STEP BY STEP

Passo dopo passo, Il Castello di Atlante’s second album, is a collection of live recordings and demos dating back to the first period of the band’s activity, from 1976 to 1984. It was released in 1994 on the independent Vinyl Magic label with a beautiful art cover representing time passing by with an hourglass in the forefront. In my opinion, this album is a good document of the musicians’ enthusiasm and freshness in their early years but, despite the remastering, the sound quality is not always adequate to say the least. Moreover, the booklet is rather poor, with no details about the recording sessions. Nonetheless the music is worth listening to... 

The powerful instrumental “Overture per un concerto” (Overture for a concert) opens the album, then it’s the turn of another instrumental track, an early version of “Cavalcando tra le nuvole” (Riding through the clouds), a beautiful piece properly re-recorded and released in 2005 on the album Quintessenza...

The long, complex “Danza sulla Quinta Strada” (Dance on Fifth Avenue) begins by the sound of wind and hooters while distorted vocals evoke long shadows with a deathly train and funereal ghosts ready to wear their mask. Then the rhythm rises and the dance can start... Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan and one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. Here it is described as the temple of deception, a place without poetry where even music sounds phoney. The protagonist walks along the street, under the colourful lights he’s hiding his thoughts and his disenchantment...

“Alice” is a delicate piece that depicts in music and words a little girl in love with nature who prays in the night, picks up daisies in the morning and let her dreams fly from the seashore to the mountains... Next comes “Omer”, a joyful, surreal ode to friendship and music that describes a keyboardist on his way to a castle located in the mountains of sound, guarded by friendly bearded knights...

Then comes the ethereal instrumental “Epiciclo” (Epicycle). The title refers to a geometric model used in the Hipparchian, Ptolemaic, and Copernican systems of astronomy to explain the variations in speed and direction of the apparent motion of the Moon, Sun, and planets...

 

The disquieting “L'ombra” (The shadow) features a pounding electronic sound and a mysterious feeling. The vocals play the role of a strange, insubstantial shadow fallowing you everywhere but disappearing at night... Then it’s the turn of the short, acoustic ballad “Il cortile” (The courtyard) that depicts a pastoral landscape from where old memories and bits of the protagonist’s past emerge...

The instrumental “Passaggio” (Passage) is just a long violin solo inspired by classical music that leads to the following “La guerra dei topi” (The war of the mice), an epic piece that evoke a rebellious army of mice marching from the suburbs towards the big city, pushed by a strong thirst for justice. They go on and on towards the unknown, towards the void, towards the glory, against the power, against the gods...

“Babele” (Babel) is another long, epic piece. Here the music and lyrics conjure up the images of living statues and ashes of gods wandering on the ground and whispering their meaningless words to the grim reaper, playing a pointless game of checks with the fate. Strong in their armours they build wall after wall trying to erase their past in a dark spiral of power and death... Then the soft instrumental “Chorale I” ends the album with a slow, solemn pace and a dreamy, nocturnal mood.

On the whole, despite the poor sound quality, a good work that deserves a try.

You can listen to the complete album HERE

More info:
http://www.ilcastellodiatlante.it/

https://www.facebook.com/ilcastellodiatlante 

FROM THE NORTHERN LANDS

Il Castello di Atlante were formed in Vercelli in the mid seventies but it wasn’t until 1992 that they had the chance to release their first album, “Sono io il Signore delle Terre a Nord” (I’m the Lord of the Northern Lands), thanks to the independent label Vinyl Magic. The line-up here features Dino Fiore (bass), Aldo Bergamini (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Paolo Ferrarotti (drums, vocals), Roberto Giordano (piano, keyboards, vocals) and Massimo Di Lauro (violin, keyboards) and the overall sound is surprisingly fresh and up to date. Il Castello di Atlante were influenced, of course, by British and Italian prog bands as Genesis, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso but they managed to shape an original sound and their song-writing is quite good. The result is an amazing debut album full of passion and dreams. 

The opener “Tirando le somme” (Drawing conclusions) is a reflective track about the meaning of happiness. A steady marching beat and keyboard waves set the atmosphere and a question arises... Who is greater, a powerful king coming back from a victorious battle or a happy gnome? Well, when you have death inside you, you can’t be happy, even if you are the greatest of the kings... “Is it really so sad to be as tall as the stem of a flower?...”.

The long, complex “La foresta dietro il mulino di Johan” (The forest behind Johan’s mill) begins softly with acoustic guitar and violin, then a piano pattern leads to a darker mood. The piece is about the fear of an impending obscure destiny knocking on your door. You can shout out loud your questions about your fate in the wind but only the spirit of the old forest can hear you... and it laughs! Fear spreads its tentacles in you and you can do nothing but close your eyes and delay for a short time the upcoming reality while the weight of silence becomes overwhelming... “Future will be knocking at your door anyhow / Future will be knocking at your door anyway!”.

“Il saggio” (The wise man) is a delicate, melancholic ballad about time passing by. Listen to the sound of the pouring rain, it’s the same sound you might have listened to in your childhood, it’s the same sound you might listen to when you have grown up... “Now I listen to the sound of the rain falling in my solitary hermitage / My hair is white and I’m indifferent to everything around me / And on the doorsteps the rain is still falling, drop after drop, until my new morning...”.

