A NEW MOON AND OLD MEMORIES

Aurora Lunare come from Livorno and began life in 1978 on the initiative of a bunch of friends in love with the music of bands such as EL&P, Yes, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Le Orme or Area just to name but a few. In that period progressive rock was on the wane but the band went against the tide and remained active on the local scene until the end of the eighties. In those years they hadn't the chance to release an album and it wasn't until 2006 that Aurora Lunare could manage to self-release a double CD with their non-professional old recordings to keep the memory of the band alive. In 2007 a real reunion followed and after years of hard, passionate work in 2013 the band finally released an official eponymous debut album on the independent label Lizard Records with a line up featuring Mauro Pini (vocals, keyboards), Luciano Tonetti (bass), Marco Santinelli (drums) and Stefano Onorati (piano, keyboards, electric guitar). During the recording sessions they were helped by many guests such as Tolo Marton (guitar), Gianluca Milanese (flute), Alessandro Corvaglia (guitar, vocals), Corrado Pezzini (synth-vocals), Graziano Di Sacco (vocal effects), Nicola Santinelli (classical guitar), Greta Merli (vocals) and Valentina Cantini (violin) who contributed to add more colours to the musical palette of the band. The result is excellent and I'm sure that Italian progressive rock lovers will not be disappointed by this album. By the way, in the booklet you'll find many pictures and some paintings by Luciano Tonetti that describe the content of the music and lyrics...

album cover

The beautiful opener "Evasione di un'idea" (Escape of an idea) begins by a marching beat that seems coming out from the mists of the past. In fact, according to the liner notes, the first part of this track is taken from an old tape containing a live recording from 1980 but after a minute and a half the mist gives way to a brilliant symphony of lights and shadows evoking the eternal struggle between dreams and reality, youth and maturity. As a gust of wind blowing away the cry of a man, an idea rises over the void that surrounds you. It shouts, trying to erode heavy metaphorical stones and negative memories and you can feel that soon a song of joy will break through, one day or another...

The following "Eroi invincibili... son solo i pensieri" (Invincible heroes... They are just thoughts) is in the same mood and begins by a piano solo pattern, then soaring melodic lines and heartfelt vocals lead your through indescribable landscapes where you can find lost temples and wide meadows burnt by the fire of a thousand emotions. You have to walk the beaten tracks, crawling on layers of madness and taking the risk of drowning in the sea of your lost chances... A church like organ solo passage ends this track and introduces the next one, the wonderful instrumental "Mondo fantasmatico" (Phantasmatic world) where you can let your imagination run free following the notes of a magic flute until you get lost in time and space.

"Riflessi indicativi" (Indicative reflexes) draws in music and words a surreal tableau reflecting images of distant worlds in the morning light. You can see black corals, crystal nets and strange buildings all around you while your memories start to get blurred... Then comes the dark, crazy experimentalism of "Corsa senza meta" (Running without a goal), an instrumental digression where dreams seem to turn into nightmares.

Aurora Lunare 2013

On "Secondo dubbio" (Second doubt) the rhythm rises again and the atmosphere is definitively brighter. The music and the hermetic lyrics conjure up images of hope shining through an suffucating mist and old memories from a tormented past. The following "Interlunio" is a short instrumental track for organ and flute that leads to another beautiful instrumental, the dreamy "Sfera onirica" (Oneiric sphere). The final track, "All'infuori del tempo / Ritorno al nulla" is a cover taken from Le Orme's masterpiece Felona e Sorona and represents a tribute to one of Aurora Lunare's most important sources of inspiration. It's enhanced by the presence of former Le Orme's guitarist Tolo Marton and by the female vocals of Greta Merli.

On the whole, this is an excellent album where historic pieces from the old repertoire of the band and some new tracks have been arranged and performed with painstaking care and great musicianship for the pleasure of the listener: a must-have for every Italianprog fan!

Aurora Lunare: Aurora Lunare (2013). Other opinions:

Michael "Aussie-Byrd-Brother": 'Aurora Lunare' is everything a symphonic progressive rock fan could ask for, and with setting the bar so high for a debut release, one has to wonder where the band can can go from here. Not bad for a group already over thirty five years into their career! Better late than never, and if this is what the band could have achieved back in the vintage era of the 70's, they'd possibly be being talked about as something very special from the heyday of the RPI genre now... (read the complete review HERE)

