UOMO DI PEZZA

After the very good "Collage", Le Orme takes a leap in quality with "Uomo di Pezza", their third album, released in 1972. The band focuses on women's stories that in some cases metaphorically describe harsh dramas of abuse and mental disorders, which are surprisingly compatible with melodies of great sonorous warmth, gentle acoustic developments sprinkled with melancholy and a generous range of keyboards, following the predominant characteristic of Mediterranean bands of the genre, and also stripped of the decibelic contribution usually generated by electric guitars.

The delicate "Una Dolcezza Nuova" with the organs of Antonio Pagliuca, the classical piano of producer Gian Piero Reverberi and a relaxed instrumentation with epic overtones, marks the beginning of the album, which continues under the leadership of Aldo Tagliapietra and his vocal line harmonised with the acoustic character of the melodies, as in the aching ballad "Gioco Di Bimba" with its rhythmic guitar accompanied by harpsichords and mandolins, in the hypnotic half-time of the baroque "Breve Immagine" and Pagliuca's suspenseful mellotron, or in the arpeggiated and watery "Aspettando L'Alba".

And linked to this feeling, the synthesizers claim their share of protagonism, as in the anguished insanity of "Figure di Cartone" and Pagliuca's moog taking over the surrounding atmosphere, and with greater forcefulness in the claustrophobic and mysterious "La Porta Chiusa" and, to conclude the album, in the instrumental and super progressive "Alienazione", a piece structurally influenced by the E,L&P referents with Tagliapietra, Pagliuca and drummer Michi Dei Rossi replicating the schematic pattern of the British trio.

"Uomo di Pezza" is an excellent work that, in spite of barely surpassing the half hour mark, solvently transmits its rough proposal, and places Le Orme on the podium of the most relevant trio of Italian progressive rock, sharing honours with Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Premiata Forneria Marconi.

4/4.5 stars