Time Of Change is the fourth studio album by The Trip and was released in 1973 on the independent Trident label with a confirmed line up featuring Joe Vescovi (keyboards, vocals), Arvid “Wegg” Andersen (bass, vocals) and Furio Chirico (drums, percussion). The overall sound is characterized by stronger classical and jazz influences than in the past and there’s more room for solo piano passages and acoustic moments...
The opener “Rhapsodia” is a long, complex and fragmented track that fills all the first side of the LP. According to wikipedia, a rhapsody in music is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour, and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations... This description, in my opinion, perfectly fits this piece where the music and lyrics evoke dreamy landscapes and infinite skies. Here you can set your imagination free and take off for a flight in a perpetual, timeless motion, dancing along the sounds coming from a distant town. You’re close to the edge and nobody can catch you in your playful illusion... Well, probably the colourful art cover can describe the content of this long track better than all my words.
The lively instrumental “Formula nova” (New formula) opens the second side of the LP and could recall Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It begins by a jazzy incipit with the piano in the forefront and frenzied bass lines, then, after a drum break, the organ takes over leading to a pyrotechnic finale... Next comes another instrumental track, “De sensibus” (the title, in Latin, means “about the senses”) that starts by the sound of church bells and powerful drum rolls and features a disquieting atmosphere with a particular ethnic flavour and a great percussion work...
The following “Corale” (Chorale) brings an almost liturgical atmosphere dominated by a church-like organ and strong classical influences. In fact, the title refers to several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale while the music and lyrics invite you to break free from the jail of a meaningless life and look up for joy and peace... Then the instrumental “Ad libitum” closes the album. It’s a piece for piano solo where Joe Vescovi seems just exploring the possibilities of the instrument going from classical to jazz, from blues to ragtime...
After Time Of Change drummer Furio Chirico left to form Arti & Mestieri while the others tried to get on with the help of Osage Tribe's drummer Nunzio Favia. Unfortunately, the band gave up some months later, when Andersen was injured in an accident. Joe Vescovi then joined Acqua Fragile for a short time at the end of 1974 and later both he and Favia joined Dik Dik. As a consequence, The Trip and their music went under the radar for a very long time... Until 2010! But this is another story...
You can listen to the complete album HERE
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