Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.rock
Titolo: Silenzio !!! Parla il Faraone

n interview with Mauro Moroni of Mellow Records by Raimo Eurasto and Marco
Bernard, COLOSSUS-Magazine #10.
1. Would you please tell our readers something about yourself. Who are you
and how did you get interested in progressive rock? What do you do for a
living? 
I am 39 years of age, a lawyer by education and, at the moment, almost a
full time record producer. My interest for progressive rock music
(although in the 70's this kind of music in Italy was called pop) goes
back when I was 15 and when I purchased, on my friend's advice, Trespass,
Pawn Hearts, Close to the edge, Focus 2, Contaminazione by Rovescio and
Astrolabio by Garybaldi. 
2. What was the first record you bought? 
Deep Purple 3 and Rock'n'roll Animal by Lou Reed. For what concerns prog
see above. 
3. When did you start seriously to collect records? 
When I was 18. Every "Italian lira" went equally divided between music and
girls. I've started with the Italian prog, then with the French,
Scandinavian and with the Folk/Rock. The records where growing on trees
then… 
4. How many LPs and CDs do you have in your collection? 
24.000 LPs and about 12.000 CDs. 
5. Could you give us some examples how you found some of the very rare
records in your collection? 
In the beginning through ads on Record Collector, Goldmine, Oldie-Markt or
on specialized collectors magazines. Afterwards also by travelling through
Europe at the record fairs, often together with my old friend Caprio of
Kaliphonia, searching in all the imaginable record stores. As often
happens, luck is a very important factor. I've found Kalevala's "People no
names" in a store of numismatics in Germany! 
6. Is there anything for you to buy anymore? 
There is always something to buy…every month unknown records are
discovered. The obvious danger for a collector is "buy but don't listen";
often a record is not played for the risk of ruining it. And also, often
the rare and expensive records have a musical value equal to zero. 
7. Nowadays almost everybody has his or her own definition of progressive
rock. What does progressive rock mean to you? 
I really hate the term "progressive". It doesn't mean anything and it is
only a way to ghettoize a musical genre and its (few) listeners. Nowadays
we often identify progressive rock with the so-called new prog which is
the exact opposite. I prefer to use a terminology from the 70's:
romantic-rock, symphonic-rock, avant-garde, rock-jazz, folk-rock,
Canterbury music, etc. But, in fact, to classify is to bound and to
restrict music. Therefore to kill the inspiration of who composes and who
listens. 
8. What kind of progressive rock do you specially like? Can you give some
examples of your favorites? Is there something that you don't like at all?
How do you like the new "progressive" bands compared to the classics of
the 70's? 
My special favourite has always been the Canterbury rock. From Caravan to
Wyatt, from Soft Machine to Gong. And the romantic rock most melodic and
refined, Enid and Camel on top. And obviously the three monsters: Genesis,
Yes and VDGG. I don't like much the English inspired neo-prog, with some
exceptions. For what concerns the comparisons with the classics of the
past, it would be a very long and complex analysis… Anyway by
synthesizing, I believe that there are good bands around now as there were
good bands earlier. Obviously, it is more and more difficult to be
original in a genre that often tends to repeat itself. But great bands
still exist, unfortunately hidden in a hotchpotch of second-rate
productions. What has changed is the public that often is content with
"bands that are similar to…" instead of looking around and trying
something new. However, lets not forget the ridiculous price for a CD that
limits the purchasing to few and well-known realities and restricts the
possibility to venture into, maybe, more exciting music. 
9. Could you tell us something about Mellow Records? How and when did it
get started and what was the purpose of Mellow Records in the beginning?
How about today? 
Mellow Records started in 1991 as a game, a hobby between Ciro Perrino and
me. Ciro had some old tapes in a drawer dated back the time when he was
involved with Celeste and Museo Rosenbach. It was possible to find many
unpublished masters of the great Italian bands of the seventies. At that
time, by considering the strong interest of the Japanese collectors for
this type of music we decided to take a risk and "create a label". The aim
of this initiative was to make available for everyone, unpublished
