mellotron, heavy drums, organ and flute.

I'm a bigger fan of the second half of this album than the first half, but to me this is easily a 4 star record, perhaps closer to 4.5 stars.