IL CANNONE

The first allbum without John De Leo, replaced by Luisa Cottifogli, an equally excellent singer, female this time, is opened by a Joke: the strings tuning on a "A" chord whose frequence is 440Hz. And this is the title of the first 48 seconds.

"Il Cannone" (The Cannon) is a song about a weapons trafficker who at a certain point says "Who could have thought that they would have pointed my cannon right in front of me..." The instruments are the usual strings trio plus sax, and this sort of grotesque jazz-blues is very fun. Unfortunately, even showing a great vocal extension, Luisa sings too similarily to John De Leo. Of course is possible that this song was ready before he left, but she's not yet showing her personality.

"Franchestein", an ironic wrong transcription of the famous Shelley's monster starts to show the difference. The orchestral part is still totally in line with the past works, as well as the lyrics, but now Luisa sings differently. she is no longer a mimic of De Leo even if I find her voice quite similar to the singer of another Italian band called "Acustimantico" (but Luisa can reach very low pitches, too). She is able to reach a very high pitch without using the falsetto, like Annie Haslam in the the final of Carnegie Hall version of Sheherazade.

"L'attesa" (The Waiting) has a jazzy flavor that, if it wasn't for the instruments used, could remind to the Matt Bianco.

"Soon I Will Be Done" is a vocal only spiritual, just to give Luisa the possibility to introduce herself to the fans. It's a more than excellent vocal performance, but with nothing of progressive.

Every Quinotrigo album contains at least one very eclectic cover. Arranging Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" for contrabass, violin and cello makes it baroque. Personally I prefer it to the original. After a short sax solo it becomes reggae with the rhythmic part played by pizzicato strings and Luisa improvising. In the coda the band sings a choir in a South- african style. A great cover.

"Lacrime" (Tears) is a more usual Quintorigo song, just a little more melodic than usual. It starts like a pop song, but in the chorus with English lyrics they are back to their avant roots. (or avant to their back roots, maybe)

Jokes apart, "Alligator Man" is opened by the contrabass which plays a blues riff. Speaking of alligators means sounding a bit New Orleans. It's a very black acoustic blues with a strong cajun flavor.

"Nel Clone del Padre" (In the "clone" of the Father) is finally a track of the kind that made Quintorigo accepted into RIO/Avant. I have to say that even being more "easy" and approachable than any of the previous albums it can't be considered commercial in any way. This is one of the very rare songs on which drums (drones), bass and guitar can be heard. One mention from the lyrics: "Maybe one day I'll kill you. You're too human to live".

Back with the usual instrumentation with a jazz classic: "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Simply excellent.

"Sole Invisibile" (Invisible Sun) is an eclectic cover of the famous Police's song with Italian lyrics. Excellent arrangement even though not as amazing as other covers like "Highway Stars" appeared on previous albums. They are a quintet and Police were a trio so they have more instruments to use.

The last two minutes are occupied by percussion and vocals singing in a language that may be Persian. "Ranni Li" is the song title. Quite hypnotic.

This is one of the most pop-oriented albums released by Quintorigo. This is the bad thing, more than the absence of John De Leo whose replacement is at almost the same level even though very different. The good is that they are very skilled musicians and their strength is in the arrangements, so this album is very good.

I think that it fits well in the 3 stars definition