Next comes “Semplice ma non troppo” (Simple but not too much). It is a nice, lively instrumental piece full of energy where the musicians express all their joy of playing together...

“Il pozzo” (The well) is a beautiful acoustic track with a strange medieval taste that might recall some of Angelo Branduardi’s works. The lyrics describe a strange journey. As in Lewis Carroll’s novel “Alice in Wonderland”, the protagonist of the song explores a magic world that lies behind the images mirrored by the water down in a well... “Master Spider leads the way / The image mirrored at the bottom of the well is reality...”. 

 

“Non c’è tempo” (There’s no time) is a melancholic piece featuring good harmony vocals and some nervous passages. Sometimes everyday life is full of compromises and hard to endure... “The wet asphalt reflects the colours of the morning / I listen to the sound of my steps echoing in the street... There’s no time to think, there’s no time to talk / There’s no time to dream, there’s no time to be happy / There’s no time to love...”.

“Estate” (Summertime) starts softly with a piano solo intro. Here the music every now and again might recall Procol Harum, the atmosphere is pastoral and the lyrics describe a hot summer day in the country... “On the horizon shines that coloured bow / It’s like the touch of a painter on this new summer...”.

“Il vessillo del drago” (The dragon’s banner) is a perfect finale for this excellent album. Medieval influences blend with powerful rock passages and evocative images... “I’m the Lord of the Northern Lands / Under my banner you will fight...”.

 

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

TALES FROM UTOPIA

 The roots of Utopia 239 date back to 1971 when in a village of the province of Vercelli called Lignana four friends formed a band to play covers and compose original stuff inspired by Italian canzone d’autore and progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd or Le Orme. During their early years the band never had the chance to properly record and release an album and they split up at the end of the seventies. It wasn’t until 2002 that some of the old members reunited and decided to rework on their early repertoire taking it back from oblivion. In 2015 they finally self-released a debut album entitled I giorni dell’utopia (The days of Utopia) with a renewed line up featuring along with the veterans Massimo Cagliero (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Ugo Giva Magnetti (guitar, vocals) and Fausto Garella (drums, percussion, vocals) also Fabrizio Gallina Sabarino (keyboards, synth), Enrico Barbano (electric and classical guitar), Fosca Zanone (vocals, classical guitar) and Alberto Bocchio (bass). 

 

 

The opener “Ouverture” is a short, ethereal instrumental track with the keyboards in the forefront that sets the atmosphere and leads to “Una borgata” (A township), a piece originally written in 1972 that tells about the formative years spent by a man in an old village between flowers and thorns with a mill, a church, an old inn and where memories are carried away by the wind... The pace is slow and the mood melancholic as the music and the poetical lyrics describe a little town and its hypocritical mentality, then the strong desire of looking for new horizons, leaving behind faded masks, broken dreams and false appearances. The following “Un povero cristo” (A poor man) is a short ballad that was clearly inspired by the style of Fabrizio De Andrè and Francesco Guccini and depicts the lonesome death, in a hospital bed, of an old poor villager. Then, the images of his funeral follow: few people, no flowers, no tears... Life goes on as usual as the memory of the solitary fades away. 

 

 

“Ho udito le megattere cantare” (I’ve heard the humpback whales singing) is a long instrumental track that could recall One Of These Days by Pink Floyd and leads to “9 febbraio, un giorno” (February the 9th, a day), a sad elegy that evokes broken illusions and the blood splattered on the asphalt as a consequence of an accident at work on a normal day in an impersonal, ungrateful metropolis that seems unaware of this kind of tragedies... Then it’s the turn of the long, complex “Il narratore delle storie degli inferi” (The teller of the hell’s stories) a dramatic piece dealing the issue of drug addiction where the lyrics unfold in the form of a dialogue between a “right-thinking” narrator and a damned junky drawn away across the dark infinite space by the white dust he holds in his hands... 

 

The short instrumental “La danza delle lucciole” (The dance of the fireflies) is a dreamy track that leads to the dramatic “Amore fragile” (Fragile love), a melancholic ballad about the first love and the loss of innocence. Then it’s the turn of the introspective, hermetic “Il bivio” (The crossroads) that tells about the torn choices a teenager girl has to make, uncertain about which way to follow between dreams and stability, dangerous paths or beaten tracks... 

 

 

According to the band, “Gloria in excelsis machina (Il confine)” is a piece conceived as a hymn to the human decadence. It tries to depict in music and words a dystopic future where, without the ability to experience or express feelings, humankind is pushed to the edges of the galaxies. Man is now the prisoner of a cage that he has built with his own hands, a cage that he will no longer be able to break down as his life plunges towards extinction on board of ghost spaceships lost into the mists of Andromeda... The following “Ritorno alle origini” (Back to the roots) is another track that tries to conjure up apocalyptic images and deals with the tendency to self-destruction of the human race. You can hear Mother’s nature lament in the day after of a nuclear war. There’s nothing but ruin all around the gloomy landscape. And yet, there’s still hope for a new start as a pale light breaks the veil of darkness... 

