PASSIO SECUNDUM MATTHEUM

While the Italian capital city of Rome seems to get the most attention for its hotbed of Italian prog action in the early 1970s, the smaller city of Genova was just as dynamic spawning dozens of bands including some of the earliest Italian prog bands such as The New Trolls that got the Italian prog party started in the first place. Add to that list LATTE E MIELE who wasted no time following suit with its rockin' the classics approach with its debut album PASSIO SECUNDUM MATTHEUM (Latin for "The Second Passion Of Matthew"), an ambitious rock opera album that integrated Bach inspired Baroque classical music with lyrics based on the well known Biblical chapter.

Formed in 1971 by Alfio Vitanza (drums, flute, acoustic guitar, vocals), Oliviero Lacagnina (keyboards, piano, vocals) and Marcello Giancarlo Dellacasa (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, vocals), this power trio came to attention of the prog world by opening for Van der Graaf Generator which found more interest in Italy than its native UK. The band also honed its chops through a series of pop and rock festivals all throughout 1971 and 1972 before recording and releasing its debut concept album which featured a narrator and members of the Teatro all Scala choir from Milan. The album found an instant audience and even was performed at the Teatro Pontificiio Oratorio di San Pietro in Rome with the Opera di Roma choir in 1973.

PASSIO SECUNDRUM MATTHEUM may have been a lot to pull off for a single album's running time of only 34 1/2 minutes but the band did a veritable job of crafting twelve tracks that offered dynamic mood swings and shifts from the typical pastoral Italian prog reminiscent of early Genesis to jazzier piano-based passages that offered a heavy percussive drive. Despite the reference to the works from Bach, LATTE I MIELE didn't just adapt his music to the rock format but rather used it as inspiration to craft a totally new musical accompaniment to the lyrics that narrated the Gospel according to St. Matthew. One of the first things that stood out to me was the inclusion of female vocals in the choir as the Italian prog scene seems to have been exclusively male dominated in its golden years.

In many ways this album reminds me of Aphrodite's Child's "666" which also came out in 1972 and narrated a chapter of the Bible, in that case, Revelations. PASSIO SECUNDRUM MATTHEUM doesn't quite seem as epic as that effort possibly because it was released as a single album and "666" featured a wider breadth of stylistic approaches on its double album format. Nevertheless, LATTE I MIELE did a pretty good job making the album interesting with various passages that tackle varying moods, dynamics, tones, timbres and alternate between vocal dominated moments to purely instrumental. Often the choral aspects are downright spooky as heard not only on "Introduzione" but especially on "Il Calvario." While the keys dominate with piano runs for the most part, the short "Giuda" offers a small snippet of early heavy metal while the following "Il Re Dei Giudei" tones down the speed but retains a heavier rock aspect.

The majority of the tracks are actually quite short with many two minutes or under and serve as interstitial transitions into the longer themes. While the story will escape you if you don't speak Italian, both the music and vocals are quite pleasant and while not as bombastic as the comparisons to Emerson, Lake and Palmer would suggest, i find that the band sounds more like Le Orme than any other band however only in how the keyboards are delivered. Otherwise the album sounds fairly unique setting itself well apart from The New Trolls' classical meets prog rock "Concerto Grosso Dei Miracoli." The album is sort of like a rotisserie of musical styles that never stay put for too long however some moments do tend to carry on for a bit longer than would be necessary. The mellotron keeps the music well into the symphonic prog zone and i must mention that the drummer kicks ass!

A strange album for sure and one that can be understandably difficult to get into. The flow is quite eclectic with lots of variety being pastoral folky sounding one minute and then more rock oriented later. A few moments of hardcore opera find their way into "Ultima Cena" and "Il Processso" and the spoken narrations don't appear as much as i would expect but like most concept albums, the themes are a bit nebulous and open to interpretation. Honestly i don't care if the storyline is about going shopping for new underwear. It's the music that counts and on that note the band does a rather convincing job of stitching together a swath of musical styles in a smorgasbord effect that offers a taste of rock, jazz, prog, folk, classical, opera and space rock. Not quite a masterpiece and i understand the criticism laid down about this album but i find it an enjoyable release that i can return to time and time again and never be bored.