"Yet another great album, this is actually one of my favorite prog-albums. There is great dialogue between the voice, guitar and flute. In some parts in gets pretty raunchy (pesado...pesado...) but it never looses its melodic attributes. The guitar is never to loud, all the instruments are perfectly sinqued and never does one get lost behind another. It changes mood pretty dramatically in some parts, but the changes are never abrupt or out of place it follows a well developed structure.A really nice classic, the voice is another nice addition. A great example is my fav. pick on the album "Il Tramonto di un Popolo" where the voice is another part of the set of the mood of the whole track, not like in other albums where it just kind of follows along with the song. the best part is the end of the song where it just bursts out with this huge sentimental yell, its awsome! I always try to look for this one album efforts, where, sadly, the band employes/explode all off their creativity into a hand full of really great tracks. Like this type of albums, NOT allong the musical style of Capitolo 6, I could amply recomend Panna Fredda "Uno" and Le ali del Vento "1969-1971" (a girl on vocals, really cool!). Get this album if you dont have it. " - Doobie - ProgArchives- Riccardo Bartolotti / vocals, guitar, flute
- Antonio Favilla / keyboards
- Maurizio Romani / bass
- Lorenzo Donati / drums, vocals
1. Frutti per Kagua (18:24)
2. Grande spirito (3:35)
3. Il tramonto di un popolo (6:00)
4. L'ultima notte (11:28)
Links In Comments
- Antonio Favilla / keyboards
- Maurizio Romani / bass
- Lorenzo Donati / drums, vocals
1. Frutti per Kagua (18:24)
2. Grande spirito (3:35)
3. Il tramonto di un popolo (6:00)
4. L'ultima notte (11:28)
Links In Comments
""Caravanserai" is Santana's fourth album, released in 1972, and is a masterpiece of jazz/rock/Latino/space/fusion.It contains no hits like the previous three albums. It is largely instrumental, beautiful piece of work that shows great amount of talent, imagination and creativity of Carlos Devadip and his backing band. It sounds like a thematic piece, albeit not a "concept", about mysticism surrounding caravans, desert, sand, sun and moon, day and night, and the universal values of life in general. The music here performed is Santana's first real foray into jazz-rock. There are plenty of spacey and ambience keyboards (mostly Hammond and piano) and percussion. Bass is a forefront instrument in many moments on the album and it often sounds as played fretless, thus a wonderful melodic sound. Guitar is less dominant than on previous works, but in turn it fits nicely into the overall music journey, with effective and gentle solos right in proper places (Santana is sometimes prone to excessive "guitar hero" pyrotechnics and unnecessary soloing). The compositions are interconnected without pauses, so the listening process goes smoothly and uninterrupted. Musicianship, composing and production are all perfect. For my taste the only flaw of this album are weak vocals in "All the Love of the Universe", which are too sweetie and come close to easy pop sound. All the rest is perfect.I would like to recommend "Caravanserai" especially to those people who are sceptic about Santana's "proginess" and who don't like his classic Latin-rock sound of early, more commercial albums. " - Seyo - ProgArchives
"This is the point where it all came together for Amon Duul II - where the songwriting finally caught up with the band's always-impressive improvisational capabilities. Like the previous album, this consists of one disc of composed tracks and another of improvisations, but it doesn't feel like a double album - far from sprawling out, it's over all too soon! Standout suites include the dizzying, zeitgeist-capturing March of the Roaring Seventies opens the album in fine form, with lyrics as sinister as they are surreal and music which is packed with psychedelic foreboding, and the improvisational Marilyn Monroe Memorial Church, on which the spirit of Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets - an album which seems to have had an absolutely massive influence on the early Krautrock scene - can be discerned once again. But then, there's a swathe of other influences at work as well as the band's own unique character on display. More densely-packed with musical ideas and talented musicianship than any previous Amon Duul album, this may just be their finest work. " - Warthur - ProgArchives
