Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Banco

But how can it be that on such a "prog oriented" site, there are up to 3 reviews of some albums from the golden trilogy of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (B.M.S.) and it's entirely missing even a mention of the English version orchestrated by Emerson and company, published in the now distant 1975 with their own label "Manticore" and resurrected/reissued on CD by the Japanese (...) in 1999? Well, it's definitely time to fill this gap and retrieve this rare gem "Banco" (IV) which opens with "Chorale" drawn from the theme of "Traccia" (from Salvadanaio), a good instrumental introduction to the Bread Tree, or as it says here on my very old LP "The Bread Tree," actually sung by the late Ciccio Di Giacomo in his native language and which is the only new track in this album: a triumph of organ and synthesizer, just to please their mentor who must have appreciated the (remarkable) quality of the piece. The side concludes with a stunning "Metamorphosis," decidedly longer (14'54") than the original track, also contained in the Salvadanaio, where the work of the Nocenzi brothers (Gianni & Vittorio) is so valid that Emerson himself must have been thrilled, considering that a poor soul like the one writing this, with good reason, can call it the pinnacle of this Group's Music! Given my stinginess in terms of judgments, you'll have to tell me if I'm wrong, provided you can find the CD, as the LP of remarkable technical quality is now considered unfindable.

No need to dwell on such beauty, I could only diminish one of the various parts and interludes of the track, which closes with the dramatic (and brief) intervention of Ciccio Di Giacomo in English as a prelude to the famous and solemn conclusion. Moving on to side "B" which opens with "Outside" (outside), decidedly arranged and extended in a dreamlike manner always from R.I.P. from their first album, followed by 3 tracks taken from "Io sono nato Libero" and precisely: "Leave me Alone" an elegant translation, as indeed the whole text, of "Non mi rompete" reproduced quite faithfully, but with a bit of a rushed ending. Then there's "Nothing the Same" instead of "Dopo... Niente è più lo Stesso" rendered still very close to the original in Italian, and finally Traccia II which in contrast has been refashioned on par with the original album and in fact is technically in decline.

Second side a bit less fortunate than the first perhaps also due to the complex texts rendered in English as possible, but certainly not simple for Di Giacomo whose Roman-English must have wrinkled the noses of the faithful subjects of Her Majesty, who indeed did not reward him, despite being promoted by Emerson & Palmer in person. It's a pity because this work would have deserved much more prestige, but when it was released, even English prog was already in decline. ("Brian Salad Surgery" had already been out for over 2 years... a lifetime!)

Moral of the story, how much can you give to "Banco" (IV)? It's quite difficult because it is still a "compilation" which as such cannot be evaluated on par with a masterpiece, yet it also represents the first (and only) English-language work of this historic Italian Group which evidently worked immensely hard on its production and had by then reached the peak of its career. So I'd say the 4 stars are well deserved, sure if the role of the singer had been a little less prominent (with all due respect to one of the best Italian voices of the era and beyond) and the role of the keyboards expanded, perhaps it would have reached an absolute peak. Unfortunately, with "ifs" and "buts".........