More info:

http://auroralunare.altervista.org 

TRAVELLING THROUGH EUROPE

I Tugs began life in Livorno in 1978 on the initiative of Pietro Contorno, Nicola Melani, Bruno Rotolo, Michele Lippi, and Claudio Cecconi. They were influenced by Italian prog bands such as Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Le Orme and by Italian singer-songwriters as Fabrizio De André and Angelo Branduardi but in the eighties progressive rock was out of fashion and they had no chance to release an album in the early phase of their career. After a long hiatus the band re-formed and started to play live again mixing music and theatre with the contribute of a company of comedians. In 2013 they finally released a début album on the independent label AMS/BTF, Europa Minor, with a line up featuring founder members Pietro Contorno (vocals, guitar), Nicola Melani (guitar) and Bruno Rotolo (bass) along with Marco Susini (keyboards) and Fabio Giannitrapani (drums, percussion). During the recording session they were helped by Claudio Fabiani (flute), Francesco Carmignani (violin), Martina beinfei (cello), Matteo Scarpettini (percussion) and Antonio Ghezzani (guitar, mandola, mandolin) who contributed to enrich the musical fabric with excellent results. According to the liner notes “Europa Minor” is a clandestine collection of literary and musical works, fragments of poetry, tales, scores, drawings and images preserved by a group of travelling artists and on stage all this stuff comes to life thanks to all the musicians and actors involved. Well, in the absence of the comedians, listening to this album we will have to complete the musical tableaux with our imagination.

The opener “Waterloo” is a lively track about the Battle of Waterloo. On a marching beat you can imagine the armies moving with a martial pace. Then the lyrics depict the stench of death soaring from the battlefield while Lady Fortune dances on the fate of the heroes like the wind among the trees. Now she turns her back to the glorious Emperor who once ruled all over Europe, the man whom five years of exile would convert into a martyr, and fifteen of restoration elevate to the rank of a god (1). The country around Waterloo is soaked in blood... “The crops are laughing at the honours of the heroes...”.

“Il re e il poeta” (The king and the poet) is a complex piece divided into two parts. The first part, “La corte” (The court), describes in musics and words the arrival of a poet in the court of the king of an European country. The poet comes from the Middle-East and brings new secrets and magical scrolls. People gather around, they come to the king's hall to listen to the stories of the poet about heroes, wars, demons and death. The poet tells old fairy-tales and unfolds arcane mysteries, then king ask him to predict the future of his kingdom... “The frontiers of my world lie beyond Time / Cries and repentances of men and peoples made this kingdom fit to challenge Time / Now I ask you, poet / To tell us the future of my kingdom / And in your name let's celebrate...”. The second part, “La gloria” (The glory), describes the sardonic answer of the poet... “Time passes by and the veil of a rapidly forgotten age falls down on the memories... As rain that will get lost in time / Your name will be erased / Millennia will bend on you / And your fruit will be consumed / It's the glory...”.

“La brigata dei dottori” (The physicians brigade) is a reflective, bitter-sweet track about real knowledge. What is the secret of the man who hides inside yourself? Science can't answer this question, physicians and eminent people can't give you any useful advice when you are confronted with the mystery of your ego and they could become for you just an awkward bunch of charlatans... “Leave behind you your fire / And read the signs in the sky... And my face broke into a thousand faces / And my hands crushed into a thousand hands...”.

“Pietroburgo 1824” (Petersburg, 1824) takes you on board of an old steam engine train directed to Saint Petersburg, the Imperial capital of Russia founded by the Tsar Peter the Great in 1703. Here Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment was set along with many other novels by Russian writers as Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol. The music and lyrics depict the city on a windy day in November 1824 with beautiful, evocative musical and poetical colours. “On the roofs and in the streets / That November wind was raging against the men...”.

“Le colline di Ems” (Ems hills) begins with a strummed acoustic guitar. The mood is dreamy but there's a vein of melancholia. In a dark night old memories come back... “He painted his thoughts like the sun / And the memory of the colours of the street gave way to the clear air / And that was his last dream / Then the shadows closed his gaze / Amidst the fogs of dawn...”.

“Il pianto” (The cry) is darker and filled with an exotic sense of mystery. Music and lyrics describe the strange dialogue between a man and his shadow where the borders of reality get blurred. Eventually a desperate cry springs out from broken dreams and deluded hopes.

The following “Il sogno di Jennifer” (Jennifer's dream) is an excellent instrumental featuring a perfectly balanced mix of classical influences and rock. It leads to the committed “Nostra Signora Borghesia” (Our Lady Bourgeoisie) that depicts an old lady with a heart of ice, covered with gold and dressed up in all her vanity. It's a poetical denounce of social injustice and hypocrisy. There's no violence in the music and lyrics but a drum roll towards the end seems to suggest an impending execution... “Dance with us, my old lady...”.

“I bambini d'inverno” (The children in winter) draws the image of a child in a cold house. Outside there's a high wall, cold as a blade, that makes the heart bleeding. There are children in the snowy streets who are playing and moving around like human crumbs in a sea of lights and concrete. They can fly high, over the wall... “The children in winter / Coffee drops in the white sea of this hell...”.

“Canzone per un anno” (Song for a year) is a charming ballad with a slightly Medieval flavour and strong classical influences. It depicts a Northern mountainous landscape. In January barbaric hordes from the forests stormed through the valleys and until April the crying of the women resounded all around, there were no celebration in honour of God Pan and of the elves. In May the snow melted and the corpses of the dead were buried. In June there was a new battle and the invaders were defeated. In September the vineyards gave their fruits and Bacchus was celebrated, then the winter came back. All this events are seen through the eyes of a little girl... “Open your eyes, my little darling / May will come back / Dance peacefully your cheerfulness...”.

