FELONA E SORONA

The fourth album from Le Orme is both the group's most popular and their greatest. This is one of those rare occasions where I agree that a certain artists' most well loved album is also their best. Some people refer to these guys as an Italian ELP, which is neither accurate nor fair. Being a trio of keyboards/bass/drums, they do sometimes sound similar to other trios with that line-up. Besides this album, I have only heard the previous album and the one after this; both are good, but not as good as this. The synths sometimes sound like they are polyphonic. 1973 seems too early for the use of them, but since there is only three members maybe the synth parts were heavily overdubbed.

I don't speak Italian, so I'm not sure if there is a story to the album or not. Anyway, the first song is "Sospesi nell'Incredible". This has a nice buildup at the beginning. I like the overdubbed keyboards you hear all over around a minute in. Music changes a bit. Later on some organ and then vocals. Like the groove they go into halfway, the drumming is great here. Love the synth that comes in towards the end. Spacey. Ends with a mini drum solo. "Felona" is a short folky/poppy song. Nice but nothing special. I love the synth here though, even if it's only for just a few seconds.

"La Solitudine di chi Protegge il Mondo" is another short song. Basically classical piano and vocals. "L'equilibrio" gets back to the symph prog. Great keyboard playing here. Love the jazzy section they go into halfway. "Sorona" has a cool tremoloed bass sound. Basically a ballad with mostly vocals and keyboards. "Attesa Inerte" is a highlight. It really sounds like polyphonic string-synths at the start. I love the repeated synth drone which sounds like an engine revving up. Then an almost disco beat comes in. This sounds close to techno, very ahead of it's time. The other parts that contrast with this section are great too.

"Ritratto di un Mattino" starts with some cool horror film sounding keyboards. Then gets more anthemic and symphonic with vocals. The whole band joins in for some symphonic rock. "All'infuori del tempo" is another poppy folk song. Nice mix of organ and synth. The beginning of "Attesa Inerte" is reprised at the end. "Ritorno al Nulla" is an instrumental. Starts with a great buildup and later some Moog soloing. I wish these guys were 100% instrumental.

A classic RPI album from this trio. I really like the instrumental parts, but I'm not so big on most of the parts with singing. This would be a 5 star album to me if every song was as good as "Sospesi" and "Attesa". Highly recommended to those just starting their journey into RPI. A great album and good addition to your collection. 4 stars.