PASSIO SECUNDUM MATTHEUM

In 1971 guitarist and Latte e Miele's founder member Marcello Dellacasa took part, with other guest musicians, to the sessions of I Giganti's album "Terra in bocca". This experience seem to have influenced also Latte e Miele's debut album, "Passio Secundum Mattheum", a concept album where clear classical influences are blended with rock and beautiful melodies.

"Passio secundum Mattheum" is also the title of a work of classical music by J.S. Bach, but this album is not its "rock version". You can find many influences here, from the shy echoes of Ravel's Bolero melting in an electric guitar solo of the opener "Introduzione" to Bach ("Il calvario"), from operatic vocals and choirs ("Il giorno degli azzimi", "Ultima cena" and "Il processo") to reminiscences of latin rock "à la Carlos Santana" ("I testimoni"), from light melodic vocals ("Getzemani", "Il pianto") to hard rock and swing ("Giuda"). The music streams fluently with excellent moments (for instance the instrumental "Introduzione") and without boredom. The bonus track "Mese di maggio" is just a melodic pop song that contrast with the rest of the album and doesn't add anything.

The lyrics have been inspired by the Gospel according to St. Matthew and they are absolutely "politically correct". You can't find here the boldness and the poetical inventions of "Terra in bocca" (an album completely "built upon lyrics") or of Fabrizio De Andrè's album "La buona novella" (a work inspired by the apocryphal Gospels released more than 30 years before the "Da Vinci Code"). Here the lyrics seem to be only a feeble thread that try to bind together a good musical patchwork, but the result is not convincing. The recitative parts seem just to come out from an "Italian Catholic mass" and don't fit the music at all. So, in my opinion, they are the most relevant weak point of this work. Anyway the weak lyrics do not completely waste an album that could be an excellent addition to any Italian Progressive rock collection.