DIMENSIONE ONIRICA

This is a collection of early Corte dei Miracoli demos recorded during rehearsal sessions a couple of years before the band managed to record their proper debut (and only) album. The line-up is also different, including a lead guitar player and a different second keyboardist (besides ex-Giro Strano Alessio Feltri) who also handled the lead singer duties. The sound quality is quite poor, to be honest, and it is such a pity, since this factor doesn't allow the listener to be accurately aware of the degree of power provided by the solid rhythm section, nor of the (supposed) interplay between both keyboardsmen - the organ is so prevailing in this rough mix, that it absorbs any potential room for the clear presence of the piano and synth parts performed by Feltri's fellow keyboardsman. Although, it is no wonder that the Hammond organ is so dominant in the overall instrumentation: its solos are more numerous than those played on electric guitar. After all, Feltri founded this band and wrote all this early material. On the other hand, the most important things, which are the music itself and the performances, stand out as very good assets: the compositions are ambitious and well crafted, while the performances appear to be well assembled and energetic (as much as the ear can grasp). Corte's early style is still very influenced by Il Giro Strano, which had disbanded one year before: the quintet sounds quite aggressive in many sections of this repertoire, and there's also some jazz oriented jamming here and there (mostly led by Hammond organ) - finally, the Nice-like track 'Dimensione Onirica Parte 2' is a new version of a Giro Strano number. But it is also clear that this new band is determined to pursue a distinct, dense symphonic direction: the presence of lots of Baroque and Romantic inspired cadences in most of the melodic lines shows evident signs of a serious intention to create a more focused prog style. This is obvious in tracks such as 'Volando nel Sole', 'Il Volto Sconosciuto della Terra' and 'Quasimodo' (all of them, soon to be included in the band's official album with different titles and more polished arrangements) and the majestic 'Corte o Morte', which sadly didn't survive this Corte era. This album would have been more essential than it actually is had the sound quality been better and had this line-up been more successful at creating a cohesive musical structure: but all in all, the repertoire is very good, and so are the performances. And as a relic, it is an accurate vehicle for a better understanding of what Corte dei Miracoli was all about.