FRUTTI PER KAGUA

Capitolo 6 were an early RPI band who origins date to the late '60s and who have many common story RPI storylines: plenty of line-up changes, hard times, and of course, only one album. They did a nice job with their moment in the sun however. "Frutti per Kagua" is a raucous title that brings to mind solid bands Jumbo, Campo di Marte, Flea, and Tull. The latter comparison is mostly due to the heavy and bold use of the flute as a prominent instrument. Otherwise this is a solid RPI sounding album but one that resides firmly in the heavy, rocking camp as opposed to flamboyant camp or the highly avant garde camp. The big sell here is the side one title track, which in true pompous prog form takes up the entire 20 minute side. It's a true feast for heavy prog fans recalling the edgy, grooving side long pieces from Flea (Topi o Uomi) or Jumbo's "Suite Per Il Sig. K". Or at least parts of it groove. As noted in Scented Gardens the piece takes a very formal compositional structure, part 1 a ferocious rocker; the large middle section for experimentation and multiple crescendos; the third part a sort of summary and finale.

They break it down as follows: Part I contains three sung verses, alternating with enthusiastic electric guitar and flute riffs. Part II takes the form of a two-part crescendo, each time starting from silence with one instrument added to the others at a time. After 4:47 minutes, the first crescendo starts with acoustic guitar introducing a new musical theme (but no relation to Part I), gradually joined by bass, wordless chanting, drums, flute and electric guitar of increasing intensity. After 9:09 minutes, the second crescendo starts with another musical theme (more celestial in character) introduced by organ and then joined by percussion, flute, bass, drums, sax and a second organ. Part III mainly consists of a vocal rendition of the musical theme from the first crescendo. [from Scented Gardens, edited for brevity]

The piece has all of the "in your face" attitude of the bolder RPI titles, with a rough, unshaven lead vocal of good quality. It must also be noted that the music, unlike many classic RPI albums, is led not by the keyboards but by the guitars (bass, electric, and acoustic) and the flute. Keyboards are there but they are generally speaking the background and not the exterior. The middle sections of the song have a well developed "Child in Time" quality building from the serene to the explosive though the payoff is instrumental and not vocal ala Gillan. In the first extended section a long electric guitar solo wails in the rock style of a Zep admirer. In the second crescendo it almost sounds (loosely, not exactly) like a combination of Tull and Sabbath, with the highly animated flute swirling together to relentless bass and drums, with guitar and organ around the edges. Many times even the electric guitar holds back, allowing the flute to come well to the front and jam with a very active, pronounced bass guitar, while to the side is an acoustic guitar doing its own little part. Never completely predictable and pretty cool I think. I love the feel and structure of the track even if it doesn't quite rise to what Jumbo did. Side two is very similar in quality and sound though with the shorter songs is not quite as memorable as side one. I'm a little more bullish on Capitolo 6 than many reviewers, I think this album is a slam dunk for fans of RPI. I would rate side one as 4 stars and side two as 3 stars, thus 7/10.

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