Between is the fifth studio album by Mad Puppet and was self-released in 2020 in a 300 copies limited vinyl edition and in 2021 in digital version. It was recorded with a line up featuring Manfred Kaufmann (keyboards), Christoph Senoner (guitars), Thomas Pichler (bass, clarinet), Michael Mock (drums, percussion) and Manfred Schweigkofler (vocals) and marks a come back to the neo-prog origins of the band, twenty years after the disappointing, pop-oriented Cube. According to an interview with the band (link), the key is in the title: all the songs deal with something that is in-between, between one thing and another. Even with irony towards restarting...
The aggressive, nervous “New Start” sets the atmosphere evoking the need of a new beginning, the desire to re-start every day to make life better, cooler, more glamorous. Anyway, the results are not always successful... Then the rhythm slackens for the dreamy “Black Swan” that adds a touch of nostalgia for old songs and old friends and leads to the search for a way out from darkness, following the flight of a bold black swan...
The soft, mysterious “Foggy Day” tells of a day where empty clouds fill the space and you get lost, but the hope to recover your old brilliant sound remains intact as the hope to see the colours of the rainbow again... Then it’s the turn of the sarcastic, disquieting “Mote Of Dust” that conjures up the image of a human race lost in the cosmic darkness, in an endless nowhere in the middle of the universe where men kill each other and destroy their world like in a video game...
“Won’t Lose My Way” starts softly and tells of a difficult come back from a long journey where there’s always a burning light showing the way home. It’s a long piece with some changes in atmosphere that along the way blends elements of blues and hard rock with darker, dramatic passages... Next comes “You And I”, a short, melancholic piece describing a long waiting under a broken, falling sky on the banks of a river that looks like an ocean to cross...
The theatrical “Fail Again” blends prog and blues with a sense of madness crawling underneath the surface of a life that it’s more than it seems, a basket full of wonders that not everyone can appreciate... Then comes the ironic optimism of “Tomorrow” with its prediction of an impending change and its promises for the future, a piece that features a guest brass section and ends the album with a touch of jazz and soul.
In 1999, after a hiatus of more than twenty years, founder members Lino Vairetti and Danilo Rustici decided to bring back to life the music of Osanna re-arranging the old repertoire of the band for some new live performances. In 2001 Osanna released a new studio album, entitled Taka Boom, on their own independent label Afrakà with a new line up featuring Lino Vairetti (vocals, guitar), Danilo Rustici (electric and acoustic guitar) and Enzo Petrone (bass) with Gennaro Barba (drums), Gigi Borgogno (electric guitar), Vito Ranucci (sax) and Luca Urciuolo (keyboards) plus the special guest Enzo Avitabile (vocals). It contains some new arrangements of pieces from the seventies Osanna’s albums and two brand new tracks...
“L’uomo” opens the album with a surge of energy. This new version of Osanna’s debut album opener is brilliant, more aggressive than the original one and with an almost rapped section emphasizing the lyrics. The following “Ce vulesse ce vulesse”, is a piece from Suddance (“Ce vulesse”) that here is revitalized with the addition of a second part (“Canta chiù fforte”), harder and angrier than the original one...
The dreamy “Medley acustico” bounds a short excerpt from Palepoli, “Oro caldo”, with “My Mind Flies” from Preludio, tema, variazioni e canzona and “L’amore vincerà di nuovo” from L’uomo. The effect is interesting, but you can’t really resume and condensate such pieces in just five minutes and I feel that something is missing here...
The ironic, funny “Taka Boom” is a new track dealing with the risks of internet addiction leading to a virtual life disconnected with reality. On line you can find everything, you can burn every book and every film because you don’t need them any more, even sex can be experienced on line and pleasure stored in a file... Until the body of your virtual partner, hacked by viruses, will blow up!
Next comes another medley, “In un vecchio cieco - Vado verso una meta”, with two pieces from L’uomo that were bound also on the 1971 album (although in a different order) and here are in some way simplified and played in a more straightforward way. Then the canzona from the second album in its new dress, “There Will Be Time”, leads to “Medley Train” where a piece from L’uomo, “Mirror Train”, is enhanced with a new middle section featuring rap style vocals in the dialect of Naples, “Treno senza stazione” (Train without station). The new versions of “’A zingara” (from Suddance), “Oro caldo (Fuje ‘a chistu paese)” (an excerpt from Palepoli) and “Everybody’s Gonna See You Die” (from L’uomo) follow and lead to another new track “Colpi di tosse”, a song “of rage and nostalgia” featuring the narrative and rap vocals of the guest Enzo Avitabile interacting with Lino Vairetti’s melodic lines and including quotes of “Fog In My Mind”, from Landscape Of Life. A short acoustic version of “L’uomo” ends the album.
On the whole, a good work that takes Osanna into the new millennium but not an essential one.
*******************
Uomini e miti is in part a celebration of one of the most relevant bands of the Italian progressive scene of the Seventies and in part a new starting point... Perhaps the magic is gone, but Osanna show here that they are still able of great live performances and the new line up deserves credit. The album was released in 2003 on the independent label Afrakà and contains a CD and a DVD
The CD features six live tracks full of energy and enthusiasm where the band play the updated versions of some historic pieces and the result is quite good... “Ce vulesse - Ce vulesse”, “’A zingara”, “L’uomo”, “There Will Be Time”, “Mirror Train” and an excerpt from “Oro caldo” reflect the new arrangements from their previous album Taka Boom and flow without breaks for more than half an hour.
