BRILLIANT EXPLORERS

In 2006 Roby Munciguerra set up a new Procession incarnation for some live performances and from June to September 2006 the new line up featuring, along with Roby Munciguerra (guitar, backing vocals), also Samuele Alletto (vocals, flute), Stefano Carrara (keyboards, 12 string guitar, backing vocals), Enzo Martin (bass) and “Herman” a.k.a. Max Aimone (drums) plus the guest Danilo Pala (sax) recorded in the Overtone studio in Turin the new versions of the old pieces and a brand new one. Procession’s new album, produced by Dario Todesco and Ernesto Ausilio and entitled Esplorare, was released in 2007 on the independent Electromantic Music label with a nice art work that in some way depicts the intricacies of its musical content...

The opener “C’era una volta” (Once upon a time) starts by a beautiful new introduction with piano and electric guitar in the forefront. From the very first notes you can appreciate the clear sound and the care that the band put in the new arrangements revitalizing the old repertoire with respect and competence. The new vocalist is absolutely up to the task and breaths new life into the story of the child who wasted his time looking for the sense of life, getting old without reaching his goal...

To better underline its apocalyptic, tense atmosphere, the new version of “Uomini di vento” (Men of wind) gives more room to dark organ passages while the hieratic vocals depict the terrible wind that rules on the world and bends nature, guided by its blind will, sweeping away terrorized men and a blurred reality...

Then it’s the turn of the melancholic “Un mondo sprecato” (A wasted world) where Samuele Alletto delivers in a very effective way the caustic reflections of the jaded clown protagonist of the piece, perfectly backed by a band able to add colours and emotions in the instrumental sections.

“Esplorare” (To explore) is the only new track on the album and it’s a pity since the vitality of Procession’s new course is great. It’s a piece that deals with the illogical but nonetheless powerful belief that things will change for the better in a new place. The music and words describe a young man that looks for another world to explore, a place where his fantasies will come true. He wears his dreams and sets off but later realizes that is all in vain and begins to feel lonely and desperate while his certainties fade away. He will have to take a step back to find the meaning of life...

The new arrangement of “Il volo della paura” (The flight of fear) is excellent and succeeds in conveying the disquieting feelings that a flock of birds provoke darkening the sky and the need to overcome the gloomy omens that they could represent...

Next two tracks reshape brilliantly, with good taste and respect, Procession’s first album, Frontiera, a conceptual work telling the story of a young man who leaves his home and family in Southern Italy searching for a job and a better life in a big city of the North. “Suite 1” includes “Ancora una notte” (One more night), “Uomini e illusioni” (Men and illusions), “Città grande” (Big city), “Incontro” (Meeting) and “Anche io sono un uomo” (I’m a man as well) while “Suite 2” includes “Un mondo di libertà” (A world of freedom), “Un ombra che vaga” (A wandering shadow) and “Solo 1” (Alone).

Then “Fiaba” (Fairy tale) ends the album by painting with new vivid colours the surreal landscape of an imaginary village perched on a mountain that hosts dreamers, poets and musicians. The inhabitants do not need money nor gold to be rich since happiness and peace are their real treasures...

On the whole, an excellent work that gives new life to the old repertoire of the band and leaves some hope for the future.

Procession: Esplorare (2007). Other opinions:
Jim Russell: The new musicians are superb players as is the vocalist... What one takes away from this disc is the love they have for the old material, mixed with a dynamic new energy and forcefulness that updates this material successfully. It must be very challenging to attempt to re-do your classic material decades later and bring something new to it without messing with the original magic. Procession have succeeded as well as I could imagine... (read the complete review HERE)

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ONCE UPON A TIME

After their debut album “Frontiera” released in 1972, Procession released their second album for the record label Fonit Cetra in 1974 with a different line-up featuring the original members Gianfranco Gaza (vocals) and Roby Munciguerra (guitars) plus Maurizio Gianotti (sax, flute) and Paolo D’Angelo (bass). In studio they were helped by some guest musicians such as drummer Francesco Froggio Francica (Raccomandata con Ricevuta di Ritorno), keyboardist Ettore Vigo (Delirium) and vocalist Silvana Aliotta (Circus 2000). The result was excellent. The overall sound is less raw and aggressive compared to the previous album and dreamy acoustic atmospheres prevail while the lyrics by Marina Comin perfectly fit the music blending dreams and reality.

The opener “Uomini di vento” (Men of wind) starts with a rhythm percussion pattern, then an electric guitar comes in... “The wind blows strongly now / Men run away because they can’t stand it...”. Sax, flutes and vocals depict a world battered by the wind where scared shadows are looking for shelter. Reality and its hypocrisies are swept away...

“Un mondo sprecato” (A wasted world) is more reflective and darker and features good electric guitar and sax solos... “I wasted a world trying to understand / But I don’t know how to begin / Man, you look at me and you don’t understand / I used to live like you / A bitter life like many others / But I made up my mind and now I know / You’re laughing at a clown / That has stopped playing with the wind now... You are laughing without asking yourself what this tale could mean...”.

 

On the long, complex “C’era una volta” (Once upon a time) the band tries to explore the “dark side of the moon” and the sax and vocals every now and again run after Pink Floyd’s shadows... The lyrics are about a quest for true life: a child sets off looking for the sense of life and when he thinks he has found it he realizes that he’s now old and that he has wasted his time...