recordings on compact disc and after, by buying the copyrights, also the
legendary Italian vinyls that were unavailable to most of us also because
of their prohibitive prices. In 1993 we started to produce new Italian
bands, trying to cover all their recording and printing expenses. Finally
we have extended our interest also to foreign bands by producing new
groups and reissuing old masterpieces. At the moment Mellow Records has
grown a lot, maybe too much; we have a catalogue of 400 productions; from
a hobby, Mellow has become a company as all the other commercial
companies, with taxes to be paid and bureaucratic work that in Italy is
very "heavy" to handle. Still, we are happy for what we do also because of
our very strong love for this type of music. 
10. Thanks to Mellow Records many very obscure Italian progressive records
have been rescued from the archives. Have all Italian progressive classics
already been re-released or is there still something to wait for? 
I must say that almost everything has been reissued, between the work of
Mellow and of Vinyl Magic from the early 90's all the Italian progressive
classics is available to the public. There are only a few important works
missing (for example, Libra, Cincinnato and Roky's Fily) but just because
of the obtuse politic of the majors that are not willing to give or renew
the licenses. Old story but not only Italian… 
11. In the beginning of the 90's there were many new symphonic prog bands
in Italy. How is the progressive rock scene nowadays in Italy? Is there
many people listening to this kind of music? How about live concerts? 
The situation in Italy is paradoxical. There are more bands than persons
interested in prog. The Italian bands are more known abroad than in Italy.
Live concerts are more rare than a vinyl of Sepi Kuu… We are trying to do
something by organizing for example the first Italian progfest in Rome, by
the end of April with Balletto di Bronzo, Divae, A Piedi Nudi,
Hostsonaten, Metamorfosi… but the way is long and difficult. The main
problem in Italy is that the record labels, fanzines, radios, etc. instead
of cooperating with each other, tend to fight a sad war of the poor that
will cause inevitably, if things don't change, the end of prog. 
12. What do you know about Finnish prog. Has there in your opinion been
any good bands in Finland? What Finnish records do you have in your
collection? 
Maybe more than you expect…Just to mention a few records in my collection:
Apollo, Atlantic Ocean, Charlies, Elonkorju, Fantasia, The Group, Haikara,
Jukka Hauru, Kaamos, Kalevala, Sepi Kuu, Liettya Project, Maru & Mikael,
Jargon, Jupu Group, Kristian, Ilpo Murtojarvi, Nimbus, Nova, Scapa Flow,
Scarab, Session, Sperm, Tabula Rasa, Threshold, Uni Sono, Yellow. Without
mentioning Wigwam, Piirpauke and Tasavallan Presidentti. I'm also fond of
Finnish folk-rock, Niekku is one of my favorite bands. Many of these
records are excellent. The second of Haikara, Nimbus and Fantasia are the
best. Regarding new Finnish bands I don't know much, with the exception
obviously of Ageness and Five Fifteen. 
13. Have You ever played any instrument or do you only listen to the
music? Once there was a rumor around that Devil Doll is really one Dr.
Moroni in disguise, have you any comments ? 
I was the lead singer in a band 20 years ago. Better to forget... I play
keyboards a little, being a lucky owner of a Hammond B3 and a working
Mellotron... For what concerns Devil Doll, I know Mr. Doctor from 15 years
but we don't have anything in common apart the love for music and movies. 
14. What kind of sound system and listening room do you have and how much
do you listen to the music daily? 
With such a large collection of records it must be difficult to have time
to listen to all your records. How do you find the record that you would
like to listen to? Do you have some system to catalogue all your records?
I'm not fond of HI-FI systems. I own a normal mediocre stereo system. I
love the music more than the sound quality. I try to listen as much music
as possible, in my every spare time, my average is 3-4 hours per day. I
own a house only for my records and my records are classified and divided
with fanatical accuracy, memorized in my computer by nationality, release
date and rarity. Of course the entrance is strictly forbidden… 
15. Is there anything else of importance or interesting information that
you would like to tell to our readers? 
Purchase and listen to as much music as possible without being afraid to
expand your musical interests, it's worth it! And support always the new
prog bands, from Finland and abroad. 
 