Then there are some tracks recorded in the studio. “Medley acustico: Oro caldo / My Mind Flies / L'amore vincerà di nuovo”, “Colpi di tosse” and “Taka Boom” come from Osanna’s previous album Taka Boom while “Non sei vissuto mai”, a new arrangement of a piece from 1971 album L’uomo, was previously unreleased.
The DVD documents a celebration concert for the 30th anniversary of the band (recorded in Naples in December 2001), featuring the performances of some guest stars such as Francesco Di Giacomo and Rodolfo Maltese (BMS), Vittorio De Scalzi (New Trolls), Paolo Fariselli (Area), Gianni Leone (Il Balletto di Bronzo) and Jenny Sorrenti (Saint Just) and one track from another concert in 2003. The quality is good and it could be of some interest for Italianprog lovers...
“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.
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)
Percorsi is Plurima Mundi’s second studio work (and their first full length album) and was self-released in 2017 with a renewed line up featuring Massimiliano Monopoli (electric violin), Grazia Maremonti (vocals), Massimo Bozza (bass), Silvio Silvestre (guitar), Gianmarco Franchini (drums) and Lorenzo Semeraro (piano). It maintains all the good promises of the 2009 EP entitled Atto I with its excellent mix of classical influences, progressive rock and world music...
The excellent opener “Eurasia” is a long, complex instrumental piece that starts with a drum solo part, then the sound of the violin lead us from Venice to Asia and back through the Silk Road. You can hear strong classical influences with the shadow of Vivaldi looming large, but this particular journey goes through many changes in rhythm and atmosphere and all you have to do is set your imagination free and let the music drive...
The following “E mi vedrai... Per te” (And you’ll see me... For you) every now and again reminds me slightly of Opus Avantra and tells in music and words of a burning, sensual passion and of a lost love that the protagonist would like to take back. A dream that could turn to nightmare. In fact, in my opinion, the operatic, theatrical vocals of Grazia Maremonti conjure up the image of a crazy, hysterical, dangerous woman...
The disquieting “L. ...Tu per sempre” (L. ...You forever) tells of another tormented love story. The atmosphere is dark, the music is closer to Goblin’s horror soundtracks than to dreamy emotional landscapes. Here the music and lyrics evoke a love that burns like a raging fire in the heart of the protagonist, but her lover is missing. She runs to the border of the night, her lover now is like a haunting ghost with an icy look. The wind is blowing, time passes by but in the darkness the memory of a lost summer dream shines on...
“Male interiore (La mia età)” (Inner disease - My age) starts softly, by an acoustic guitar arpeggio, the atmosphere is hypnotic and tense. The hermetic lyrics and operatic vocals express the need to open your heart to the universe and follow the rhythm of its notes while the music takes rough trails with sudden accelerations and unexpected turnarounds... Then a shortened version of “L. ...Tu per sempre” closes the album.
On the whole, an interesting work that is really worth listening to.
Steven Reid: Clocking in at just over forty minutes (including the bonus track), the first full effort from Plurima Mundi may not be the longest album you'll encounter this year and yet with not a second wasted in its running time, it may well be one of the most interesting you'll come across. The songs are tightly constructed and varied, while the violin and vocals always keep similar underlying themes in play. As with their previous release, there's little doubt that a band emanating from the US or the UK would never have conjured up what Plurima Mundi do. Something that, with so many outfits working towards similar goals, is a real breath of fresh air... (read the complete review HERE)
Plurima Mundi came to life in Taranto in 2004 on the initiative of classical violinist and composer Massimiliano Monopoli with the aim of blending progressive, jazz, rock, swing, blues, funky, world and classical music to give form to something challenging and new. In 2009 the band self-released an interesting debut EP entitled Atto I with a line up featuring Massimiliano Monopoli (violin), Grazia Maremonti (vocals), Massimo Bozza (bass), Vincenzo Zecca (guitar), Pierfrancesco Caramia (drums) and Francesco Pagliarulo (piano) plus the guest Lino Vairetti (vocals on one track - from Osanna). The overall sound is rich and varied, the musicianship and compositional skills of the band worth noting...
The opener “Ortus confusus” is an instrumental piece that starts softly, with a dreamy atmosphere and a strong classical flavour. Then the rhythm rises for a short passage that recalls a folkish dance led by the violin that turns into a swinging jazz part with the piano in the forefront. Finally the violin returns to drive back the music in a classical world following other directions...
Next comes “Nei ricordi del tempo” (In the memories of time) that starts by a calm section veined of nostalgia. The music and lyrics evoke the memories of a lost love emerging from an inner sea of emotions, then the rhythm rises, the memories turn into a vortex and begin to dance in circles, hand in hand with time. Everything turns around like in an eternal come back...
The long, complex “Laboratorio 30” (Laboratory 30) is a dreamy piece that goes through many changes in mood and rhythm. The music and lyrics evoke new forms and colours coming to life as darkness falls down, tableaux painted in vivid colours, an illusory world of modernity and brilliant night entertainment where every novelty becomes a fatal attraction. Pictures of a vanity fair where you can get lost between temptation and deceit... The last track, “Aria” (Air), features the guest vocalist Lino Vairetti interacting with Grazia Maremonti. The music and lyrics evoke the sense of freedom that you can experience by breathing fresh air after escaping from the prison of your daily grind. Mediterranean influences conjure up an enchanted, mysterious atmosphere as a new emotional world opens its gates and invites you to come in. The night hugs and protect you...
On the whole, a very good work.
