Gong - Rock In Progress Festival
featuring
MANGALA VALLIS - ALTARE THOTEMICO
ACCORDO DEI CONTRARI - SOULENGINE
MASTER EXPERIENCE - SILVER KEY
Bologna
July 12-13, 2013
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Saturday, 25 May 2013
Friday, 24 May 2013
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!”.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
ANOTHER GENESIS
La
Seconda Genesi came from Canino, a small town in the province of
Viterbo, and was one of the many Italian progressive rock “one-shot
bands” of the seventies. The leader of the band was guitarist
Paride De Carli, who, along with drummer Sandro Leoni, from 1963 to
1969 had been playing in clubs and on cruise ships. From 1969 to 1971
Paride De Carli spent two years in the Bahamas Islands playing with a
local multi-ethnic band and when back in Italy he released an album
with a band called Paride e gli Stereo 4, “Naufrago in città”,
on the independent label Picci Records. In 1972 he joined again with
Sandro Leoni and with Nazzareno Spaccia (bass), Giambattista Bonavera
(sax, flute) and Alberto Rocchetti (lead vocals and keyboards) formed
La Seconda Genesi. The band released only one album, “Tutto deve
finire”, also on Picci Records, before split up. In that period
progressive rock was very popular in Italy and “Tutto deve finire”
is just one of the many Italian albums in that vein, with the
musicians trying to blend many influences, from jazz and avant-garde
to hard rock and classical music.
“Tutto
deve finire” (Everything must end) is a concept album featuring
lyrics by the producer Giuseppe Cassia dealing with religious issues
such as the faith in God and the awareness that everything is bound
to come to an end except your soul. The instrumental opener
“Ascoltarsi nascere” (Listening to our own birth), is an
experimental piece where the band, with the sound of the sax in the
forefront, try to blend jazz and avant-garde with rock. The following
“L’urlo” (The scream) is another instrumental, a jazz-rock
track featuring a great saxophone work. It ends with a short organ
solo that marks a change in mood and atmosphere.
Next
comes “Se ne va con noi” (It goes away with us), with a
“sinister” drum and organ intro, a piece closer to the gloomy
mood of Il Balletto di Bronzo’s “Ys” than to Weather Report. On
this track the voice of Alberto Rocchetti reminds me slightly of
Gianni Leone... “Life dies with us / With a lament life goes away /
It goes, goes, goes away with us / The wind blows in the sky but the
sun can’t rise / Around us the air is going to die too / And people
don’t know when to set off / And people don’t know where to
go...”. A good track although in my opinion it's not at the same
level of “Ys”!
“Vedo
un altro mondo” (I see another world) features hard rock guitar,
flute “à la Jethro Tull”, a short vocal part that reminds me
slightly of New Trolls (though not with the same amazing harmony
vocals), a drum and organ passage, then a hard rock guitar part...
“I see another world / Man, who are you? / If you'll understand /
You’ll come to life again...”.
“Dimmi
Padre” (Tell me Father) in my opinion is the best track on this
album. It’s the more complex piece on the album and the band try to
blend classical influences and hard rock. You can find here echoes of
Osanna, Delirium, Le Orme and New Trolls – or, if you prefer, of
Jethro Tull, especially because of the flute... “Tell me Father /
Why do you not wonder any more about what you’re doing? / You have
been starving all along your life / Your faith is great but you will
not help your people / It doesn’t matter, my father / Anyhow
there’s always God...”. Dramatic vocals soar over a melting pot
of different influences...
The
following “Breve dialogo” (Short dialogue) is a short
instrumental with a good interaction between classical guitar and
organ. It leads to “Giovane uomo” (Young man), a track closer to
hard rock that recalls Osanna’s first album. Next comes
“Un'infanzia mai vissuta” (A never lived childhood), a quiet
instrumental piece built upon a classical guitar arpeggio.
The
album was re-released by Akarma Records in 2002 along with the
previous album of the guitarist Paride De Carli with the “Stereo
4”, “Naufrago in città” (two albums on one CD). “Naufrago in
città” is a completely instrumental album with most of the tracks
built upon classical guitar patterns with flute and organ drawing
calm, dreamy melodies.
Well,
on the whole “Tutto deve finire” might not be considered an
outstanding album but I think it's really worth listening to. Bye
the way, the original vinyl version of this album is extremely rare
and precious for “vinyl collectors” because of the particular art
cover featuring random jets of colour (actually, there’s a
different album cover for each one of the first 200 vinyl copies).
You can listen in streaming to the complete album HERE
More
info:
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
SHADOWS FROM THE PAST
The
Former Life is an Italian prog band from Vittorio Veneto that was
formed in 2008 on the initiative of Andrea De Nardi and Matteo
Ballarin who had previously collaborated in other bands and projects.
