UNDER THE CITY

“Palepoli” is usually considered Osanna’s best album. It was released in 1973 and it is a very difficult album to define. It’s a philosophical conceptual work about Man’s fate and it develops some ideas already present on their debut album “L’uomo”. It was conceived as a musical to be performed in theatres with the help of actors and dancers and features two long suites separated by a short interlude. The line-up is classical Osanna featuring Lino Vairetti (vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards), Danilo Rustici (guitar, organ, vocals), Elio D’Anna (flute, sax), Lello Brandi (bass) and Massimo Guarino (drums, percussion). Throughout the album it is evident that the aim of the musicians is to experience new ways, crossing styles and exploring new musical territories combining British influences with Mediterranean tradition (the lyrics here are in Italian with some parts in the dialect from Naples). Here you can find the images and sounds from an apocalyptic future and shadows and ghosts from the past.

The opener “Oro caldo” (Hot Gold) begins softly, there’s a quiet Mediterranean mood, just flute and percussions... Then an “electric tarantella” full of energy and rage takes off... The lyrics mark the contrast between the wish to live in a real world where there’s true love in the houses and joy in the streets and a different, harder reality full of rage and struggles. There’s a crowd shouting in dialect “Run away from here, escape from this country / Here words, people and thoughts don’t get along even for a single month...”. The crowd is desperate, as prisoners of a farce, they are just old-fashioned people tired of hoping and full of secrets... The tarantella ends in a guitar solo, then there’s an evocative instrumental passage in “Genesis style”... The world seems rather dull, covered by the dust of men, furrowed by deep trenches that look like the wrinkles of someone who has never cried... There are people who try to fight, to arrange plans to get a home and a job but it’s difficult to say what’s right and what’s wrong... The atmosphere is quiet and melancholic but the rhythm every now and again rises in sudden explosions of rage... “There’s fog in my mind... Hot gold is oozing from a trumpet / From where the shadow of a cold, silent note comes out...”. Cold, tired, ageless faces pass by, it’s like a human market where mercy is on sale and fragility pours from the sky... “And the wind runs towards me / Carrying the reality in its whirls / I feel cold in my thoughts / Thousands of voices are trampling on me, oh no! / Hot gold is flying / It’s like a bomb now... False! Right! False! Right!”. The music in some passages is of a dramatic beauty... Why is the present so hard? To understand it you have to search for your roots, exploring the unknown city which lies underground, populated by ghosts... “If you can search, search for Palepoli / The reality of an age without us... Plays and crafts of men, the hilarity of Pulcinella / If you can, search inside Palepoli...”. Classical influences are stronger here and contrast with the filtered raw vocals and jazzy passages expressing contrariety to a reflection about the past, the voice of Power... “The history of a city is nonsense / We go forward thanks to progress / We are progress, you’ve got wealth / We produce, although you have to work / We defend our society, but you have to fight the war...”. The city appears now as an enormous room from which you would like to break out. The mood becomes dreamy, you dream of another way of living... “I want to live in a real world where there’s love in the homes...”. But the dream clashes with the walls of the room-city... “Stanza città” (Room-City) is just a short instrumental bridge between side A and side B, you can listen to a short reprise of the opening section then to a claustrophobic conclusion...

“Animale senza respiro” (Animal without breath) starts in a jazzy, frenzied way, then the rhythm calms down giving way to a mystical atmosphere. The lyrics deal with ancient rituals and false myths leading humankind to self-destruction. Men have always built shrines and sacred altars, prayed and invoked their gods in vain... “Immortality will lie voiceless in your temples / You will burn bitter incenses and in that smoke you will drown / You will invoke false myths / Animal! You will fall / Animal! / You will crumble...”. The animal here is a metaphor for a blind man running after power and glory... An electric guitar solo kicks off a desperate race, men are running toward an uncertain future while the rhythm rises... “Animal, you’re out of breath now / You’re nothing but a shapeless heap of human stuff / Your mind is wandering in an endless rave...”. The race leads to an explosion... Then acoustic guitar introduces a dreamy, delicate passage... “You have no more time / You have no more hours / You have no more strength to believe in yourself / In this metre of life that you still have / You are looking for the air to breathe / You have no more time / You have no more hours / You are nothing now...”. The atmosphere becomes gloomy, dark bass lines pulse with experimental sounds in the background, then flute and melodic vocals draw a kind of bittersweet dirge... “Clouds of cold wool cover your agony / You will rise your lament towards your gods...”. But God lies in the air, you breathe and you can’t recognize Him. What’s happened? A nuclear disaster? The purity of a childhood has been robbed from us, the utopia of a new civilization has been destroyed and our faces are nothing but masks to conceal a faked truth... “You will pay for having robbed from us the purity of a childhood... You destroyed my age / My strength is empty... Animal! / You have built the utopia of a civilization, you have made a rain of vileness pour down...”. Rage rises... “No! Our masks won’t live again... I still want to dream the sound of the bells... Just a few more hours of cowardice and you will burn, animal! You will burn!”. But even if men ask for help their hate will never die... The rhythm becomes frenzied, wild sax passages and a jazzy mood describe the madness of humankind... “Animal without breath, you can already feel death on your face...”. Prayers are pointless now, because men are responsible for the hell they created... “Look at the sky / You can see the divine madness flying, laughing, dancing...”. On Earth mean people kill, and a threatening song celebrating the war soars... Then melts into the void. The amazing instrumental short coda leads to an awakening after a bad dream.

From the book Rock Progressivo Italiano: An introduction to Italian Progressive Rock

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Osanna: Palepoli (1973). Other opinions:

Jim Russell:  This is such a difficult album to write about, like trying to write about the most bizarre psych freak-outs or trying to discuss a 40 minute live version of the Dead's "Dark Star." Some things need to be heard to be understood... (read the complete review HERE)