I
Tugs began life in Livorno in 1978 on the initiative of Pietro
Contorno, Nicola Melani, Bruno Rotolo, Michele Lippi, and Claudio
Cecconi. They were influenced by Italian prog bands such as Premiata
Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Le Orme and by Italian
singer-songwriters as Fabrizio De André and Angelo Branduardi but in
the eighties progressive rock was out of fashion and they had no
chance to release an album in the early phase of their career. After
a long hiatus the band re-formed and started to play live again
mixing music and theatre with the contribute of a company of
comedians. In 2013 they finally released a début album on the
independent label AMS/BTF, Europa Minor, with a line up
featuring founder members Pietro Contorno (vocals, guitar), Nicola
Melani (guitar) and Bruno Rotolo (bass) along with Marco Susini
(keyboards) and Fabio Giannitrapani (drums, percussion). During the
recording session they were helped by Claudio Fabiani (flute),
Francesco Carmignani (violin), Martina beinfei (cello), Matteo
Scarpettini (percussion) and Antonio Ghezzani (guitar, mandola,
mandolin) who contributed to enrich the musical fabric with excellent
results. According to the liner notes “Europa Minor” is a
clandestine collection of literary and musical works, fragments of
poetry, tales, scores, drawings and images preserved by a group of
travelling artists and on stage all this stuff comes to life thanks
to all the musicians and actors involved. Well, in the absence of the
comedians, listening to this album we will have to complete the
musical tableaux with our imagination.
The
opener “Waterloo” is a lively track about the Battle of Waterloo.
On a marching beat you can imagine the armies moving with a martial
pace. Then the lyrics depict the stench of death soaring from the
battlefield while Lady Fortune dances on the fate of the heroes like
the wind among the trees. Now she turns her back to the glorious
Emperor who once ruled all over Europe, the man whom five years of
exile would convert into a martyr, and fifteen of restoration elevate
to the rank of a god (1). The country around Waterloo is soaked in blood... “The crops are
laughing at the honours of the heroes...”.
“Il
re e il poeta” (The king and the poet) is a complex piece divided
into two parts. The first part, “La corte” (The court), describes
in musics and words the arrival of a poet in the court of the king of
an European country. The poet comes from the Middle-East and brings
new secrets and magical scrolls. People gather around, they come to
the king's hall to listen to the stories of the poet about heroes,
wars, demons and death. The poet tells old fairy-tales and unfolds
arcane mysteries, then king ask him to predict the future of his
kingdom... “The frontiers of my world lie beyond Time / Cries and
repentances of men and peoples made this kingdom fit to challenge
Time / Now I ask you, poet / To tell us the future of my kingdom /
And in your name let's celebrate...”. The second part, “La
gloria” (The glory), describes the sardonic answer of the poet...
“Time passes by and the veil of a rapidly forgotten age falls down
on the memories... As rain that will get lost in time / Your name
will be erased / Millennia will bend on you / And your fruit will be
consumed / It's the glory...”.
“La
brigata dei dottori” (The physicians brigade) is a reflective,
bitter-sweet track about real knowledge. What is the secret of the
man who hides inside yourself? Science can't answer this question,
physicians and eminent people can't give you any useful advice when
you are confronted with the mystery of your ego and they could become
for you just an awkward bunch of charlatans... “Leave behind you
your fire / And read the signs in the sky... And my face broke into a
thousand faces / And my hands crushed into a thousand hands...”.
“Pietroburgo
1824” (Petersburg, 1824) takes you on board of an old steam engine
train directed to Saint Petersburg, the Imperial capital of Russia
founded by the Tsar Peter the Great in 1703. Here Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment was set along with many
other novels by Russian writers as Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol. The music and
lyrics depict the city on a windy day in November 1824 with
beautiful, evocative musical and poetical colours. “On the roofs
and in the streets / That November wind was raging against the
men...”.
“Le
colline di Ems” (Ems hills) begins with a strummed acoustic guitar.
The mood is dreamy but there's a vein of melancholia. In a dark night
old memories come back... “He painted his thoughts like the sun /
And the memory of the colours of the street gave way to the clear air
/ And that was his last dream / Then the shadows closed his gaze /
Amidst the fogs of dawn...”.
“Il
pianto” (The cry) is darker and filled with an exotic sense of
mystery. Music and lyrics describe the strange dialogue between a man
and his shadow where the borders of reality get blurred. Eventually a
desperate cry springs out from broken dreams and deluded hopes.
The
following “Il sogno di Jennifer” (Jennifer's dream) is an
excellent instrumental featuring a perfectly balanced mix of
classical influences and rock. It leads to the committed “Nostra
Signora Borghesia” (Our Lady Bourgeoisie) that depicts an old lady
with a heart of ice, covered with gold and dressed up in all her
vanity. It's a poetical denounce of social injustice and hypocrisy.
There's no violence in the music and lyrics but a drum roll towards
the end seems to suggest an impending execution... “Dance with us,
my old lady...”.
“I
bambini d'inverno” (The children in winter) draws the image of a
child in a cold house. Outside there's a high wall, cold as a blade,
that makes the heart bleeding. There are children in the snowy
streets who are playing and moving around like human crumbs in a sea
of lights and concrete. They can fly high, over the wall... “The
children in winter / Coffee drops in the white sea of this hell...”.
“Canzone
per un anno” (Song for a year) is a charming ballad with a slightly
Medieval flavour and strong classical influences. It depicts a
Northern mountainous landscape. In January barbaric hordes from the
forests stormed through the valleys and until April the crying of the
women resounded all around, there were no celebration in honour of
God Pan and of the elves. In May the snow melted and the corpses of
the dead were buried. In June there was a new battle and the invaders
were defeated. In September the vineyards gave their fruits and
Bacchus was celebrated, then the winter came back. All this events
are seen through the eyes of a little girl... “Open your eyes, my
little darling / May will come back / Dance peacefully your
cheerfulness...”.
The
conclusive track, “Nanou”, is set in France in 1943 and tells of
a meeting between a desperate, suicidal girl and some partisans who
rescue her from the cold water of the river. The meeting is suddenly
interrupted by the arrival of the Germans. You can hear the shots...
“A thousand air drops are drawing me away from you...”.
On
the whole, I think that this is a very good album, a labour of love
filled with passion and great musicianship that is really worth
listening to.
You can listn in streaming to the complete album HERE
You can listn in streaming to the complete album HERE
Tugs:
Europa Minor (2013). Other opinions:
Olav
Marin Bjornsen: All in all Tugs very much belated debut album is a
fine specimen of it's kind. Symphonic progressive rock with more of
an acoustic atmosphere to it and with a fair few details of folk
music flavoring the proceedings, creating an elegant and
sophisticated breed of timeless but vintage sounding symphonic
progressive rock that should have a fairly broad appeal. With those
who have a soft spot for Italian bands with vocalists singing in
their native tongue as a logical key audience... (read the
complete review HERE)
Paul
Fowler: It's a remarkably mature piece of work with strong
musicianship without going for overly flash, everyone playing their
part perfectly. There are moments of bombast with heavier guitar
riffing but that's not what Europa Minor is about, rich melodies and
tastefully restrained instrumentation weaving together to form an
intricate whole being the order of the day... (read the complete
review HERE)
More
info
(1) This
quote is not from the lyrics but from The Count of Monte-Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas
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