Plurima Mundi: Atto I (2009). Other opinions: Jim Russell: "Atto I" is the debut EP by the Taranto based Plurima Mundi, a new 6-piece outfit delivering lavish and elegant compositions that should thrill many RPI fans. They sound markedly different than many other current entries on the RPI scenes, different than the heavy-rock proggers, folkier entries, or those infused with metal or neo influences... This band has a feisty compositional attitude and grabs every style in the book in the search for a unique sound... and it works! Blending so many styles could be a disaster in some cases but not here... (Read the complete review HERE)
Con fuoco is the second full length studio album by Roman band Magnolia and was released in 2017 on the independent label Lizard Records with a confirmed line up featuring Chiara Gironi (vocals), Donatella Valeri (piano, keyboards), Simone Papale (bass), Claudio Carpenelli (drums), Bruno Tifi (guitars, backing vocals) and Alessandro Di Cori (guitars, bass, synthesizers, backing vocals). It confirms all the good qualities of their debut album, the music and lyrics follow a common thread and deal with globalization and social justice, oppression and war, resistance against dictatorships. The art cover by Gianluca Serratore gives a clue of the content and in the booklet you can find some pictures representing the events that inspired the pieces...
The opener “Con fuoco” (With fire) is an instrumental piece that starts by the contrast between a dreamy piano arpeggio and hard electric guitar riffs. The soaring vocals used as an instrument add a touch of oriental flavour and a melancholic mood while in the background you can hear gunshots and echoes of war... Then the voices from some radio news broadcasts introduce “Rivolta” (Revolt), an angry piece inspired by the 2011 clashes between the police and the protesters of the movement Occupy Wall Street in New York. The music and lyrics give voice to the reasons of the demonstrators, fed up by a sense of justice they can’t share. The new masters are more arrogant and coward than ever and their greediness is without limit but the time of change has come, this time it’s the time of revolt...
The accordion notes of “Bella Ciao” and the voices from some TV news broadcasts from Italy introduce, the reflective, melancholic “La città della notte” (City of the night), inspired by the clashes between police and no-global during 2001 G8 summit in Genoa and by the disproportionate police reaction in the night when they were searching for the black blocks who devastated the city the previous day. The music and lyrics describe the feelings of the day after in a city “where violence and abuse buried humanity alive”... Then it’s the turn of “Gea”, a piece inspired by the 2013 Greek crises. Here the music and lyrics evoke ancient roots of freedom and civilization, roots that start to scream as someone tries to cut them off in the name of financial power...
The following “Syrma” takes us to South America, in Argentina during the period of the civic-military dictatorship when about 30,000 people disappeared. Here the vocalist plays the role of an inmate who feels like a fly trapped in amber, tortured but untamed. The music goes through many changes in rhythm and atmosphere to describe the feelings of the protagonist. Love is a ferocious warrior and he still hopes to come back to his sweetheart that he calls with the name of a shining star to not betray her, Syrma... A wonderful track!
The title of the following “Stasi” refers to the official state security service of the German Democratic Republic, one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies in history. It’s a disquieting piece where the vocalist plays the role of a dissident who speaks to the shadows without identity that are controlling her, know everything about her life and can even bind her thoughts to the rhythm of their breath. But never become her...
Magnolia, 2017
“Terre di mezzo” (Lands in-between) is a long, complex piece inspired by the never ending conflict in Palestine. It starts by a dream of peace and the music and lyrics express the hope of a better future, then an aggressive, electric section marks the rage and the search for revenge, blood on blood... The final section describes in music and words a desolate no man land where nobody can feel safe, a land stretching between abandoned barricades and wailing walls towering on both sides. How to sow and farm this land to turn it into everybody’s land?
The last track, “Luna del viandante” (The wanderer’s moon) is a long suite divided into three parts, “Stanze” (Rooms), “Distanze” (Distances) and “Assenze” (Absences). It’s a dreamy, intimate piece dealing with the subject of travel and the need of coming back to somewhere you can call home before time passing by will transform you in a faded photograph or just a far memory...
On the whole, a very good album mixing modern sounds influenced by artists such as Steven Wilson with Italian canzone d’autore and melody.
Magnolia: Con fuoco (2017). Other opinions: Micheal “Aussie-Byrd-Brother”: Quite the antidote to the classical symphonic grandiosity and retro-flavoured moves of many contemporary Italian prog bands, Magnolia truly stand out among the crowd with a firmly modern sound, doing things in their own deeply personal, equally elegant and dignified way that confirms subtlety and restraint can be endlessly powerful. ‘Con Fuoco’ bristles with energy and real purpose, but most importantly always retains great humanity and warmth, delivered by a group of talented and thoroughly inspired musicians touching on difficult subjects, and it's their greatest musical artistic achievement to date... (Read the complete review HERE)
This live in studio version of Zarathustra marks a new start for Museo Rosenbach. In fact, the band came to life again in 2012, after a long hiatus and a first ephemeral reunion in 1998. It was released on the independent label Immaginifica with a line up featuring founder members Alberto Moreno (keyboards), Giancarlo Golzi (drums, percussion) and Stefano “Lupo” Galifi (vocals) along with Max Borelli (guitar, vocals), Sandro Libra (guitar), Fabio Meggetto (keyboards) and Andy Senis (bass, vocals). The recording of this album was a way to warm up for new concerts and projects and the artwork by Rudy Camponovo underlines the intention of Museo Rosenbach’s to go back to their roots without renouncing to update the old sound with the help of the new technologies...