According to the official website, the band was named after an
imaginary life that the musicians dreamed to have experienced in the
era of the giants of rock and was meant as a metaphor to express
the shadow of our past and its merging with today’s shadows – a
thin thread keeping us tied to what seems to be past and gone, and
yet inevitably needs to be recalled, being the only key to access a
“latter life” (a life change). Their sources of inspiration
range from Pink Floyd to classical music and jazz but the final
result is not too derivative and the song-writing is rather good. In
2011 they self released an interesting debut album, “Electric
Stillness”, with a line up featuring along with Andrea De Nardi
(vocals, piano, organ, keyboards) and Matteo Ballarin (vocals,
guitars) two guest musicians, Edoardo Papes (drums, percussion) and
Giovanni Scarabel (bass). Later the line up was completed by drummer
Manuel Smaniotto and bassist Carlo Scalet for the live activity that
followed the release of the album.
 |
| The Former Life |
According
to the band, “Electric Stillness” was conceived as a conceptual
work about the abandonment of an unwanted former life (or
experience) and the growing desire for change and rebirth, symbolized
by a beautiful jewel which “sunders” into two halves. In the
booklet there's a short poem that in some way sets the atmosphere, a
foreword to the music you're going to listen to... “The
brightest awakening comes after the longest sleep, as the suspended
chord resolves to the perfect triad... Few notes of
recollection can be played but sometimes you find the right key to
playback... yourself / That’s like regaining the memory of your
former life...”.
The
opener “Sundering Jewel” begins with an amazing, dreamy prelude
for piano solo that recalls slightly Le Orme's album Florian. Then
the other instruments come in and the music takes off taking you away
from the Venetian lagoon, towards an obscure moon... “We’re
doomed to stay apart and to play the dark songs of elsewhere / Should
this remind us of a former life, we’ll escape, like we’ve never
escaped / Nor we’ll obey their rules...”.
You
can walk on the moon on the notes of the following “Hijacked”, an
evocative instrumental track that leads to the spacey “Belong To
The Stars”, a long piece blending dreamy melodic lines and dark
passages, hazy memories and fading nightmares... “I’m a pilgrim
in search of no land / Betrayed by oblivion and fear / Fuddled,
brainwashed, wrecked and bound to be here...”. The melancholic
“MesmerEyes” takes you back to earth, where love is nothing but
hate in disguise and where you have to bear the burden of your
mistakes. Now you have to seek for a place to start back, forgetting
the past and its long shade of guilt.
“London
Rain” is a beautiful track divided into three parts. It's about the
madness of men who forget too easily the errors of the past and turn
they faces away from the blood of the innocent victims of violence.
The mood is dark, there's a sense of impending tragedy, a bomb is
going to explode. If you can absorb a disgrace as if it were rain
you're probably insane... “There is still a huge ravine between you
and how you should be, man...”.
“A
Milligram Of Joy” begins with an electric guitar solo that shines
in the dark like a crazy diamond. There's a strong sense of
nostalgia, you're looking for your past but you can't find it, you're
wondering where your days have gone but there's no way to have them
back... “What have they done with my stolen days? / You know your
enemies are altering the game / But will you, will you let the wind
erase another trace? / There ain't no angel to save us strangers /
Now that I twist and burn inside / Now that I want back my milligram
of joy...”.
The
conclusive title track “Electric Stillness” closes the circle and
brings you back to your dream, to the stage of a long gone shadow
play... “Voices then came to whisper me of a latter life / I felt
their wide wings caress my illusions / While calling me across the
outermost boundary / I saw a sundering jewel, high above us / And we
strove hard to reach it / But at the top of those white marble stairs
/ I was left alone, and shown the root of all my inborn weakness /
Electric stillness reigned...”.
Well,
on the whole I think that this is a very good album. By the way,
“Electric Stillness was re-released in 2012 with a bonus track.
Have a try!
You can listen in streaming to the complete album HERE
The
Former Life: Electric Stillness (2011). Other opinions:
Raffaella
Benvenuto-Berry: Electric Stillness is the result of years of
work on the part of two artists who, in spite of their young age,
have already had extensive experience on the music scene. The care
and dedication behind the album are evident right from its visual
presentation, with an elegant, vaguely Impressionist cover that
reflects the understated, autumnal quality of the music, and a
detailed booklet including lyrics... Even if it may not be the most
innovative effort on the market, it is still a classy album –
easily as good as many releases by higher-profile outfits – that
will delight fans of melodic prog and bands such as Genesis, Pink
Floyd and Camel... (read the complete review HERE)
Conor
Fynes: Perhaps somewhat like the style legends Porcupine Tree, the
vintage prog sounds of synths and soaring guitar leads are fused into
what is otherwise a rock style very aware of its contemporaries.
Indeed, this idea of fusing the old and new is a concept about as old
as progressive rock itself, but The Former Life do it a good service.
Often, the band will explore several different styles within a
different song, and the transitions are kept smooth, thanks to a
focused approach to songwriting... (read the complete review HERE)
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