 

“Risveglio” is a short instrumental linked to the final track, “La morte e la fanciulla” (The Death and the maiden), that tells in a poetical way of the tragic death of a young girl. The girl is raped and murdered by a maniac killer, her body is found the day after in a suburban lawn. Here reality and dream melt and what is just another tragic crime news becomes a fairy tale... 

 

On the whole, an interesting album although it could be difficult to fully appreciate it without an adequate comprehension of the lyrics. 

 

You can listen to the complete album HERE

 

More info:

http://www.utopia239.it/ 

 

PIEMONTE and VALLE D'AOSTA (part 2)

Turin is not the only city in Piemonte which can boast interesting prog bands. The birthplace of Italian writer Umberto Eco, ALESSANDRIA, about 90 km south-west from Turin, saw the formation of a band called Quo Modo Vitae (MySpace) in the seventies. They never had the chance to record an album then and it’s a pity but recently some of the old members joined up again to play live and to work on new and old pieces and, well, I think it would be high time for a debut album!

In Alessandria we can also listen to the excellent Imagin’Aria (MySpace), to the projects of guitarist Cristiano Mussi (MySpace) and to some emerging bands such as the melodic Roccaforte (MySpace), the heavier Anziana Regina (MySpace) and the psychedelic Cosa Rara (MySpace). In the nearby town of Casale Monferrato we can listen to a melodic prog band called Abaco (MySpace) while Acqui Terme is home to another melodic prog band, Plenilunio (MySpace). Another town in the province of Alessandria, Tortona, in the early seventies gave us a band called I Leoni while now it’s the time of the heavy and dark Ufomammut (MySpace).

And now to ASTI, about 55 km south-east of Turin which in the seventies gave us Locanda delle Fate (Official Website). After an ephemeral reunion in the late nineties the band is now back with a renewed line-up and in summer 2010 they played their first concert since the late seventies. Former Locanda delle Fate keyboardist and composer Michele Conta (MySpace) has not taken part in the reunion and is working on a solo project.

 Asti was also home to Archensiel, an interesting prog-folk band that in 1989 released a beautiful album, Piöva, re-released by Akarma in 2004. Archensiel guitarist Massimo Brignolo is now in the new line of Locanda delle Fate. The prog scene from Asti can also boast the emerging Fata dell’Ombra (MySpace) and the interesting Cantina Sociale (MySpace) that in 2009 released an excellent album entitled Cum Lux. Cantina Sociale’s singer Iano Nicolò (MySpace) is also the singer in the new line-up of Arti e Mestieri.

 

Well, almost every city in Piemonte gave birth to at least one prog band that is worth listening to. In CUNEO we find the folk-jazz Falafel Project (MySpace), the math prog Lamalora (MySpace) and Pandora (Official Website) that after an amazing debut album for BTF in 2011 released a sophomore album entitled Sempre e ovunque oltre il sogno.

From Bra, a town  50 km south of Turin and 50 km north-east of Cuneo, there comes Colster (MySpace), an emerging band influenced by psychedelic sounds while Mondovì is home to an instrumental project called Athene Noctua (MySpace). BIELLA in the seventies gave us Odissea while today it is home to a folk-jazz project called Abnoba (MySpace), the emerging LeMura (Facebook) and an interesting band called The Mellon (MySpace), inspired by esoteric and dark atmospheres.

 

Then, from VERCELLI come the veterans Il Castello di Atlante (Official Website), formed in the seventies and still in perfect shape. Another local band of great experience is the neo-prog Arcansiel (MySpace) whose roots go back to the eighties. Arcansiel’s leader, Paolo Baltaro (MySpace), in 2009 released a solo album on Musea Records. The province of Vercelli, to be more exact an area called Valsesia, is also home to an emerging band called Coma Berenices (MySpace).

From NOVARA come Consorzio Acqua Potabile (Official Website), a band formed in 1971 and still active today, and Psichedalia (Reverbnation) while from Domodossola, a town in the province of VERBANO-CUSIO-OSSOLA comes the psychedelic King Suffy Generator (MySpace). By the way, Domodossola is also the birth place of Alberto Fortis, a famous Italian singer songwriter whose first two albums might be of some interest to prog lovers.

To conclude our visit through far North-West Italy, we go to AOSTA, the capital of the autonomous region VALLE D'AOSTA. Here during the seventies Paradiso a Basso Prezzo were based. Their drummer, Guido Gressani, is still active and plays jazz with his Guido Gressani Quintet (Facebook). Now the city is home to I Treni all’Alba (MySpace) that were formed between Aosta and Turin in 2002. All the members of the band are experienced musicians with different influences and in 2008 they released their first full length album, Folk Destroyers, on the independent label Smartz Records.

Each track is illustrated in the beautiful booklet with a drawing by the painter Domenico Sorrenti and the music flows away  as in a long suite where quiet acoustic and folky passages melt into fiery percussion rides and vice versa. The name of the band, I Treni All’Alba, means “the trains at dawn...”.