The track list follows a different order from the original album. A brand new section opens the first track, “Intro - Dell’eterno ritorno” (the 1973 closer) and from the very first notes you can perceive that the interaction between old and new members is perfect and the sound quality brilliant. “Degli uomini”, “Della natura” and the long suite “Zarathustra” follow without weak moments and everything works. The new line up worked hard to find the right balance re-arranging the old material with the due respect but without a philological approach. The final result is excellent and I think that this album can be considered a wonderful calling card for the new incarnation of the band.
The same line up that recorded Zarathustra Live In Studio worked on its 2013 follow up, Barbarica, that was released on the independent label Immaginifica like its predecessor. The result is gorgeous and reflects the successful efforts made by the new line up to update vintage sounds with a new millennium taste. The beautiful art cover by Monica Di Rocco in some way expresses the connection with the previous work...
The opener “Il respiro del pianeta” (The breathing of the planet) is a brand new suite that deals with environmental issues and takes over the baton from Zarathustra trying to describe the difficult relationship between man and nature. There are many changes in rhythm and atmosphere as the music and lyrics evoke with powerful, colourful images the spirit of the Earth and its smothered, pulsing beating. Crows and eagles flying over the horizon show paths, currents and rituals to admire the uncontaminated face of the planet while the shades of a thick, impenetrable forest hide the words that bring the storm in its deepest secrets...
“La coda del diavolo” (The devil’s tail) is another brand new track that deals with the consequences of war. It’s a complex piece that begins softly, by a reflective part where the vocals play the role of a man escaping from the horror of war, in search for peace and harmony. The protagonist has lost his friends and if he opens his heart there’s no one left to listen to him. His voice soars like a heartfelt prayer. Then an aggressive electric guitar breaks in, the rhythm rises, the atmosphere becomes heavier as the music and vocals describe with visionary poetical force a valley thundering with bombs where harmony is torn apart by weapons. Blind hatred, desperation and a senseless fury lightens the smile of a merciless stone giant...
“Abbandonati” (Abandoned) is a new version of piece from Museo Rosenbach’s second studio album, Exit. The music and lyrics depict with their visionary force a country ravaged by war, starving children desperately trying to escape from a divided nation, scared eyes behind the barbed wires, forgotten heroes dead in vain. The new version, in my opinion, is far better than the previous one. The first part of this piece on Exit, “Tuareg”, was cut off and the second part developed with a different, convincing arrangement, evoking the silent pain of the refugees who are desperately trying to find a better way of life...
The epic “Fiore di vendetta” (Revenge flower) is an excellent new version of a piece originally released on the 2003 Colossus Musea themed album Kalevala. It tells of a dramatic story of war and vengeance. A beautiful girl is one of the few survivors of her people, annihilated by the enemy that made of her a slave. The girl bides her time while the seed of revenge grows in her soul, ready to blossom like a terrible flower...
“Il re del circo” (The king of the circus) is another piece that was originally released on Exit and that finds here a new life with the great interpretation of Stefano “Lupo” Galifi in the role of a crazy, merciless sniper shooting at the civilians in the streets of Sarajevo during the war in the ex Yugoslavia and a more aggressive arrangement that emphasizes the surreal horror of a rain of tears and bullets...
Live In Tokyo is a Museo Rosenbach’s live double album that was recorded at Club Città, Kawasaki, Tokyo on April 26, 2013 and released in 2014 on the independent label Immaginifica. Unfortunately, it’s the final act of the line up featuring Alberto Moreno (keyboards), Giancarlo Golzi (drums, percussion), Stefano “Lupo” Galifi (vocals), Max Borelli (guitar, vocals), Sandro Libra (guitar), Fabio Meggetto (keyboards) and Andy Senis (bass, vocals). In fact, after the passing away of drummer Giancarlo Golzi in 2015, the band decided to stop. It’s a real pity...
The sound quality is absolutely good, thanks to the help of recording engineer Sinpachiro Kawade and live recording producer Masa Matsuzaki, and allows you to experience all the energy of a band perfectly fit and up to the task, musicians that play with great precision and passion giving new life to the old pieces and presenting the new ones with the right feeling.
The first CD offers a live version of Zarathustra performed in front of an enthusiastic and respectful public that galvanizes the musicians. The order of the tracks is the same of 2012 Zarathustra Live In Studio. The second CD presents all the tracks from Barbarica, although “Fiore di vendetta” is included only as a bonus track and was recorded during a rehearsal in Italy at Rosenhouse Studio on February 10, 2013. “La coda del diavolo”, “Abandonati”, “Il respiro del pianeta” and “Il re del circo” are all worth listening to, as their studio versions...
On the whole, an excellent document of a great performance.
Melting Clock came to life in Genoa in 2001 to play progressive rock covers of bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, PFM, Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Opeth or Ayreon just to name a few. After many years spent honing their skills and some line up changes, in 2019 the band released an excellent debut album, entitled Destinazioni, on the independent label Black Widow Records with a line up featuring Emanuela Vedana (vocals), Simone Caffè (guitars), Stefano Amadei (guitars, bouzuki), Sandro Amadei (keyboards, vocals), Alessandro Bosca (bass) and Francesco Fiorito (drums) plus the guests Stefano Cabrera (cello) and Fabrizio Salvini (percussion, flute). According to the band, it’s a concept album sui generis with pieces revolving about the theme of travel in all its meanings and the art cover by Matteo Anselmo gives a clue of its musical and lyrical content...
The ethereal opener “Caleidoscopio” (Kaleidoscope) is a long, complex track that takes you by the hand for a walk on an inner path leading through visions and dreams, where doubt is the rule and consistency is short lived. The theatrical voice of Emanuela Vedana is charming as she evokes a chant of free dizziness, unequal flows and rhythms soaring from the heart or inner demons dancing in circles while the soul emerges from a dark abyss of emotions and feelings...
