Nuova Idea formed in Genoa in 1970 from the ashes of another band
called Plep and later J.Plep. After a beat-oriented beginning and a
few singles, they changed musical direction and converted to
progressive rock, even taking part in the first Viareggio pop
festival where they played a lengthy suite. Their debut album, In
The Beginning, was released in 1971 on the Ariston label and
features a line-up including Marco Zoccheddu (guitar, vocals),
Claudio Ghiglino (guitar, vocals), Giorgio Usai (keyboards, vocals),
Enrico Casagni (bass, flute, vocals), and Paolo Siani (drums,
vocals). According to an interview with Paolo Siani (in Prog Italia
magazine 42), the label released the album, without informing the
band, using the demo of the suite (recorded with inadequate
resources) and the previous singles just to ride the success the band
exhibition obtained in Viareggio: Our first album wasn't supposed
to exist, at least not as people know it. The Ariston released it
without our knowledge... Obviously, the homogeneity
between the compositions was ruined: it really seemed like the
product of two different bands...
Despite the less than perfect recording quality, the lengthy suite
that occupies side A of the album, “Come, Come, Come... (Vieni,
vieni, vieni)”, is well-composed and not without interest for fans
of the genre. It's a piece inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth and,
despite the English title, is sung in Italian. The lyrics don't
attempt to literally translate the bard's writing but try to
interpret its emotion in an original and personal way. The piece
opens with a slow pace and a dark atmosphere, with the organ taking
centre stage. Then the pace increases and becomes frenetic, leading
to the first sung part, which features Macbeth recalling how he
killed Duncan to become king in his place, as foretold by three old
witches. He felt the strongest, the greatest of all, and no one could
stop him. He killed the traitors and no one could judge him. A calmer
section follows, where Macbeth recalls how he loved wandering in the
forest at night, where he saw the branches of the trees reaching
toward the dark sky, resembling the arms of those he had killed, and
heard the desperate cries of those seeking justice all around him.
The lyrics then interpret those voices: Macbeth's final hour will
come, too; his kingdom will fall in shame and sorrow when the
branches of Birnam Wood will move to besiege his castle. Macbeth will
fall on the battlefield, and peace will return; only a legend will
remain of him, to be told to posterity. The piece ends with a long
instrumental section, complete with a drum solo that evokes the
thunderous sounds of the battle...
The album's second side - in a beat style - opens with "Realtà"
(Reality), a track that alternates dreamy sections and hard rock
riffs. The lyrics and music evoke the image of children playing war
in front of an adult. The adult reflects on how different the reality
of war is from that of children's games and recalls that when he was
little boy, he too played war and his mother tried to hide reality
from him, because you can't discover the world in a day...
“La mia scelta” (My choice) is a song halfway between hard rock
and psychedelia, reflecting hippie ideology and giving voice to a boy
who leaves the city he loved so much to seek freedom in the isolation
of the mountains. There he will soothe his anger and stress, breathe
pure air, gaze at the stars without the filter of smog, and feel like
heaven...
“Non dire niente... (Ho già capito)” (Do not say anything...
I’ve already understood) is a melodic song in which the
protagonist, while sipping good wine, learns from his girlfriend that
he'll soon be a father. His reaction is an explosion of joy. The
central section recalls C.S.&N. Well, the lyrics don't mention
the girl's eyes colour. but I suspect they're blue...
The last track, “Dolce amore” (Sweet love), might recall early
New Trolls. It describes the feelings of a man remembering an ex
girlfriend and hoping that one day she too will remember him...
On the whole, an interesting but still immature work that documents
the band's musical evolution from the beat of the late sixties to the
prog of the early seventies.
You can listen to the complete album HERE
Nuova Idea: In The Beginning (1971). Other opinions:
Michael “Aussie-Byrd-Brother”: Comparable to what bands like
Osanna and the New Trolls were doing at the same time, ‘In the
Beginning’ is wild, rough around the edges and a little
directionless, but it's still a glorious mess of ideas and styles.
Nuova Idea had yet to deliver grander and more polished progressive
rock, but this is colourful psychedelic music from a band still
finding their feet yet bursting with confidence and imagination.
‘Clowns’ and ‘Mr E Jones’ may be their defining moments, but
there's still plenty of inventive psychedelic instrumentation, hazy
rock atmospheres and cool tunes on ‘In The Beginning’...
(read the complete review HERE)
