Città Frontale
El Tor

We are in the mid-'70s. Progressive is (unfortunately) in full and inexorable decline, at least as far as its most significant and original contributions are concerned. Singer-songwriter music is making a strong entrance. "El Tor" is an album that, in my opinion, fully represents this particular phase. The album still contains progressive elements, but equally present are aspects related to the music of "Italian singer-songwriters" such as the song form, which characterizes several tracks on the album, and the "committed" lyrics, which draw inspiration from the socio-political context of the turbulent and lively '70s, years of workers' and students' struggles.

From the ashes of Osanna, two bands were formed, Uno with Danilo Rustici and Elio D'anna, and Città Frontale with Lino Vairetti (vocals, guitar, mellotron, harmonica) and Massimo Guarino (drums, percussion, vibraphone, and vocals) to whom musicians like Rino Zurzolo and Enzo Avitabile would be added. Unfortunately, the experience was short-lived, and Città Frontale would only release this "El Tor" in 1975.

The album still deserves a listen today. Few weak points, many strengths. The strange title is a "reminder" of the cholera epidemic that broke out in Naples in the early '70s, in fact, "El Tor" is the name of that particular cholera vibrio. The cover is designed by Guarino, on the back prominently, to clear up any confusion, a clenched fist.

It is a "militant" album, more so than the timid sparks of Osanna, but it does so in an original and natural way, without excessive forcing, alternating metaphors with very direct and explicit moments.
After the Mediterranean sounds of "Alba Di Una Città Nuova", evocative and very acoustic, we move on to the first proper track, "Solo Uniti": here it becomes evident what the tone of much of the album will be, lively rhythms, riffs, and unisons of electric guitar (with a rather refined sound) and sax, often harmonized with each other. The sound compared to Osanna is certainly less raw and less direct, but the greater care of the sounds also has its merits; in fact, it is an album that has aged well. The end of the track is "typical" of a certain progressive. We then move on to "El Tor", a very tasty ballad, noteworthy for its sound crescendo, from the acoustic and delicate sounds of the first part to the full subsequent. Very simple in its structure, the piece does not tire; it is really beautiful, the lyrics are not trivial. The fourth track, in my opinion, is the most beautiful on the album, it is "Duro Lavoro". The introduction entrusted to a classical guitar is very elegant, choruses and flutes and mellotron precede moments with more prominent distorted guitars. The track is musically very varied but never gives the idea of a collage of various "pieces", the overall sound is very homogeneous. A sort of instrumental refrain returns over the more than 8 minutes, with a nice harmonic sequence, not very original but very effective, with the melodies entrusted to the sax and electric guitars. The political references are very explicit and direct here.

The second part of the album begins, slightly inferior to the first. "Mutazione" is an instrumental, linked to a sort of jazz-rock (atmospheres from Napoli Centrale...) where, in addition to the guitars, the electric piano, the sax, and the electric bass from Zurzolo (worth listening to carefully) are very present: a piece that should not be underestimated, the musicians are also technically very valid. With the following "Casa del Mercante 'Sun'" we return to simpler melodies, the piece, although not shining in originality, is very sunny and quite captivating.
"Milioni di Persone" seems to be written by the early Bennato, certainly one of the less proggy tracks on the album, but this does not go to its disadvantage. It's a beautiful acoustic ballad, simple, rich in guitars, winds, and percussion. Vairetti's voice, as in all the sung tracks, is very present and one must acknowledge him for having a fairly personal style. The last song is "Equilibrio Divino", its intro, very "progr-Italian", ties well to the sung part: the piece stands in balance between the prog pushes and the more melodic ones.

We are at the end of this "El Tor", an album definitely worth listening to, truly enjoyable in its texts and music. An effective mirror of reality, not only musical, of those particular, difficult mid-'70s.