“Banalmente” (Banally) starts softly by a piano solo intro. It’s a beautiful, bittersweet ballad drenched in sarcasm and indignation that criticizes conformism and passive acceptance of injustice, the lack of solidarity and the renounce to fight for a better future. The lyrics depict images of men of power trying to defend their castles of sand by building useless fences and bloodstained beaches where the dead bask in the sun. Right on those beaches the rich dig trenches to defend their high season party...
The disquieting “Vetro” (Glass) is a dark piece with operatic vocals and a mysterious, Oriental flavour. The music and lyrics conjure up a cage of glass where the protagonist is trapped in anguish and pain. It’s a kind of nightmare that melts only when the night falls down hiding the spectral landscape of hundreds of glass cages, each one containing a captive soul. Hugged by darkness the protagonist can fall asleep and fly away...
“Strade affollate” (Crowded streets) is an acoustic ballad where the sense of redemption prevails. It depicts people without dreams that keep on walking like shadows through silent streets, then the lyrics exhort those persons to break free from the chains of Time and start singing again, expressing their feelings, trying to find a new sense of human dignity...
Melting Clock, 2019
“L’occhio dello sciacallo” (The jackal’s eye) is a surreal short track that alternates nervous passages and lighter ones. The music and lyrics compare a business company meeting to an obscure ritual where the team manager plays the role of the priest and the employees have to pray since only the most devoted will be saved. But a voice speaks up, refusing to be accomplice, slave and executioner, she asks for help because she knows that she can’t save the world alone... In vain!
The slow, mysterious “Antares” tells of a journey towards the horizon, following a call coming from a place full of music and poetry. A shining star, Antares, shows the way in the darkness. Unknown, faces, voices, streets, strange melodies, a dream of freedom that takes you away...
“Sono luce” (I am light) is another beautiful, introspective piece where music and words describe a mystical experience. Space and time melt and the protagonist takes off, flying over pain and sadness, becoming light and air in a perfect symbiosis with her inner self and the nature that surrounds her...
The short, evocative instrumental “Quello che rimane” (What is left) leads to the final track, “Destinazioni” (Destinations), a long suite divided into three parts, “Il cerchio del tempo” (The Circle Of Time), “Crepe” (Cracks) and “Partenze” (Departures), inspired by the cyclical nature of Time. There are many changes in rhythm and atmosphere, aggressive electric guitar riffs alternate with softer, dreamy passages and soaring operatic or narrative vocals... The music and words evoke fragmented images and illusions of a journey that eludes boundaries and time, of an endless flight where songs change and dress in new notes... Until the circle closes and everything starts again.
On the whole, a wonderful work that grows spin after spin.
Exit is the second album by Museo Rosenbach. It was recorded between 1998 and 1999 and released in 2000 on the Carisch label with a new line up featuring founder members Alberto Moreno (bass) and Giancarlo Golzi (drums, percussion) along with Andrea Biancheri (vocals), Marco Balbo (guitar), Marioluca Bariona (keyboards) and Sergio Cossu (keyboards). If you expect from this work something similar to the band’s 1973 album Zarathustra I fear you’ll be disappointed since here there's no much left of the old Museo Rosenbach and the overall sound is probably closer to the elegant pop of Matia Bazar (a band which featured in the line up both Giancarlo Golzi and Sergio Cossu) than to seventies prog... Anyway, according to the band, it’s a concept album sui generis that tells about the uncertainty of evaluating things, the impossibility of giving a definitive judgement, in history as in daily events and the artwork by Rudy Camponovo tries to express this incertitude...
The opener “Exit” is a short intro to the album with a good guitar arpeggio and obscure lyrics about the need to find a way out from boredom and daily grind... Then, with “Il terzo occhio” (The third eye) the music turns to a smart pop-rock sound while the lyrics conjure up an emotional labyrinth where there’s a cage at the end of every alley you take and where you get lost between mystic fantasies and unknown tunnels, under the look of a third eye that can’t see the truth any more...
“In Equilibrio” (In balance) is a melancholic piece evoking the vibrant memories of the time spent with a missing person as a voice, lighter than silence, says that it’s too late for regret... Then it’s the turn of “Love”, a calm, bitter-sweet song about a broken relationship and the sense of an exasperated, pointless challenge that takes pain into account...
“Tuareg / Abbandonati” (Tuareg / Abandoned) is a good piece describing poor, starving people in the desert, shepherds that lead their flock of sheep to town... An invocation rises, an exhortation to save the children from war and famine before it’s too late! Then, the following “Illuse le intenzioni” (Deluded intentions) describes in music and words a tormented relationship filled with cheating and charms, pain and pleasure...
The long, complex “Il re del circo” (The king of the circus), in my opinion, is the best track on this album and tells about the war in the ex Yugoslavia. Here the vocalist plays the role of a merciless sniper, king of an opaque and scary circus that stages blood and madness while time stands still under a rain of tears and bullets... Next comes the evocative “Koln Raid” that conjures up the images of a love story under the bombs in a German city during World War II.
An instrumental version of “Exit” leads to the last track, “Un porto nel sole” (A port in the sun), a suggestive piece that ends the album with Mediterranean flavours, hope and expectations...
According to a recent interview with Alberto Moreno on It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine (that you can read HERE), ‘Exit’ turned out to be an album not perfectly in line with progressive orthodoxy. I recognize that the songs on this album did not have the epic-symphonic structure of the previous one, because they wanted to tell a different, more intimate dimension. It is also true that the arrangements are more pop than prog, but this is due to a perhaps too long preparation phase that allowed us to go back to the arrangements several times with the result of curbing the creative momentum and innovative settings. But I must add that, as an author, I do not consider ‘Exit’ structurally different from ‘Zarathustra’...
