ANTICO TEATRO DA CAMERA

Gianni D'errico from Brindisi was a singer-songwriter in the early 1970s who made this full length album released shortly after his 1975 death in a tragic accident. The album carries the distinction of being produced and arranged by Equipe 84 leader Maurizio Vandelli who previously produced the first album by Reale Accademia di Musica. Recorded in Milan the album is a stretch to be labeled progressive, falling more in a melancholic light rock vein with some occasional proggy touches. Reminds me a little of the 2nd RAdM album with Monteduro or Claudio Fucci (though a bit heavier with the full drum kit), while others have noted a resemblance to Battisti and Rocchi. The lyrics are quite heavy in nature as mentioned by Mandy, not surprising they would be good considering D'errico was a lyricist for others prior to this album.

Musically you have short tracks featuring D'errico singing accompanied by strummed acoustic guitars, basic "keep the beat" drumming, restrained lead guitar, occasional strings, keys or flute. His singing voice is very nice and sometimes backed with harmonies. There are no long instrumental sections, and very few instrumental excursions that deviate from the task at hand which is backing the melodies. Oh it certainly has its prog tendencies and I can tell that D'errico enjoyed the prog scene and was toying with it.there are nice little flourishes here and there throughout the work.but he never quite goes for it. He throws in a cool vocal section here and a trippy keyboard run there but always pulls back to the main track before letting his hair down. For fans of quality intimate singer/songwriter albums this will not be a problem but for the progressive fan the album could be quite limiting after a few spins. There is a very nice touch in the form of a 2-part esoteric opener/closer that helps lend the album a cohesive feel. And yet for a title about such heavy emotional topics only rarely did he pull me in emotionally on a musical level; on the pop music level there is more aloofness present rather than say the intimacy you might get from something like "Levon" or "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" by Elton John-two tracks that came to mind listening to D'errico. Now D'errico doesn't sound like Elton on the surface but there is a shared songwriting component. Despite how enjoyable it is to me as a fan of most any Italian rock/pop/folk/prog I feel we are truly in "for fans" territory. For the most part, it is the real hard core Italian s/s fans that should get to an album like this, most prog fans wanting some ISP exposure should surely buy tons of other titles before getting to this one. I think anyone would agree with that last sentiment. 5/10

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