"One of the best-kept secrets among cognoscenti of classic Italian Prog is the existence of these 1979/1980 live recordings by singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André, arranged and performed by the legendary PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI, and to these ears maybe the unrecognized pinnacle of the entire PFM catalogue. The band was performing back-up duties for the popular acoustic folk guitarist, but make no mistake: this is a PFM album in all but name, and the fact that it was never released outside Italy is a tragedy worthy of a Giuseppe Verdi libretto.Be careful, however: the music has little relation to the more Anglo-influenced early Prog masterpieces of "Per Un Amico" or "L'Isole di Niente". PFM was at the time in the process of rediscovering its long-dormant Italian roots (after releasing the underrated, transitional "Passpartù" album), and this collaboration offered the group an ideal vehicle for their cultural rehabilitation. De André made his reputation writing songs falling (mostly) on the sunnier side of Mediterranean pop, and even after being revamped for a band once favorably compared to the first King Crimson his music remained so typically Italian you could sprinkle on a little olive oil and serve it with red wine.PFM also boasted a new (and improved?) line-up to mark their homecoming, minus vocalist Bernardo Lanzetti but joined for the first time by Lucio "Violino" Fabbri, and with Flavio Premoli sharing keyboard duties with Roberto Columbo (an accomplished Progger himself: I recall owning one of his solo albums once upon a time). Everyone plays with an energy and enthusiasm rarely heard on even the best of the group's studio albums, from Premoli's nimble solo spot on the concert opener "Bocca di Rosa" to an absolutely ferocious and emotional electric guitar solo by Franco Mussida on "Amico Fragile", the most obviously Progressive song here and clearly the high point of the entire album.Elsewhere the mood is set by De André's rolling acoustic guitar and romantic baritone croon. Never mind the language barrier: his voice is music enough on its own, whether in the more intimate setting of "Guigno '73" (featuring a beautiful fretless electric bass intro by Patrick Djivas) or kicking out the jams in the Italian hoedown "Zirichiltaggia", and the equally infectious "Il Pescatore". The latter has to be one of the most cheerful sing-a-longs ever written about (I was surprised to finally learn) a fugitive killer: see Andrea's previous review for more narrative details.Purists may complain about the lack of mellotrons. But this is an indispensable album for Italian music enthusiasts in general and PFM fans in particular, and despite my conservative rating it will always be for me a 5-star sentimental favorite. Why? Because it marked the end of a fruitful decade for an influential band before they fell (for a long time) into relative obscurity and creative torpor. And because I stupidly sold my original LP after jumping on the post-Punk bandwagon in the early 1980s, only to rediscover it (maybe the same copy) almost 15 years later and 2500 miles down the road.A second volume (from the same shows) followed in 1980. " -Neu!mann - ProgArchives
"Another one-shot band from the huge Italian 70s progrock scenario!I'm glad I've found this excellent and mythic album in the good 2002 Akarma release.I think Murple deserves now (and deserved then) more attention by any good progrock lover. I don't know why the german label Basf didn't take care of them! It's hard and sad to imagine!The four band members are: Pino Santamaria (electric and acoustic guitars, lead vocals, choirs), Mario Garbarino (bass guitar, triangle and bongos), Duilio Sorrenti (drums, gong, tumbadoras and tympani), Pier Carlo Zanco (lead vocals, choirs, organ, pianos, eminent, synth, bowed contrabass).Their unique and marvellous record is a great conceptual-based work about the story of the penguin "Murple" who decides to go away from his own land, "Antarctica", and to explore the rest of world.A long prog-suite, almost entirely instrumental: excellent keyboards, synths (special mention to "Nessuna Scelta" i.e. "No Choice", excerpt from the first part) and classic pianos (special mention to the introduction of the second part titled "Preludio e Scherzo" i.e. "Prelude and Joke"), awesome electric guitars parts and elaborate solos, powerful drums and strong bass parts. Nice the dreamy vocals provided by Pier Carlo Zanco. Fantasy-like and delicate atmospheres for a joyful progrock adventure! This is "prog-delicacy" at the purest state! Go out and buy this wonderful gem now! P.S. very nice cover !!! " - Andrea Cortese - ProgArchives
""Down To Earth" was NEKTAR's 5th release and in my opinion is one of their finest albums of all time. "Down To Earth" is a concept album based around the highs and lows of life in belonging to a cosmic circus. Lovers of Hawkwind will be pleased to know that Mr. Robert Calvert is the Ringmaster throughout the album and brings a very theatrical element into this album. AS you would expect this album is filled with the classic NEKTAR symphonic FLOYD-like twists with just enough German KrautRock influences to keep you amazed. One of the key differences on "Down To Earth" for NEKTAR was the use of Circus like atmospheres and sound effects in their instrumentation (tuba, trumpets, trombone and barritone sax). Several of NEKTAR's most beloved tunes came from this album "Astral Man", "That's Life" and "Early Morning Clown". Highly recommended prog rock! " - Loserboy - ProgArchives
"Malicorne's debut is an uneven but promising start. With Dame Lombarde they deliver a first calling card for their later achievements. It's an attractive folk song with a very nice and rhythmic interplay between electric bass and clean guitars. The melodies are good but the vocals come off a bit dusty.