On the whole, I think that this is a good album that could be of some interest for collectors and fans, even if the music is not what do you probably expect from this band.
Museo Rosenbach are one of the many Italian prog bands of the early seventies that had just the chance to release an album before disappearing. Their debut album “Zarathustra” was released in 1973 and the line-up featured Stefano “Lupo” Galifi (vocals), Enzo Merogno (guitar, vocals), Pit Corradi (keyboards, mellotron), Alberto Moreno (bass, piano) and Giancarlo Golzi (drums, percussion, vocals). It’s a concept album freely inspired by the work of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. According to the liner notes, the quest for the super–man described by Mauro La Luce’s lyrics wasn’t meant to exalt the violent leader of a new pure breed but the serene search for a human character who, living in communion with nature, tries to purify human values from every hypocrisy... Despite the great quality of the music, on account of the controversial art cover and the misunderstandings about the concept, Museo Rosenbach were treated as fascists by critics and some of the public and the album was quite unsuccessful leading the band to split up. Nonetheless, as time passed by, this work has become a “cult album” for prog lovers...
The opener is the long title track, a suite in five parts. The first part “L’ultimo uomo” (The last man) begins with a calm, solemn pace, then vocals that seem to come from a distant place soar drawing a beautiful melody... “Face of light, they told me about you / Your story lies in the echo of the mountains / Too high to descend into us.... Shabby shadow, empty glare of the ego / You don’t need to understand the force / That pushes me to seek in the world...”. An instrumental crescendo leads to the second part, “Il re di ieri” (Yesterday’s king) and to its delicate piano and organ patterns... “No, do not go on walking on never ending roads / You can already see in me what my father, God, taught to you... Love your Land, in her womb God will form itself...”. The contrasts between a quiet church-like atmosphere and some more aggressive rhythmic passages give this track a very particular, dramatic feeling... In the third part of the suite, “Al di là del bene e del male” (Beyond good and evil) the tension rises while the vocals try to evoke how pretentious human laws are when they try to draw borders between good and evil... “Ancient tables, divine wills in the past already divided good and evil / Man alone, far from God, cannot build his own moral / Run away from your will / Under these curtains lies a false wisdom / The truth is insulted / From the moral that you created no good will come...”. The fourth part, “Superuomo” (Super-man) begins quietly and in a more reflective way suggesting that you have to choose from many answers about the sense of life what’s the right one... “Thousand traditions built a wall around me / Alone and without forces I get lost in my own words / And perhaps I’m looking for someone who has always walked behind me... / Now he is coming to life in me / I’m living the Super-man...”. Then the vocals give way to a crescendo of amazing, shifting musical passages leading to the final solemn instrumental part “Il tempio delle clessidre” (The temple of the hourglasses).
The other tracks are shorter but not less interesting. “Degli uomini” (About men) is as intense as a horseback ride. The vocals ask questions about war and peace, joy and pain, then a bittersweet reflection soars... “Like Autumn, the world wants to wither / It offers swords to the sky overriding loyalty / It grows up and, as time passes by, it kills its humanity...”.
“Della natura” (About nature) begins with a frenzied rhythm, then suddenly a suspicious, treacherous quietness comes down... “Quietness falls over the night / Virgin in its mantle... The silence with its void lights fear again / Terror, pregnant of magic as it is, makes Death’s face come back to mind...”. The rhythm takes off again, then melts into a complex, more relaxed section while the lyrics draw quite a different landscape where men live in harmony with nature and where silence is described as the singing of real poetry... “My eyes are tired, I feel now that I’m going to sleep / The dawn comes from quietness / Virgin in its own mantle, it lives and already thrills...”.
“Dell’eterno ritorno” (About the eternal return) is about the eternal circle of life. Strange omens shake our certitudes while life comes to an end... The music is complex as usual, marching beats alternate with organ rides while soaring dramatic vocals depict doubts and fading hopes... “Now my future is already there / The road I will take leads where the man stops / And where the Eternal Return reign...”.
On the whole a great album that suffered from the political climate of the early seventies in Italy and that deserves to be rediscovered...
Museo Rosenbach: Zarathustra (1973). Other opinions:
Ian Alterman: What makes any album a "masterpiece?" Obviously, there are the
compositional, lyrical, musicianship, production and general execution
elements. However, that is not enough. It must have something else: a
quality that makes the album not only an exceptional achievement "in its
time," but also an achievement that "transcends" its time - and,
indeed, makes the album "timeless." Although, as noted, the production
on "Zarathustra" sounds somewhat dated, it nevertheless "transcends" its
time, and is not only a timeless masterpiece - in the truest sense of
that word - but an exceptional,
historically important album, and an absolute must-have for any serious
prog-rock collection... (Read the complete review HERE)
Macchina Pneumatica came to life in 2013 in Milan under the name Atom Age Empire (later changed into Nudo and finally into the current one) on the initiative of Carlo Fiore, Carlo Giustiniani and Michel Nesti. After six years spent honing their skills, composing original material and playing live on the local scene, in 2019 the band released an interesting debut album entitled Riflessi e maschere (Reflections and masks), distributed by the independent label Black Widow Records, with a line up featuring Raffaele Gigliotti (lead vocals, guitars), Carlo Fiore (synth, Hammond, electric piano, backing vocals), Carlo Giustiniani (bass, backing vocals) and Vincenzo Vitagliano (drums) plus former member Michel Nesti (drums) who left the band during the recording sessions and is credited as a guest. The overall sound mainly draws on seventies influences but these musicians are not stuck in the past and are able to shape their own ideas with energy and enthusiasm...
