telespallabob

Dark stuff, visceral that nobody knows. Good.

Battara, Di Battista, Di Sarno, Pecoraro, Della Pietra, Ferrara, Donatelli, Di Bartolomei, Lucchetti, Gonano, Incarbona. You can call it what you want, but at the end of "Granata '90" I too will join in singing "Vattene Amore" just like the 50,000 in Piazza della Concordia.

Four full balls. Almost 5, crazy record and with balls. Great Nektar

Sorry for the delay, let's resume the discussion. Let's go step by step. First point: definitely, Milan was a huge cultural melting pot but in musical terms it represented a place to produce records more than to recreate them from a common underlying social character. In Naples, there was and is nothing comparable in Italy (maybe the Bologna scene), in fact, a multitude of musicians emerged who participated in various types of projects and collaborations were continuous. There was everything: experimental music (Luciano Cilio, the first Alan Sorrenti), progressive in the most disparate currents (Osanna, Saint Just), session musicians engaged in rock bands, singer-songwriting, and even ethnic music (Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare). All these people are children of a slice of Naples and of common contaminations (for example, those with NATO soldiers). You mention PFM, but there isn’t that discussion behind the Premiata. They came from the Battisti circle which was very broad-minded, but they were musicians united under a name, not behind a geographical or historical-cultural background. A different discussion could be made about Area, that alone would be endless and isn’t relevant here. Second: God forbid I speak ill of Marangolo. I consider him a genius and I’m proud to keep the autograph he gave me a couple of years ago after a concert; everything you’ve said about him is true. I don't feel comfortable comparing him with Del Prete: to me, they are both masters. Third: I didn’t mean to compare a singer-songwriter with a band. I meant to say that Napoli Centrale, as much as they were a group, had that philosophy of continuous collaborations and line-up changes. It was an open melting pot, and the same goes for Pino Daniele. Fourth: I don’t agree on this, but it’s not important. Fifth: I didn’t express myself well. You’re right; it’s not correct to say that a group doesn’t mean much once they surpass the hurdle of the first album. I mentioned Maxophone and Locanda delle Fate for a reason: neither got beyond the first album because they were deemed out of time (it’s well-known that "forse le lucciole non si amano più" is considered the swan song of Italian Progressive); one was released in '75 and the other in '77, and I grouped them with Agorà, which I think was too devoted to a certain type of music (namely Soft Machine and Perigeo) and therefore not well appreciated. The groups you mentioned disbanded for different reasons: Biglietto per l'Inferno, with immense potential, found no one willing to believe in them anymore. Semiramis disbanded because Zarrillo was highly sought after and aimed for other projects. Museo was shamefully disintegrated by critics who deemed them fascist. I hope I’m making sense now. Thank you.

Stop, you’re running too fast. Hit pause and rewind. A fundamental premise: I’m not talking about "formal perfection," not at all (I’m not referring to mere execution). There’s much more to my critique. "Azimut, three years prior to Live In Montreux," exactly. Three years make a big difference, considering that in '71-72 who was thinking of doing that kind of stuff, at least in Italy? Answer: almost no one. In this sense, Perigeo are almost pioneers. It’s logical that, being a less-trodden path, there are things to refine, but "Azimut" is a very good album, often stigmatized and branded by inexperience. Mistakes happen at the beginning, being derivative is acceptable. A year later they come out with "Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere" (I’m proud to have written the review for it, in here), chilling and on another level. Forget about "Genealogia," you’re forgetting "La Valle dei Templi": that is the maturity of Perigeo. There they close the circle, and the band (they will do other things but practically they were opening other paths). The commentary, as musicians, on Senese and Del Prete speaks for itself. You’re talking about two standard-bearers of a musical scene, the Neapolitan one, which was a cut above everyone else in Italy. "Napoli Centrale" cannot be reduced to just the first LP, that would be a disservice. It’s true that Senese made use of different collaborators, but what does that mean? It was in the setup of the band (didn’t Pino Daniele practically do the same thing?) and in Senese’s "cabeza loca," the relationship between him and Franco Del Prete was incredible: they fought and reconciled continuously. Musically they were monstrous together, with incredible grit and songwriter-level lyrics ("A gente 'e Bucciano" and "O' nonno mio" are two poems). There’s no pre-literal Fusion in this album for two reasons: the first, as Master Jargon pointed out, are the references to the Soft Machine. The second is the period; by ’75, fusion already had its own reason for being. Don’t give them an aura of originality that they don’t possess: they had their own references, it’s clear, but that’s not a crime. I repeat, they were decent, but there must be a reason they left the scene relatively early. The same reason that condemned, even if they didn’t have the same sound, "Maxophone" and "La Locanda delle Fate."

It's not at all that beautiful and easy. It's not fusion avant-la-lettre, it's not a masterpiece. They were decent, to be fair, but compared to groups like Perigeo and Napoli Centrale (those were definitely a 5), they had a lot to learn. The best of that "Jazz-Fusion with Mediterranean accents" you mention was definitely found elsewhere.

I care about you, send it big time.

I've just stopped laughing, you are geniuses! Thanks to Jurix, best wishes to Bartle. Recommended.

The names make me say 5 for trust, I like the review. P.S. Having friends from that area (Civita Castellana), I once visited the Rocca di Nepi, a splendid place and practically unknown outside of Lazio. It's really a shame.