FELONA E SORONA

I remembered the first Le ORME album I ever bought. It was "Ad Gloriam", an odd pick given that album isn't what you call progressive (it was psychedelic pop). The next Le ORME album I got was "Felona e Sorona", and I couldn't be more surprised how different this album sounded. They had already released two albums in the prog vein ("Collage", which seems to only get a lukewarm response, and "Uomo di Pezza", where response is much greater), with just three guys, Aldo Tagliapietra, Michi dei Rossi, and Toni Pagliuca (the two guys from the early years had long since left the band). Without a doubt, "Felona e Sorona" is Le ORME at the top of their game, going for a concept about two opposing planets.

The album opens up with "Sospesi Nell'Incredibile", which is by far one of the best things Le ORME had ever done. There are some lengthy instrumental passages here, plus some electronic effects played on Pagliuca's Moog, while Michi dei Rossi goes wild on his drums. The next piece is "Felona", an upbeat acoustic piece, with that tone, you can be sure the inhabitants of the planet Felona are upbeat. "La Solitudine di chi Protegge il Mondo" is simply a piano-oriented piece with Tagliapietra's unmistakable voice. I, for some reason, especially the piano section, got reminded of ENYA's soundtrack album to "The Celts" (her debut, that is), which is weird, since neither of them hardly sound alike, not to mention the more than one decade gap (Le ORME used Moog and string synths, while ENYA used lots of mid-80s digital synths, Le ORME being prog, ENYA being New Age with Celtic trappings). "L'Equilibrio" is the closest to them sounding like ELP on this album, especially the piano section.

By the way, on this album, don't buy in to Le ORME as being an Italian ELP, as much of the ELP influences of their previous two albums have all but disappeared. "Sorona" has a more somber tone, every time I hear this, I can't help but be reminded of PULSAR's "Halloween", although that album wouldn't appear until 1977. You can be certain that the inhabitants of the planet Sorona tend to be downbeat and somber, judging on the tone of the song. "Attesa Inerte" tends to be a more experimental piece, with some disturbing use of synths. "All'Infuori del Tempo" is another acoustic piece in the vein of "Felona". A bit repetitive, I took me a bit to get used to. The final piece is the instrumental "Ritorno al Nulla" is an all-instrumental piece dominated by synthesizers. Without a doubt, "Felona e Sorona" is an essential Italian prog album, and definately the album to start if you're not familiar with Le ORME.