The opener “Gli abitanti del pianeta” (The inhabitants of the planet) blends hard rock and distorted electric guitar riffs that could recall Iron Butterfly with more symphonic passages where piano and keyboards take the lead. The music and words draw images of a dystopic, nightmarish planet inhabited by special machines built to destroy each other by a cynical, unknown maker. There’s too much pain, that’s why a desperate, almost hysterical voice claims anaesthetic for the humankind...
The caustic “Quadrato” (Square) portrays in music and words, in a derogatory sense, a square man, one who pursues his goals without looking at anyone, perfectly at ease with social forms and conventions and always hypocritically smiling, one without doubts and who plays it safe, optimistic at an exponential level, a perfect example not to follow...
The introspective, melancholic “Come me” (Like me) describes the feelings of a man who realizes that he is not the same he used to be. The music and words evoke a strong sense of bewilderment and anguish, in some way the protagonist has turned into someone else and now thinks he sees a stranger in the mirror when he’s actually looking at his own reflection, he does not recognize even his skin...
The nervous, “Avvoltoi” (Vultures) tells of a desperate escape from a crumbling world. The only hope of survival is running fast and looking for a way out, far from the ruins of a city that has fallen to pieces, a safer place where you can start again on a new basis. And yet, those who destroyed the city might be running as well, and laughing at you...
Macchina Pneumatica on stage, 2019
The disquieting “Sopravvivo per me” (I survive for myself) depicts a kind of metropolitan nightmare. Here every now and again the music reminds me, in turn, of an Italian seventies band called Capitolo 6, then Area and Le Orme. The vocals conjure up the image of someone who emerges from a flurry of engines and smoke where he was left stunned. Now he’s enraged and screaming for vengeance...
The long, complex “Macchina pneumatica” (Pneumatic machine) is an excellent instrumental piece divided into four parts where you can find hints of psychedelia, hard rock, delicate piano passages with a classical flavour, a touch of jazz with a swinging organ and a pulsing rhythm section and many more, all mixed together with gusto, freshness and personality. A good way to close the album!
On the whole, a very interesting work that deserves a try!
Macchina Pneumatica: Riflessi e maschere (2019). Other opinions: Henry Schneider: Macchina Pneumatica is a neo-Italian prog band that pays homage to their forebears, with Riflessi e Maschere being their debut album. And a killer it is!... Symphonic Italian prog with ties back to the 70s mixed with a contemporary sound... (Read the complete review HERE)
Nuove
dimensioni is the second album by Sezione Frenante, a band from
the province of Venice whose roots date back to the early seventies.
It was released in 2019 on the independent label Ma.Ra.Cash Records
with a renewed line up featuring Sandro Bellemo (bass), Alessandro
Casagrande (drums, percussion), Luciano Degli Alimari (lead vocals),
Mirco De Marchi (piano, keyboards) and Antonio Zullo (guitars) plus
the guests Deborah Barbiero (backing vocals), Mauro Martello (flute)
and Francesca Rismondo (cello). According to the band, this is a
concept album about the origins of the universe, the depths of space,
the nature of time and the fate of black holes with lyrics inspired
by quantum physics, astronomy, ancient history and mythology. The
beautiful art work by Walter Marin tries to describe its musical
content...
The
instrumental opener “Kosmos” sets the atmosphere. It starts
softly, the mood is dreamy, then the rhythm rises evoking a long,
epic journey across the mystery of the universe. There are no lyrics,
but the liner notes give a clue of what the music is about... From
ancient times, man has turned his gaze to the sky, hoping to steal
its secrets, marvelling at the alternation of light and dark. Now,
thanks to previously unavailable technologies, he can hear, see and
study the harmonies coming from the depths of space... If the
world is just a teeming of ephemeral quanta, an immense interplay
between space and elementary particles, what place do we human beings
have in all of this?
The
title of the following “L’era di Planck” (Planck epoch) refers
to an era coming immediately after the Big Bang, the event which
began the known universe. The music and vocals conjure up the image
of a little seed, dynamically balanced, silent and motionless in the
absolute void. Since remote times it blossoms breathing in the
nothingness. By chance, a magnetic current runs across that
nothingness and unchains a reaction, pressure surges and you can
imagine an empire of gas where protons, neutrons and photons randomly
collide one against each other in an infinite chaos, creative furnace
of new elements, planets, life...
Sezione Frenante, 2020
An
explosion leads to the next piece, “Fuso delle necessità”
(Spindle of necessity) whose title refers to a model of the workings
of the universe elaborated by the ancient Greeks where the sun, moon,
five planets and fixed stars revolve around the earth. Here the music
and lyrics evoke the Myth of Er, a legend about the cosmos and the afterlife that ends Plato's Republic. Er, dead in battle, rises from his funeral pyre to tell
about his journey through the cosmos where he could see the souls of
the dead in march towards their fate. Then he describes shining
columns of light and the celestial spheres of the astral plane
revolving around Ananke’s spindle...
“Principe
del vuoto” (Prince of the void) starts softly, by acoustic guitar
and flute, then the vocals evoke an ever present music expanding in
harmonic planes where space and time blindly follow the rhythm and
notes, soundtrack of ancestral events... But the harmony is disturbed
by a different kind of notes, the notes that form the aura for the
prince of the void, a merciless, hungry black hole that swallows the
stars and breaks the astral fabric...
