Effervescent Elephants
The complete works

THE REVIEW

The 1980s were musically characterized by the cold new wave, but, probably as a reaction to its gloomy atmospheres, a movement that many defined as neo-psychedelic also flourished in Italy. In reality, most of these bands played garage-punk, as Salvatore "Ursus" d'Urso of the No Strange pointed out at the time, speaking about the compilation "Eighties Colours," which, in its way, became iconic. The concept is also reiterated in the recent book No Strange e sogni correlati reviewed by me on DeBaser. Starting from that record, the well-known journalist Claudio Sorge invented an Italian "psychedelic" movement that, in fact, never existed. Among the few genuine names that could truly boast the term "psychedelic"—among which the aforementioned No Strange, the Birdmen Of Alkatraz and the Steeplejack should not be forgotten, but I would also recall the Florentines Leanan Sidhe—there were certainly the Effervescent Elephants of Lodovico Ellena. Devoted to the cult of Syd Barrett, the Elephants had a genuine and spontaneous "lysergic feeling": its members had a solid "listening background" and had musical experiences in the '70s. We are not dealing with culturally unprepared people who improvised perhaps following a misleading trend. Their single "Radio Muezzin" from 1986 is a derailing and raw psychedelic and Arabesque anthem. The album "Something To Say" from 1987, published by Electric Eye is, in its genre, a small classic that all lovers of certain sounds should own. The cassette "Indian Cron Expansions" from 1988 was always in the same groove. Unfortunately, once the wave of '60s sounds ended, newspapers lost interest in the phenomenon to follow the emerging "grunge." However, with great commitment and dedication, Lodovico Ellena has carried on parallel projects like the psycho-pop Astral Weeks in addition to releasing excellent solo albums including a tribute to Syd Barrett and books retracing the history of the band like "Quando gli spinaci erano stravolti." Recently "Ganesh Sessions" was released, printed by the commendable Area Pirata from Pisa. All of the official production of the Effervescent Elephants was published in 1994 on CD by the Mellow Records of Sanremo in "The Complete Works." The CD, now out of print, can still be listened to on Bandcamp at the following link: https://mellowrecords.bandcamp.com/album/effervescent-elephants-the-complete-works.