"Audience hit their high stide on 1971's masterpiece, "The house on the hill" featuring the distinctive vocals of Howard Werth and his electric classical guitar work. Audience were definitely not a prototypical progressive rock band...more prog-folk that explores a multitude of connecting genres including jazz, baroque, fusion and even Renaissance-era. Musically, "Audience" combined classical guitar with tenor sax, clarinet, flute, bass, vibes and percussion. This album defies catergorization and ranges from classical rock to Van Der Graaf sax-like dark passages to the art pop influences of 10CC...to the Incredible String Band, CCR, Badfinger and on and on.... Void of heavy mellotron, electric guitar and long epic tracks, yet this album still hits a great artistic high and resonates with a progressive sensitivities. A great album " - Loserboy - ProgArchives
"This is the album through which Stomu Yamash'ta finally gained international recognition, not least because of Winwood's presence, after Traffic's slow demise. Although there are 14 tracks (7 aside), the album is meant to be one single work, because the vinyl shows no space between the tracks. The album's artwork is derived off the East Wind/Freedom artwork, this Yamash'ta project (the wrote all but one of the "songs") was a high profile, necessitating a full orchestra but Winwood has an all-important role on keys and vocals as well as writing the finale. Among the other stars are Michael Shrieve (ex-Santana and you can hear a bit of this influence at times on this album) and not mentioned on the album cover (or picture), Al DiMeola and Klaus Schulze.
"Fabrizio De Andre has been the greatest singer/songwriter to ever grace Italy.What characterized his work was his uncompromising attitude towards the music industry and the establishement in general.Therefore the subjects of his music were often of satirical nature,against politicians,the Church and the rich,about bigotry and prejudice and about marginalized and rebellious people.For example one of his most famous songs "Bocca Di Rosa" tells the story of a prostitute.Creuza De Ma was a turning point and probably IMHO,the best work Faber ever did.For this album he left Italian language for the dialect of his hometown,Genova.Also the music,thanks to the collaboration of former PFM menber Mauro Pagani,played a big part in the success of this album.I can only describe this music as World Music,with very strong Mediterranean and Arabic influences.It is not a very long album,there is only 7 songs in it,but i can assure you,it will not disappoint you.Last i would like to attempt to translate the title of this album and what it really means.Creuza De Ma literally means "Path To The Sea".The term "Crêuza" actually indicates a narrow road bordered by low walls, typical of Genova and Liguria in general.But what De Andre really meant was something different.Sometimes depending on the winds and the sea currents some patches of the sea are of a different colour,in some ways resembling a road and therefore "path in the sea""Creuza De Ma",after all he was also a poet.Highly recommended !!!" - SalParadise - SilverainTR
"This is the last GENESIS' record that I can listen all the songs without being bored, except maybe "Follow You Follow Me", which was a big hit during those years. Despite Steve HACKETT's departure, Mike RUTHEFORD took the control of the guitar elements, and succeeds very well. We feel here that the songs are less loaded, more floating and romantic. The longest tracks are still quite progressive ("Burning Rope", "Lady Lies"). The keyboards are absolutely omnipresent, varied and rather floating and melodic: There are some parts where the keyboards get so coloured and deep that it becomes almost quintessential ("Burning Rope"). The rythmic guitar and melodic solos are well suited for the modern keyboards. Mike RUTHEFORD's bass is quite impressive, and we can easily listen to it because it is not hidden by the guitars. COLLINS' drums are quite good, but obviously not as good as on "Trick of the Tail"." - greenback - ProgArchives