analoguesound

I'd give a 2 to myself as well for the abuse of the word "rather." I hate it :)

In fact, the tracks taken from the Califfi are part of "Fiore Di Metallo," which was made without Tofani, and indeed Franco Boldrini is credited on the cover. Additionally, there are three tracks from the Crystals, a kind of supergroup made up of Nanni Civitenga (RRR, Samadhi), Giorgio Santandrea (Alphataurus), Marcello Todaro (BMS), Giorgio "Fico" Piazza (PFM), and Carlo Degani, with all the tracks featuring Tofani. The Crystals' album was supposed to be released by Cramps; I can only assume that perhaps the label did not appreciate the strong anglicism of the finished product and shelved the master. Rather, on "Electric Frankenstein," the composer of the sound material (almost completely recycled) would be one Brucci, presumed to be yet another pseudonym. The sound engineer is Tofani himself, but the album sounds really bad. "Felicità, Sorriso E Pianto" becomes "Feeling" for both the Crystals and Electric Frankenstein. I recommend listening to the original material by both the Califfi and the Crystals rather than this bland album. A 2, kindly though, to the review mainly for the abuse of the word "masterpiece" – I didn't think it was appropriate – given that the album sounds more like a poorly executed home experiment, and that there is nothing counter-trend that hadn't already been done before, in my highly debatable opinion. Tofani will always and only be the mythical guitarist of Area, one of the most innovative bands of the era.

I had voted before too, damn DeBaser! :@ grrr.. CA PO LA VO RO!

Regardless of artistic quality, and assessing the work at least from a technical and production standpoint (the only criterion by which I feel competent to judge given my very limited cultural expertise in terms of music), this is a full analog record, and as an apprentice in the full analog realm, I had the impression, while listening to it, that I held a yardstick to evaluate all music produced from the day before the invention of digital technology to today. This is one of the few records that makes sense to purchase these days, and I say this because knowing the working methods of any of the eighteen billion recording studios on the face of the Earth (there are more of these studios than there are inhabitants on the planet itself), I am certain that I no longer intend to buy records that could potentially be a scam. And a full analog record may contain the most unpleasant music in this world, but it is certainly not a scam. This record, in particular, I find highly enjoyable, especially because you can listen to it track by track, unlike, for example, that eponymous work by Balletto di Bronzo, which should be experienced in its entirety or not at all. And thank goodness Newsom has reportedly stated that she does not want to be included in any current artistic movement... because in previous comments I heard the word "prog" mentioned, a genre label that personally makes my skin crawl at just the thought. This record is worth more than 90% of the entire "progressive" discography of the last century, or at least that's how I see it. Sorry for voting for the record again, due to force majeure.

"In this album, we don't talk about knights, winged journeys, planets in opposition to each other, or religion." The review may contain all the errors you want, but I give you five stars just for this statement. I am now convinced that progressive rock never existed; it is simply another way to label something we don't know how to name. I have always believed that in the seventies there were too few truly good bands that left us with genuinely valuable pieces of Music (very few indeed, around a dozen) and too many bands that, lacking the qualities and talents suitable for creative genius, limited themselves to imitating the good things that those few did. Among these few, I would count Fabio Celi and gli Infermieri, because if it's true that "Follia" is from '69, I understand what I will do with that beautiful album from the court of the crimson king that has never convinced me and that everyone loves, birthed from the minds of the so-called prophets, indeed, of winged horses, enchanted castles, drugged pixies, and all those things that, taken as models over time, led to a predictable and nefarious musical evolution: year 1976, the death of what we now call progressive rock and the birth of punk. It’s easy to understand why: they were all a bit fed up with the randy pegasi, the raped fairies, and the crumbling castles. All thanks to those bands that are so revered today and to whom we should just say “SHAME!”, inflated balloons that transformed Music (the genuine kind) into a caricature of itself: a snob niche for hyper-technician, nostalgic, and anti-evolutionist pseudo-intellectuals. It was the spirit of that Music that sought a way to escape banality. And it was in self-destruction that it found it, thus punk rock was born. 1976. A few years later, the very limited circle of enthusiasts of the courts of crimson kings and lilac elephants (to quote Silver), increasingly irritated and puffed up, resolved to recover "ancient values" that, as long as they made sense, one could even understand. But alas! Reheating the broth gave birth to new prog, a musical genre that mainly (and solely) referenced golden hippogriffs and dreamy little mushrooms. The pupils of new prog were obviously people who had probably never listened to anything else in their lives, who surely hadn’t grasped the intrinsic message that has characterized Music since practically its inception, and who thought that the height of life and originality was to dig up old carcasses and redo the same things that our idols had already done. In all this, feeling proud to be PROG!!! And from Marillion to Dream Theater, that is the path. Welcome to 2010, still convinced that there exists a musical genre called prog. And that its death is boiled with a pinch of metal (because metalheads are technical, you know). Frozen, of course.