 

 

“Notturno” begins softly, with acoustic guitar and flute drawing a strange, disquieting dreamy atmosphere... “A boat sails lightly on the sea / There’s a man on the edge / And the breeze wets his face / And the night gets darker / The man seems to be looking for life / But what is he looking for? He’s not a fisherman... And the sea gets darker and darker / And the man leaves the edge / Now the boat is lighter...”.

“Il volo della paura” (The flight of fear) is another beautiful dreamy track. The lyrics depict a flock of seagulls that darken the sky. When they land all together the earth is shaken. Men, who can’t fly, are scared and remain on their shaken world where there’s only a wall left, so hard to climb... Just a thousand wings and so much fear!

The final title track “Fiaba” (Fairy tale) describes a village on top of a hill where live people refusing the rules of the world and enjoy their peace... I think that the inlay painting featuring classical and rock musicians climbing the hill describes this track better than words...

From the book Rock Progressivo Italiano: An introduction to Italian Progressive Rock

You can listen to the complete album HERE

Procession: Fiaba (1974). Other opinions:
Jim Russell: Fiaba is a well rounded and musically satisfying album that will certainly entertain you even if it doesn't make the top of your list. A fabulous painting on the gatefold mini-lp edition shows the band and orchestra traipsing up a hill for an apparent jam at a medieval castle. It may not be the most representative album of the Italian scene but I doubt this album will disappoint anyone looking for good music... (read the complete review HERE)

ON THE BORDER

Procession are an Italian prog band from Turin that was formed in 1972. In their debut album, “Frontiera” the line-up featured Gianfranco Gaza (vocals, harmonica), Angelo Girardi (bass, electric mandolin), Marcello Capra (electric and acoustic guitar), Giancarlo Capello (drums, percussion) and Roby Munciguerra (electric and acoustic guitar). The album was recorded in just a week in Rome and was released on the Help label. The music alternates hard, raw passages with electric guitars in the forefront to delicate, reflective atmospheres where acoustic passages prevail. It’s a concept album that deals with the problem of immigration from Southern Italy to the North and its industrialized cities like Turin or Milan. The lyrics were written by Marina Comin, the same lyricist as Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno’s “Per... un mondo di cristallo”.

Procession 1972

The opener “Ancora una notte” (One more night) starts with an acoustic guitar arpeggio, then the electric guitar and the rhythm section bring in a dark sense of impending change. The lyrics describe the last night of an emigrant before leaving his native village for the big city and an uncertain destiny... “One more night and the train will set off / But in this last night I can’t sleep / I’ve waited too long for this day / Now I’m scared / I fear that my life could end there...”. The body is going to leave but the roots are not yet broken and this contrast is underlined by the music.

“Uomini e illusioni” (Men and illusions) starts with a fiery electric tarantella (that could recall PFM’s “E’ festa”). The lyrics describe the train carrying its burden of men and illusions while running through Italy, from South to North, men who feel strangers in their own Homeland... “I will have to live my life / Like a clown compelled to smile / Even when his son is dying / I can’t show any pain...”.

“Città grande” (Big city) opens with a delicate acoustic arpeggio, the music and lyrics describe the arrival in the big city and the feeling of pain for family and home left behind, the struggle for a job, then the feeling of hope for a better world and society where people can survive without leaving home... “Big city I’m here... I left my mother, my girlfriend and perhaps my joy to live / But hope makes me go on / And I will live of hope...”.

“Incontro” (Meeting) is a joyful ballad featuring strummed acoustic guitar and flute. The music and lyrics describe the meeting between the protagonist and a boy about twenty years old. The boy talks about friendship, love, freedom and equality... “We’re all alike / You can find a thousand friends / If you look for them with your heart / There are no limits / If you live in love...”.

“Anche io sono un uomo” (I’m a man as well) is a delicate, melancholic track about equality and awareness. The protagonist thanks the boy for the new hope but then there arises an awareness that not everyone thinks in the same way... “How many people treat me like a man and don’t judge me? / How many people understand that I’m a man like you?”.

The long, complex “Un mondo di libertà” (A world of freedom) is more aggressive. It starts softly but then fiery electric guitars start storming enraged notes. Then the vocals come in while the tension slackens... “You have lost your freedom / But I’m not speaking with you just out of pity / There’s a whole world around you that loves you like me / It’s true that everyone here minds just his own business / But you are a man and you’ll find your way...”. The lyrics are a kind of sermon against resignation, all in all every place is the same and life is not so bad...

“Solo 1” (Alone) begins as an electric rock and roll... “Alone again, alone again in the big city / You look around you / Trying to understand where to go...”. Then rock and roll melts into something very different and moody...

“Un ombra che vaga” (A wandering shadow) begins with hard guitar riffs shaping a troubled, desperate mood... Then comes a sudden change of atmosphere and acoustic guitar and vocals describe what seems to be just a wandering shadow, a living ghost... “Your future life is like a dark shadow / You see your hopes in the eyes of the night / Houses seem big but they are colourless / You would like to be at home / But you can’t come back....”. Then, on “Solo 2” rock and roll and loneliness are back for another desperate ride in the big city... “Alone again, alone again in the big city / You look around you / Trying to understand where to go...”.

Hopes and disappointments, rage and love, friendship and loneliness, hard rock and acoustic passages... On the whole a very good album with good ideas and some ingenuity. Well, now the wish to go away from the hectic city life rises... “Away from here, away from here!”.

From the book Rock Progressivo Italiano: An introduction to Italian Progressive Rock