The
dark, threatening “Orizzonte degli eventi” (Event horizon)
conjures up the image of a lonely, breathless star and its explosion
in an immense field of forces that suddenly invades the void. Other
stars, old planets and comets are scared and try to escape from the
dark monster that swallows everything around him, the black hole
where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The
feared boundary of no escape is called the event horizon...
The
mood of the following “Venere” (Venus) is definitively lighter.
Here the music and words give voice to a jealous planet with a female
name, the name of a Goddess. Venus looks enviously at a celestial
stone full of life, the Earth. She can’t give birth to any living
being and so, during the night, she listen to the dreams and hopes of
terrestrial lovers that at dawn she handles to the sun... All in all,
aren’t we all children of the stars, children of the night that
turns around us?
The
long, complex “E’ nata una stella (Giostra a catene)” (A star
was born - Swing ride) is a charming track that depicts in a very
original, surreal way the birth of a star and the formation of a
galaxy. Here the lyrics are like brush strokes of colour on a black
canvas conjuring up rainbow arches and column of light, shining
creatures, little lively spheres, living stars... The new star is
compared to a rotating Chair-O-Planes that travels across the galaxy,
dancing with its sisters in a perpetual motion. This star is not the
most beautiful nor the brightest one but it could be a source of
life, your life!
“Nomadi
velieri” (Nomadic sailing ships) ends the album with a funny
description of the solar system with all the planets that turn
stealthily around the sun hiding mysteries, drawing ellipses,
rotating lightly but remaining always together like a deployed fleet
of nomadic sailing ships in the sea of the universe. Their evolutions
are like the paces of a baroque dance...
On
the whole, a wonderful album full of excellent music and sense of
humour where boredom has no place.
Apofenia is the third studio album by Il giardino Onirico and was released in 2019 on the independent label Lizard Records with a line up featuring Stefano Avigliana (guitars), Dariush Hakim (keyboards), Ettore Mazzarini (bass), Massimo Moscatelli (drums, percussion) and Emanuele Telli (keyboards) plus the guests Alessandro Corvaglia (vocals - from La Maschera di Cera, Delirium), Jenny Sorrenti (vocals - from Saint Just), Jenna “Sharm” Holdway (vocals), David Morucci (sax), Claudio Braccio (sax) and the choir Fuori dal Coro. In my opinion, this is a mature and refined work, enriched by the contribute of many prestigious guests, full of inventiveness and fresh ideas combined with vintage sounds and psychedelic flights that the colourful art work by Marco Marini tries to describe on the cover and booklet. The title refers to the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things...
The long, hypnotic opener “Onironauta” (Oneironaut) is a beautiful instrumental track where the band "resolved to go with bold entreaty whither no man had gone before, and dare the icy deserts through the dark to where unknown Kadath, veiled in cloud and crowned with unimagined stars, holds secret and nocturnal the onyx castle of the Great Ones", like Randolph Carter, the protagonist of H.P. Lovecraft novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. To be honest, I don’t know if the work of the American writer was a source of inspiration for the band, but in my opinion the dark, mysterious atmosphere of this piece perfectly fits the subject matter...
The excellent “Scivolosa simmetria” (Slippery symmetry) features the vocals of Alessandro Corvaglia and tells in music and poetical words of a haunting, obsessive desire that turns into stone, a thought that becomes a prison between dream and reality, delirium and magic. It starts by a frenzied instrumental passage, then the vocals evoke fiery dances upon coloured petals and magic symphonies as the protagonist tries to escape from the dangerous vortex of an ecstatic, suggestive dream that could lead to death...
“Alétheia” is a long, dreamy instrumental track that starts softly and evolves in a crescendo of psychedelic fantasies and Latin echoes, with a good sax and electric guitar work. After a sudden stop in the middle, there’s a second part that veers to calmer musical landscapes. The title refers to a philosophical term that means truth or disclosure but also factuality or reality...
The title of the following “Mushin” refers to a mental state that is achieved when a person’s mind is free from thoughts of anger, fear or ego during combat or everyday life and features the guest vocalist Jenny Sorrenti. It’s an ethereal, reflective piece sung in English with a slow pace, a spacey atmosphere and a touch of electronica that deals with spiritual issues like time, love and inner knowledge...
Il Giardino Onirico, 2019
“Apogeo” (Apogee) is another track with a strong spacey atmosphere that in the first part could recall Pink Floyd while in the middle section, with a good sax work, is more aggressive and closer to King Crimson. The last part is a wonderful crescendo where the rhythm seems to take off for the outer space... In fact, the title refers to the point in the orbit of a heavenly body at which it is farthest from the earth...
“Un nodo all’anima” (A knot in the soul) starts by an acoustic guitar arpeggio and the soaring vocals of Alessandro Corvaglia in the forefront. It’s a beautiful piece that goes through many changes in rhythm and atmosphere with hermetic lyrics evoking dreams to hold, time spent running after appearances and the desperate need to connect mind and soul to avoid the blades of a deceitful destiny that could hurt you. Mediterranean influences, powerful melodies, flamenco sketches and heavier passages are blended with gusto and personality... A wonderful track!
The long, mysterious “Lacrime di stelle” (Star tears) ends the album with a melancholic mood and mystic, Oriental flavours. Here the voice of the guest Jenna “Sharm” Holdway is used just as a charming instrument to add colours to the musical canvas and put a spell on you in a starry night filled with memories and lunar visions...
On the whole, a magnificent work full of nuances and excellent pieces!
