Pangea
e le tre lune is the fourth album by Il Cerchio d’Oro and was
released in 2023 on the independent Black Widow Records label with a
line up featuring Franco Piccolini (keyboards), Giuseppe Terribile
(bass, vocals), Gino Terribile (drums, percussion, vocals), Piuccio
Pradal (guitar, vocals) and Massimo Spica (guitar) plus some
prestigious guests such as Donald Lax (violin, from historic
Italianprog band Quella Vecchia Locanda), Tolo Marton (guitar, former
member of Le Orme), Ricky Belloni (guitar, from Nuova Idea and New
Trolls), Valerio Piccioli (guitar) and Carlo Deprati (narrative
vocals) who contributed to enrich the sound. This album confirms all
the good qualities of the band's previous works, with a sound deeply
rooted in the seventies yet never overly nostalgic and a music always
in service of the storyline. It's a concept alnum that tells of the
birth of the Earth with fantasy and fairytale nuances. The lyrics are
by Giuseppe Paolino, an old friend of the band, while the beautiful
art cover is by Armando Mancini, a talented painter who's behind some
seventies iconic prog album covers like those of Quella Vecchia
Locanda...
The
title of the opener,
“Pangea”,
refers to the supercontinent
that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras and
began to break apart about 200 million years ago.
After a dreamlike introduction with
piano and flute in the
foreground, the music and
lyrics evoke a ball of fire that some god has
carelessly hurdled
into eternity. The music is dense and rich with shifts in tempo and
atmosphere, while the lyrics, with nuanced tones, outline the mystery
of creation. No one knows exactly how it happened,
there are no witnesses, but the flame slowly turned
into Earth.
So, it's
just a strange trick of fate
that gave life,
almost with childlike innocence, to
this new entity that will
become a continent and be called Pangea...
In
“Alla deriva” (Adrift) the music and lyrics describe the new
continent floating on dark, restless waters, a lifeless land slowly
drifting aimlessly across a frightening landscape. Three amused moons
watch over it from the sky...
Introduced
by a dreamlike section with the violin in the forefront, “Dialogo”
(Dialogue) evokes the
image of a shooting star causing the fragmentation of the new
continent. The fractured land turns to the wind and the moon, giving
rise to an imaginary dialogue. The wind pushes Pangea onto the sea
waves and lifts it to seek a new path, while a friendly moon watches
from above and smiles, accompanying it into the darkness of the
night...
“Le
tre lune”
(The three moons) is a
complex piece, rich in nuances and changes
in rhythm and atmosphere. The music and lyrics evoke the image of
three moons slowly revolving around the Earth. The first is red, the
second yellow, and the third is black, blending into the darkness of
the night. Each moon chases the other, casting colourful reflections
on the sea of Pangea. These marvellous reflections spark a
dispute between the three vain moons. Eventually, the yellow and red
moons implode and dissolve, leaving only the black moon in the sky of
Pangea. Over time, the black moon learns to wear yellow and red
colurs, while it tires of black and, from then on, wears it, albeit
elegantly, only occasionally...
The
instrumental introduction to “Dal nulla così” (Out of nowhere,
like that) might recall Le Orme, but the piece then develops in an
original way. The music and lyrics describe a desolate and hostile
landscape: a dark sea, brown earth, earthquakes and storms, winds and
active volcanoes. Who would have thought that life could arise in
such a place? Yet there was no past nor fear, and life began its
journey toward an unknown future,...
The
next piece, “E
la vita iniziò”
(And life began), dreamily
describes the beginning of life on Earth. Beneath a carpet of stars,
Pangea continued its journey unstoppably, driven by a rebellious sea.
The continent broke apart, then reunited, changing shape several
times until reaching its current form. Chance, chemistry, and the
sun's rays helped life emerge from the seabed, now less dark and
threatening. An evolutionary process destined to never stop...
The
album's final piece, “Crisi” (Crises), is listed as a bonus track
and has nothing to do with the concept. It's a hard rock song (with
obvious references to Deep Purple) released as a single in 1981 and
occasionally played by the band during their concerts. It deals with
the economic crisis and social values of the late 1970s...
On
the whole, an excellent work that should find a place in your
Italianprog collection!
You can listen to the complete album HERE
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