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Rating: For months, news had leaked about the creation first of a live album and then a DVD. Once everyone got back around a table after 27 long years, the "old timers" of Biglietto got a taste for it and perhaps enthused by the fine work that was unfolding, decided to go all out and enriched the discography of the Italian pop-progressive scene with this authentic gem (dated 2004), which is the BOX - UN BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO. A total of three CDs, 1 DVD, and a book, all in a rare and prestigious package, serve to complete in a most exhaustive way the history of the group from Lecco.
In the box, the two official albums of the group are present: the self-titled one and "Il Tempo Della Semina" in a fully remastered and equalized version. The first album emerges enhanced in dynamics without distorting the originality of the recording. The result is excellent, as certain nuances that were previously hard to appreciate now spring to the ear. The instrumental track "Confessione" closing the first album has been recomposed and edited differently from the original. As for "Il Tempo Della Semina", the work was more intensive. It's worth remembering how the album saw the light, in its first official mastering in 1992, from an editing of a tape and not from the original, which was unfortunately lost. The sound quality of the version included in the box is finally of good quality. The diligent work of equalization and hiss filtering has exponentially increased the sonic magnetism that was hinted at among the notes of the album. Moreover, the order of the tracks has been changed to compile the track list as the group had in mind at the time, without the production's impositions, which wanted to give ample prominence to the piece "Vivi Lotta Pensa" which, for its part, did not enjoy such a high esteem from Biglietto. "Mente Solamente" has been reconstructed and re-edited in a version different from the known one, and it is used cleverly as a connector between one track and another on the album. This confirms that, while it may seem like a minor piece of the entire album, it is actually truly significant and important in the memories of Banfi and companions.
The true gem of the box set is the live CD that offers the approximately 40-minute performance on May 9, 1974, in Lecco, in the tour that accompanied the more famous UFO. For years it has been rumored that in addition to this performance, there is also a video from Swiss TV that seems to have been irretrievably lost. Therefore, only this live testimony remains. The quality, considering as well that this recording even comes from a portable tape recorder, is remarkably good. The editing work has been done meticulously and with great precision. It is now possible to have in front of your eyes the much-vaunted verve and mastery of Biglietto in live concerts. Indeed, the first thought that comes to mind upon listening to this authentic and valuable relic of progressive archaeology is the possibility of having missed (someone is luckier) a musically and qualitatively high-level show. The video-sound proposals are completed, dulcis in fundo, with the DVD that wisely retraces the whole story behind the creation of this box. The meeting after 27 years at "Baffo" Banfi's house, the visit to the Eremo di Minacciano where Frate Canali now lives, the memories, and anecdotes of the group's brief history with a glass of wine in hand. A really interesting and exciting overview. But it's not enough; aside from these images, the DVD includes footage of two videos of Claudio Canali dealing with the performance of two of his unreleased songs. Additionally, a video of a magnificent performance by the electronic "Baffo" Banfi with Klaus Schulze was included, from the time of the cosmic couriers. The multimedia support closes with some covers of Biglietto performed by the students of the CRAMS Electronic Music Lab in Lecco and by some bands such as BIG BANG, G.A.S., and LA BANDELLA, where today, two members of Biglietto per L'Inferno still play: "Pilly" Cossa with the diatonic accordion and Mauro Gnocchi on the snare drum.
No panorama so vast could lack a book that puts in black and white the entire story and curiosities of the group. And indeed, with a volume of about 116 pages, the entire history, youthful experiences, pre-biglietto era, the most bizarre and amusing events, and all the behind-the-scenes are present in Un Viaggio Lungo Trent'anni by Giordano Casiraghi and Massimo Cappon. Included within the pages of the indispensable treatise are all the lyrics, some interviews and data on the equipment, and numerous and unmissable unpublished photographs. The care for the graphic design of the box set is indispensable, once again, a splendid photograph was chosen, dating back to the session that Cesare Monti held, especially for Claudio Canali, for the first eponymous debut album.
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