Baffo Banfi
Galaxy My Dear

LA RECENSIONE

Some might surely remember Biglietto per l’Inferno, a legendary group of Italian prog, perhaps even, in my opinion, the best that ever existed. Their first record is an authentic masterpiece of hard prog. In that lineup, besides the late singer Claudio Canali who later became a monk and secluded himself in a convent in Tuscany, there was also the keyboardist Baffo Banfi, born in 1954 and originally from Lecco. Banfi was also a devotee of the so-called German Cosmic Music of various artists like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. He especially idolized Schulze. In parallel with his activity with Biglietto Banfi, he decided to cross “the gates of the cosmos up there in Germany” by setting up a home studio that housed somewhat rudimentary but effective equipment including two Revox, a Mini Moog, a Gem, an Eminent Solina (one of the first organs with programming) and a Binson echo. From these experiments in his studio, Banfi derived the material for a record that he proposed to Red Records, which was eventually released with the title Galaxy My Dear in 1978 without his knowledge. The album was lovingly dedicated “to his master Klaus Schulze”. And here begins another story that would lead the keyboardist to record even for IC, the personal label founded by Schulze himself, who published 2 albums for him, namely Ma Dolce Vita (1979) and Hearth (1981). The great German musician had listened to his material and was so thrilled that he invited him to Germany and began a professional collaboration with him. The music contained in Galaxy My Dear is pure joy for Schulze-like cosmic music lovers. The initial track, with its cosmic pulsations, seems to emerge directly from Timewind, the "Wagnerian" masterpiece of the German keyboardist. More rhythmic moments in the classic Berlin School style alternate with more evanescent and atmospheric ones (as in “Audio Emotion”). The final track “Goodbye My Little Star” (about 18 minutes long) reminded me a lot of Aqua by Edgar Froese and is an authentic blast that takes the mind traveling to distant galaxies in space and time. It’s a cult album for all “cosmic travelers” that must absolutely be rediscovered.