Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Un'Idea che non puoi fermare

LA RECENSIONE

Ok guys/girls, this is an experiment. I don't think anything like this has ever been done on DeBaser. I apologize in advance to anyone who will read this and be shocked or disappointed thinking it is a joke or, even worse, a serious review. It's kind of avant-garde. I'm already trembling. Secondly, I apologize to moderators/admins/editors (and the like) if I violate any principles. I would understand if this abortion never got published.

What I am about to review is a (flagship) album that has not yet been released.

Good. Now I can already see you closing the page. Hold on for just a moment longer and let's start at the beginning:

On February 21st last year, the singer of the Italian group Banco del Mutuo Soccorso died just a few meters from his home in an incredible car accident. A shock for the entire group. When you build your career mainly on the keyboard-voice combination, especially for a Progressive Rock group, and one of the two suddenly disappears, the void left is almost unfillable.
Devastated by the event, as friends even before colleagues, the band members decided to work on a double CD that contains unreleased live tracks and others recited in memory of the good Francesco.
The album will be released on September 16, 2014, according to the most reliable forecasts. Today is September 8.
So am I talking about hot air ?
NO.
I've already heard the album, from a source I can't reveal, but VERY internal. I had the original master in my hands (for just a couple of hours) simultaneously with the group itself.

For every live track, there will be (how nice to use the future, hehehe) a recited track and the names are not just randomly picked. We have a fresh Oscar winner Toni Servillo, Moni Ovadia offering moments of great class, Alessandro Haber, Papaleo, and De Sio. This solution might seem a bit forced. The recitation makes me think more and more of themes like those of Offlaga or Massimo Volume rather than enigmatic modern poems like those of Di Giacomo. I had to reconsider.
Vittorio Nocenzi managed to recreate in the studio the perfect settings for each speakers' "theatrical performance." We're no longer talking about progressive. We are talking about real ambient experimentations that draw from all the sounds loved by the famous keyboardist, obviously including Massive Attack, perfectly blended with each voice. The selection of pieces has been meticulously curated, so that the musically most exciting pieces are presented live while among the spoken ones we find lyrics from the 80s period that were considered banal just because in those years the group drifted into mainstream Pop. The live recordings are clear and properly polished, the arrangements so beautiful they surpass "Capolinea" and almost equate with "Nudo."
There's Il Giardino del Mago, RIP, Paolo Pa, Non Mi Rompete, Cento Mani e Cento Occhi, and many others including a rare Frevo that you can already enjoy on their YouTube channel. If memory serves me right, the work also contains a modern rendition of Passaggio from their first album.
Two CDs that flow.
Two CDs that are not just a mere commercial move.
Two CDs that prove that even in Italy, even when everything seems lost, there are groups that know how to reinvent and experiment. And they should be rewarded.

All this to say what?
1: Buy this masterpiece when it comes out
2: Goodbye Francesco

When the album is officially in stores, I hope someone else reviews this work, to compare it with this experiment. And consider that I heard it about a month ago, it's a miracle I remember everything I wrote. But if I remember, there must be a reason.