Maybe Neri Per Caso had done things like this in their career. As far as I understand, this album has little to do with the Giganti, even though they are the vocal performers on this record; the fact that they were all accompanied by top-notch session musicians (with the exception of Della Casa, who, coming from a band of rookies like Latte e Miele, certainly couldn't be any less, and indeed, you can tell that the touch is that of a novice). Certainly, a very cohesive work, starting from the lyrics of a certain Piero De Rossi (the umpteenth pseudonym behind which the excellent Gianni Sassi was hiding) that are extremely long, perfectly fitting, and intricately woven together with a remarkable musical structure, crafted by guitarist Mino Di Martino (who later became the legendary organist of the Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale) which were recorded under the name of Vince Tempera, who instead took care of the arrangements. The sounds are nothing short of impressive: aside from the flawless vocal sections, the "tape" arrangement suggests how an album with real substance should be recorded. Let's consider parts like "Nel paese un'esplosione violenta fa crollare come in guerra una casa," punctuated by a super-compressed bass line and the mellotron, an instrument notoriously abused in the history of music, which for once is used correctly (there have really been very few instances where this instrument has been used so well). It’s a shame that the work has nothing more to do with the Giganti, as stated by Di Martino himself. It definitely deserves much more fame than so many pieces of garbage that became famous back then and which, unfortunately, are considered historic today.

I expressed myself like a peasant from a bad county, and I also forgot to give a rating. Sorry, it's the excitement. For the opera: 4 is too low, 5 might be too much. But it wouldn't be bad.

In fact, the accounts didn't add up for me... it's important to specify one very crucial thing: given the evident difficulty we all have in obtaining the first print of the aforementioned work, the "In Cauda Semper" that we all listen to today is a remastered version with state-of-the-art effects and reverbs... this is why the sounds can greatly disorient the listener, leading them to think that the work is not from 1969 at all.

amazing album.. I still find it impossible to believe it was recorded in 1969.. I really think it's a more recent album passed off as having been released in '69. I know it's a truly grotesque statement.. but you can tell that Mario Schifano's Le stelle is a record from '67.. just as you can tell that Sgt. Pepper's and Freak Out are albums from '66. But damn.. In Cauda sounds like it was recorded last year.

The album is... one of those 10 records that stand out among ALL THE ONES RELEASED TO THE WORLD in the last thirty years of music. Exceptional, complete, and crafted with a certain refinement. It’s not the usual relative crap, not the usual singer-songwriter disc with voice/guitar or voice/piano or voice/band doing a lounge accompaniment. It’s not the typical cookie-cutter album made to self-promote in a nearly infinite musical firmament like everyone does today, in order to avoid falling into oblivion and then into mediocrity. "Ovunque Proteggi" is built on the right alienation that every artist must experience to conceive their artwork. And in this alienation, it demonstrates perfect depth in its thoughtful construction. It expresses a complex and generous architecture and design. No. Vinicio has not been stingy with creativity. Why a 3 for the review? Because I find the subjective statements of the reviewer to be rather relative and indicative of a certain critical limitation when they claim to find some tracks on the album unpleasant for being repetitive or monotonous and bland: only the sellout producers of the most discredited majors can afford to make judgments halfway through the first track; we critics at least wait until the album is finished (for the second time). Furthermore, an album can't be great from start to finish; as Corrado Rustici says, music is pushing (strong in "rhythm," but not musical rhythm, here we’re talking about expressive rhythm) or pulling (of wide breath). It can also be fluid and elusive, or it can be repeated until it makes you feel nauseous. The secret to truly appreciating it lies in the simplest thing in the world: listening to the music for what it is, without expecting from it something it cannot give us. You can't listen to Capossela expecting to hear Tom Waits. You can't listen to Luciano Berio expecting a Carlos Santana. Don’t be surprised if you come face to face with inner discomfort. The music of "Ovunque Proteggi" is just that, like it or not. Don’t judge it for those two or three imperfections that only you perceive; judge it as a whole and for its qualities. It will certainly reward you more than a record that lacks quality even in the logo of the record label. Why didn’t I give it a 1? Because the reviewer used the appropriate term to define this album: EPIC.