Posto
Blocco 19 (the name means Check-point 19) began life in the province
of Parma in 1972 under the name Collettivo Musicale Collecchiese on
the initiative of a group of friends in love with the music of bands
such as Premiata Forneria Marconi, Santana or Deep Purple. The band
had been active until 1983 but during their early days they never had
the chance to release an album and their only record was a single
released in 1981, when progressive rock was considered a genre
completely out of fashion. After a long hiatus the band came back to
life in 2005 but it wasn't until 2014 that they could release a first
full length album on the independent label Lizard Records. It's
titled "Motivi di sempre" and collects the band's most
significant pieces re-arranged and some new tracks recorded with a
renewed line up featuring along with founder members Raimondo
Fantuzzi (guitar, vocals) and Vittorio Salvi (drums) also Francesca
Campagna (vocals), Massimo Casaro (bass), Stefano Savi (percussion)
and Graziano De Palma (keyboards). The result of their efforts is
excellent and the beautiful art work taken from some paintings by Teo
De Palma (father of the keyboardist) in some way reflects the music
and lyrics with its soft colours and dreamy mood.
The
opener "A un passo dal cielo (suite 1)" (One step to the
sky) is a brilliant instrumental track that recalls the best
tradition of Italian Progressive Rock and takes you back in time with
its positive energy, its warm organ waves and the soaring electric
guitar solos...
The
following "E la musica va" (And the music goes) was
originally released in 1981 and here is dressed up in new colours and
revitalized by the new line up. It's a song about racism and
multi-ethnic conflicts and some melodic lines remind me of an Italian
band called I Nomadi. The lyrics conjure up the images of shooting
men, soldiers in an unwanted war who are nothing but pawns in the
game of mischievous, unscrupulous politicians. Blacks and poor people
do not fear to get killed, they're just blood and tears, love and
death... Try to imagine the corpse of one of these men lying in the
dust. He was just a tramp, a poet, a free spirit who used to fly high
on the wings of love. The evocative music and the soaring vocals tell
about hate and nostalgia mixing the colours of a scared painter...
Next
comes the dreamy "All'alba del giorno dopo" (At dawn on the
day after) that invites you to stop running after this crazy, busy
world and to enjoy your life seizing every fleeting moment. The
visionary lyrics tell that you can let your dreams drive... The past
is gone but you can ride on new horizons towards crystal lakes, you
can travel through far deserts and clear skies until you'll find
in a legendary treasure box the ancient fairy tales that will make
you lord of the castle of triumph allowing you to tame new planets on
the course of your flying ships...
"Scandendo
il tempo" (Beating time) was originally released in 2011 on the
Musea-Colossus compilation "Decameron Part 1". This piece
was re-recorded in 2014 by the new line up and the vocalist Francesca
Campagna here brings new energies and freshness. It starts
softly, the mood is dreamy and the music is calm while the poetical lyrics deal with the
relativity of time and space. Try to imagine the wind riding raging
sea waves in the dark while the borders between reality and
imagination get blurred... Then image some flocks of birds on the wires: they are like notes
coming from deep throats while they're looking at falling stars and distant
planets, sparks in an abstract universe...
Then comes the beautiful
instrumental "A un passo dal cielo (suite 2)" that in some
way closes the circle of your daydreams and takes you back to Earth
with its delicate Mediterranean flavours and Latin rhythms.
The
last piece, "L'ultima acqua" (The last water), is credited
as a bonus track and was originally released in 2010 on another
Musea-Colossus compilation, "The Divine Comedy Part III -
Dante's Paradiso". It was remastered in 2014 and features
Bernardo Lanzetti (vocals) and Giancarlo Di Bella (keyboards). The
band here interpret with heartfelt passion and personality the spirit
of the immortal lines by the sommo poeta... "On the edge
of the last water seize the hope / At the right time many will
return...". A great track!
On
the whole, I think that this is a really good album. Every now and
again the music could recall bands such as Premiata Fornaria Marconi,
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso or Il Castello di Atlante but Posto Blocco
19 are not just emulators playing by rote and they do not sound
derivative. I'm sure that this album will be an excellent addition to
any Italianprog collection!
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