The conclusive track, “Nanou”, is set in France in 1943 and tells of a meeting between a desperate, suicidal girl and some partisans who rescue her from the cold water of the river. The meeting is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the Germans. You can hear the shots... “A thousand air drops are drawing me away from you...”.

On the whole, I think that this is a very good album, a labour of love filled with passion and great musicianship that is really worth listening to.

You can listn in streaming to the complete album HERE

Tugs: Europa Minor (2013). Other opinions:

Olav Marin Bjornsen: All in all Tugs very much belated debut album is a fine specimen of it's kind. Symphonic progressive rock with more of an acoustic atmosphere to it and with a fair few details of folk music flavoring the proceedings, creating an elegant and sophisticated breed of timeless but vintage sounding symphonic progressive rock that should have a fairly broad appeal. With those who have a soft spot for Italian bands with vocalists singing in their native tongue as a logical key audience... (read the complete review HERE)

Paul Fowler: It's a remarkably mature piece of work with strong musicianship without going for overly flash, everyone playing their part perfectly. There are moments of bombast with heavier guitar riffing but that's not what Europa Minor is about, rich melodies and tastefully restrained instrumentation weaving together to form an intricate whole being the order of the day... (read the complete review HERE)

More info

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tugs
http://www.todomodomusicall.org

(1) This quote is not from the lyrics but from The Count of Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

TOSCANA (part 2)

On the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea we visit the Province of Massa-Carrara. The city of Carrara, famous for its marble quarries, gave us some interesting prog bands such as the neo prog Cage (Facebook), Lethean (MySpace) and the prog folk Bededeum (Facebook) who in 2009 released an excellent committed album, Oltre il sipario, dedicated to the memory of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian anarchists executed without a fair trial in the U.S.A. in 1927. Another prog folk band from this area worth mentioning is Antiqua Lunae (Facebook), while Fivizzano, a walled town in the Lunigiana area, not far from Carrara, is home to another interesting prog band called Oxhuitza (MySpace).

Travelling south we now go to PISA, the city famous for its Leaning Tower and hometown of the physicist, mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei, son of lutenist and composer Vincenzo Galilei. The best known artist from this area is probably tenor Andrea Bocelli who reached success with Con te partirò, a piece composed by Francesco Sartori who from 1992 to 1997 was a member of the Venetian prog band Le Orme. Pisa is home to prog bands such as Egoband (MySpace) and Germinale (MySpace). At the moment Germinale are on hold, so their guitarist Salvo Lazzara started an acoustic side project called Pensiero Nomade (MySpace). Other artists and bands from Pisa are Nicola Pardini (Facebook), Homo Ex Machina (Facebook), the folk prog Filarmonica Municipale Lacrisi (MySpace), the retro-avant-garde Delay Lama (Facebook) and the psychedelic Ceke (MySpace) and Milvus (MySpace) while the nearby town of Pontedera is home to Merry Go Round (Facebook) and Le Turbe di Howard (Reverbnation). Another town in the province Of Pisa, Volterra, is home to the metal influenced Quintessenza (MySpace) and the heavy, bizarre Il Maniscalco Maldestro (MySpace).

From Pisa to LIVORNO, the birthplace of opera composer Pietro Mascagni. In the seventies Livorno gave us Capitolo 6 (but half of the members of the band were from Viareggio) and Tugs (Facebook), a band with a strong theatrical approch that recently reunited. Another band that was formed in the seventies and that recently have come to a new life are Aurora Lunare (Official Website) that are finally going to release their first official album on the independent label Lizard Records. Other local bands that are worth mentioning are Raccolta Differenziata (Facebook), Alfa Nefer (MySpace) and Est Morgana (MySpace).

From the nearby town of Cecina come Decuplico (MySpace), a band formed in the mid eighties who recently reformed. Still heading south we visit GROSSETO, where we can listen to some interesting emerging bands such as Gran Turismo Veloce (MySpace), Mosaico (Facebook), Gramma (MySpace) and Opificio Sonoro Maremmano (MySpace).

We head north east now, towards the beautiful city of SIENA, best known for a special horse race that dates from the middle-ages, the Palio di Siena. In the seventies Siena gave us an interesting Christian-prog band called Genfuoco (Official Website) who, after a long hiatus, came to life again in 2000 for some live performances.

Siena is also the home city of an interesting acoustic project that blends classical and folk, Inchanto (MySpace), and of a well known progressive rock webzine, Arlequins. The Province of Siena is the base for some interesting prog bands such as Profusion (MySpace) and Acqua Libera (Facebook), in Colle di Val d’Elsa, Zundapp (MySpace), in Chianciano Terme, Focus Indulgens (Facebook), in an area called Val di Chiana and Labirinto di Specchi (MySpace), in Chiusi.

Still heading north east we conclude our visit to Toscana in AREZZO, home to a very promising dark organ driven project called Three Monks (MySpace), to Tacita Intesa (Facebook) and to the psychedelic Sycamore Age (MySpace).