From: borella@cs.ucdavis.edu (Mike Borella)
Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive
Subject: Italian article: Part III
Date: 12 Oct 1992 14:48:12 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


The final installation.  Hope you've enjoyed it.

--------------


The Italian Scene Part III + others

     Trying to wrap up a scene that was as prolific as the Italians
is near impossible.  The outpouring of progressive music that
resulted from this scene is quite large, and I think it would take
the fun away from those brave risk-takers that would like to try
some of these bands themselves - without hearing any opinions based
on the music.  This article and the two parts before it are made to
be a pointer, one that will spur your interest in the Italian scene
and give all the readers a chance to give their opinions on some of
the albums mentioned.  Thus this article, Part III, will not in a
sense conclude a look into the Italian scene, but will leave an
opening that would hopefully give you something more to look for.
    
     Thus, Part III will discuss a few more 70's Italian bands as
well as a look into the up and coming 90's scene and will more or
less end for now.  Part IV will be a fairly complete Italian
discography in order help you in finding and collecting bands. 
Titles and artists will be given, as well as the years and
whearabouts of the reissue (Japan, Italy or otherwise.)  On the
same note, I urge those of you who have experimented with the scene
to share your views with the Digest as some of you have with me.

     The bands discussed in this section are for the most part what
are known as "one-shots" and were the more obscure of the bands
from the country.  Thanks to the reissue craze, these discs are
about as common as the well-known ones which does the bands
justice.

     Patrizio Alluminio was the keyboard player for the trio gli
Alluminogeni.  Their brand of Italian classical rock was in the
same vein as the other similar trios - Le Orme, The Trip etc and
again are recommended to fans of this genre.
 
     Better than Alluminogeni, are the band L'Uovo Di Colombo who's
similarities are evident, but the music in this case is much more
original and their creativity definitely stands out.  Easily one of
the best in the classical rock genre, L'Uovo Di Colombo's self-
titled release was released limited edition in Japan so is rather
rare on CD, although not as rare as the original LP.

     Not a one-shot but a band that released three albums, Delirium
were a more original band who were more difficult to classify. 
These are the bands that hold the most interest for me personally
and the range of styles on Delirium's 'Lo Scemo E Il Villaggio' are
astounding.  Their first 'Dolce Aqua' has also been reissued in
Italy.
 
     Polished mellow progressive was the style of Errata Corrige
and their only album 'Siegfried, Il Drago E Altre Storia' is proof
of this.  Showing Italian elegance to the extreme, EC's music is
quite beautiful, and as a quartet they show amazing versatility
with the instruments they used.  The music works very well as a
whole and is very soothing and spacious.

     PFM sound alikes, Festa Mobile were a little heavier than
their more well-known counterparts and the keyboard player happened
to be more of a virtuoso than PFM's but the effect is close. 
Although FM's singer may be a little less melodic than PFM's, the
music is just as interesting and a little bit more involving.

     Probably the best one in this article, Semiramis put out their
sole album in 1973, a masterpiece entitled 'Dedicato A Frazz.' 
Maybe one of the best Italian albums, Semiramis were incredibly
dynamic and heavy and showed a prowess that many one-shots were
hard pressed to match.  The songs could be slightly redundant to
some of you, but this is part of the magic.  A tension is created
and rarely let up through the course of the album.

     For the more avant-garde of the Gibraltar readers, Opus
Avantra may be to your liking.  Combing operatic, neo-classical,
and progressive/classical rock styles, Opus Avantra created a very
interesting music that succeeded in their first of three
'Introspezzione' but was less effective in 'Lord Cromwell Plays The
Suite For Seven Vices.  OA also made an album recently on the Artis
label entitled 'Strata'

     Another great album is Panna Freda's 'Uno.' Similar to Errata
Corrige yet a little heavier in parts, PF's Floydian/Italian
progressive is a fascinating offshoot of the genre and is rather
engaging, especially earlier on in the album.

     Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno's 'Per....Un Mondo Di Cristallo'
is one that I've found very difficult to get into personally which
intrigues me to no end.  Crimson is evident here, especially with
some of the dissonance that resounds throughout the album, but
again this album is unquestionalbly Italian.

     Easier to the ears, and related to RRR above, Samadhi created
a very interesting style of progressive and at times tends to be
the most symphonic of the bunch.  Again, a variety of styles are
experimented with and again it flows very well.  This one I found
much easier to get into than the aforementioned one.

In the last three Italian articles, I have thrown at you a number
of bands that would interest many of you, and have decided to stop
here instead of overwhelming anyone further with descriptions. 
Bands like Ibis, Aktuala, Picchio Dal Pozzo and Il Paese Dei
Balocchi are also just as worthy (if not worthier) of note as many
of these bands but considering most of these haven't been reissued
(and if they have they went out of print quickly) I won't discuss
any further.  All of these bands will be listed in the upcoming
discography for those of you who can find them.  A few words on the
Italian 90's scene.

     Evidently the Italians also threw out a number of 'neo-
progressive' bands that were similar to the eighties scene.  Bands
like Leviathan, Notturno Concertante, and Fancyfluid are some that
I haven't bothered trying out, due to unexcited reviews of them
that I have read.  These same reviews, though, aren't too excited
about neo-progressive in general (Audion especially) and so I
wouldn't write off any of these bands if you are into Marillion, IQ
etc.  Some of you may like these bands quite a bit.
  
   The bands in this subgenre that I have tried out, Arcansiel
and Edith, have failed to excite me yet, but this may be because I
haven't given them enough time.  If they grow on me positively, I
will try and relate them to the Gibraltar.

     The Italian bands that have grabbed my ears are those that
sound similar to the 70's Italian bands - notably Ezra Winston,
Nuova Era, and Malibran.  Nuova Era, I have reviewed in my first
article and may be the best band to come out of Italy since the
70's and even give those bands a run for the money.  Ezra Winston
are as good, and although I haven't heard their rare first 'The
Myth Of The Chrysavides,' their second is an excellent and original
release that combines too many styles to remark on, while remaining
very symphonic. 'Ancient Afternoons' also has an appearance by Le
Orme bassist Aldo Tagilapetra.  Malibran, while also good, have yet
to mature, their only release to date 'A Wood Of Tales' is rather
loose yet shows much promise and many elements of what made the
Italian scene so great in the seventies.


Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive