Le Orme
Collage

THE REVIEW

There are albums that in one way or another become the watershed between one musical "period" and another. From the beat of the late '60s, it will be Le Orme to speak the new language in Italy, and the album that will mark the transition to progressive will be "Collage" released in 1971 for Philips.
In pure Emerson, Lake & Palmer style, Le Orme transition from a five-member lineup of the late sixties to a trio: Aldo Tagliapietra, guitar, bass, and vocals, Antonio-Toni Pagliuca, keyboards, and Michi Dei Rossi on drums.

The album opens with what will become one of the Italian prog "anthems" and which gives the album its name: "Collage". An instrumental piece, epic and classical, symphonic despite the absence of an orchestra, not obvious but above all very innovative for the geographical-temporal context. The baroque interlude is tasteful, and as always, the drumming is very present. It then moves to "Era Inverno", one of the most beautiful tracks of Le Orme's production. It talks about an experience with a prostitute in a very poetic and delicate manner. This piece encapsulates all the sonic characteristics of the Venetian group: Tagliapietra's hieratic voice and 12-string guitars, Pagliuca's incisive organs, and Dei Rossi's very present and fill-rich drums. The track includes a long improvisational digression, further from the song structure than the rest of the track, which will become even longer and "harder" in live performances. With the third track, "Cemento Armato", environmentalist themes are touched upon, which was not trivial for the period, and the piano and organ are well highlighted. The ending is very beautiful. Then comes "Sguardo Verso il Cielo", destined to become one of the most well-known pieces in Le Orme's repertoire. Here, too, the classic song form is heavily "deformed", a piece that is truly innovative for the period and that live (as in Le Orme's "In Concerto" '74) becomes a backdrop for keyboard evolutions and with a remarkable use of drums, even with the double bass drum.
"Evasione Totale" tries to create hypnotic atmospheres, it partly succeeds, however, the embryos of what will become the mature sound of Le Orme of "Felona e Sorona," which will be published 2 years later, are evident. After the melancholic and dreamlike "Immagini," the album closes with the touching "In Morte di un Fiore": a dramatic piece in its text, but with light arrangements and harmonies, an elegant and suggestive piece.

Le Orme's career will be long, the trio is still active, but after the mid-'70s, they will choose to turn towards more pop horizons, always maintaining high quality and level, but far from the creativity and originality of the Prog period (except for a recovery in the '90s in live performances), which begins not only for the group but for all Italian progressive rock with "Collage".