 
 
 
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 my average is 3-4 hours per day.
diciamo pure 4. Considerando una durata media di 40' per album,
il rapporto di ascolto ta/tc (tempo di ascolto su tempo di durata
complessiva dei dischi)  č il seguente:
240' 
-------- = 1,92 
125' 
L'Avv. Far. Moroni ascolta quindi un disco quasi due volte, in media
(e ripeto, abbiamo escluso dal computo 1/3 della sua collezione)...
ciao
JG
This style is not free. This style is expensive

 (e ripeto, abbiamo escluso dal computo 1/3 della sua collezione)...
ti meravigli? il bello è che poi si considerano "esperti" di musica...
record collectors are pretentious assholes, non mi stancherò mai di dirlo...

 ha scritto nel messaggio
news:oibd5u4meusiilp26...@4ax.com...

anche io avevo pensato che c'č poco tempo per ascoltare un ambum due volte
se ne hai cosě tanti.
boh, forse li presta e si ascolta i migliori! :-)
ivan

 ivan
Bellissima questa :-)
Il problema suo e' come fa a sapere quali sono i migliori per ascoltarli
:-))))
Io ai tempi del vinile avevo il problema contrario, i migliori si
consumavano :-)
ciao
franco
ascolto: sempre quadrophenia

 girls.
ROTFL!
Ave


*** qui mi trovo costretto a darti ragione. Ha ragione Wag, huka.... tu esci
alla distanza ;-)
UCTS <°((((((><
--
"What is a band without skyscrapers?"
www.gadiel.com
www.moe.org

 record collectors are pretentious assholes, non mi stancherò mai di
dirlo...
ora sei praticamente costretto a dirci quanti dischi hai :-)
(e anche quando hai cominciato, va)

 full time record producer.
Lavorare no, eh?
L.C.
^^^

 (e anche quando hai cominciato, va)
tanti, troppi. ma giuro che li ho ascoltati tutti, e pure tanto.
mila, comunque.
ho cominciato intorno ai 15-16 anni con i ramones.

 mila, comunque.
e così tra vent'anni ci toccherà leggere l'intervista di hooker che dice 
che cha un milione di dischi... seeeeeeeeeeeee :)
-- 
parafrasando Giannici, sono "niubbo ad interim"

 Scarab, Session, Sperm, Tabula Rasa, Threshold, Uni Sono, Yellow. 
a quanto pare la memoria del faraone funziona in ordine alfabetico


 a quanto pare la memoria del faraone funziona in ordine alfabetico
Lo avevo pensato anch'io. Malizioso ;)

 possibility to venture into, maybe, more exciting music. 
Direi che questa e` la parte piu` interessante, che evidenzia l`errore
clamoroso dei passatisti. Il fatto che la maggioranza del publico compri
un prodotto mediocre NON significa automaticamente che la scena musicale
sia in crisi. 
Sul fatto che il Moroni sia presuntuoso : senz`altro, ma come disse un
famoso filosofo, credo Charles Barkley, " It ain`t braggin` if you back it
up ".


 ho cominciato intorno ai 15-16 anni con i ramones.
Domanda: mantenendo questi ritmi riuscirai, fra 17, 18 anni a raggiungere
cifre Moroniane ?
A quel punto, potremmo darti del pretenzioso assolo pure noi ?
Ciao, Stefano

 A quel punto, potremmo darti del pretenzioso assolo pure noi ?
non credo proprio, a meno che non vincessi una lotteria.
lui ha 36.000 dischi (di cui, presumo, a giudicare dai suoi gusti, almeno
35999 brutti, concediamogli un disco decente, almeno).
come vedete non sono cifre da persona "sana di mente"...