Le Orme
La Via Della Seta

Among the many genres spawned by popular music in the last fifty years, progressive rock, along with punk, is more akin to an attitude than a mere succession of notes. Born almost as a reaction to the limitations of 45s and pop songs, prog would embody a world, musically, without borders, capable of merging, at least here in Italy, popular music and singer-songwriting, jazz and politics, rock and classical music, aided by a technological development that would eventually make possible the most absurd quirks based on synthesizers and Moog. An attitude, as was said, a movement of the soul made of continuous research, with change understood as constant growth: “the river of constant change,” as someone sang. So yes, one can "be prog" without necessarily playing prog, far from suites and odd times that, when the genre will be struggling, will appear more like boring "contractual obligations" than as cues for new impulses.

Of this "life mission," Le Orme, a historic brand with a thousand successes, adversities, and rekindlings know something. La Via della Seta perfectly embodies this spirit, with a Michi Dei Rossi, an untamed "prog warrior", as he once called himself, who seems to approach this new work as a true challenge with himself. Let's get to the point: the band, in 2009, two years had literally fallen apart, with the historic leader Aldo Tagliapietra abandoning everyone overnight, and the idea of continuing without him seemed suicidal to anyone, evidently except for Dei Rossi.

Seven years after the last L'infinito and exactly forty years after that Collage that kicked off the spaghetti-prog scene, they return to the stage, changing everything but changing nothing. Six-member formation, already seasoned during the previous summer’s tour, stellar technical level, and a strong desire to get back in the game. Who takes the microphone? Jimmy Spitaleri, an old lion of the tricolor prog, who has written pages and pages of excellent music with his Metamorfosi. Guido Bellachioma, a historic protagonist of the Italian scene and writer for the magazine Prog, participates actively, developing the album's theme with Dei Rossi. The approach? A suite-concept, like in the old days, there’s no debate about that. Where to start? The Rome of Bellachioma and the Venice of Le Orme, the Empire and the Maritime Republic, Marco Polo and the great trade routes, the exchange of goods and cultural exchanges, tolerance and coexistence: there are a thousand cues, all enormous themes that are worth addressing. An album dedicated to the Silk Road, that’s what's needed. The lyrics? Written by Maurizio Monti. Mina, Anna Oxa, Patty Pravo, the same Spitaleri: an important career in which Le Orme represents only the most recent chapter. The album? Beautiful, smooth, recorded with care. The notes are the handiwork of Dei Rossi and Michele Bon: the keyboards take center stage and Michi is as recognizable as ever, a magic touch. The music is airy, sunny, the work of those who no longer have anything to prove, but at the same time know that this time is not like the others, with long instrumental passages serving as bridges to Spitaleri's narration, his voice steady and poised, an authentic stage animal. La Via della Seta is another chapter of a story already over forty years old, different from everything done before but at the same time absolutely “Orme.” The duration is that of a vinyl, forty minutes: just enough, nothing superfluous. A remarkable work of absolute quality, which will relaunch the group with a chart entry, albeit with numbers obviously far removed from those of the Seventies, to be followed by a splendid tour alongside friends from Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, with Spitaleri and the legendary Francesco Di Giacomo duetting on many pieces. How it’s possible that no one thought of turning it into an album or DVD remains a mystery.

Unfortunately, the idyll will not last long: the singer, who figured only as a guest, will leave to return to dedicating himself full-time to Metamorfosi, closing a collaboration that could have still offered so much. Dei Rossi, for his part, will still carry on with a constant carousel of musicians, giving more than once the impression that Le Orme is now more his personal project than an actual group. Over time, they will release albums with revisitations of old tracks but never a new album of originals, suggesting that the history of the group, discographically, is considered concluded. A shame, a second work in this new course would have been appreciated. A precious album, therefore, to be listened to over and over, aware that, as the notes of the booklet accompanying the CD say, once reaching the end, "the Silk Road is now within us".

Le Orme:

• Michi Dei Rossi, drums, tubular bells, Glockenspiel, timpani, Bhayan
• Michele Bon, Hammond, synth, keyboards, piano, backing vocals
• Fabio Trentini, bass, bass pedals, acoustic guitars, dulcimer, electric sitar, backing vocals

with:

• Jimmy Spitaleri, vocals
• William Dotto, electric guitar
• Federico Gava, piano, synth, keyboards

La Via della Seta:

1. L’alba di Eurasia
2. Il romanzo di Alessandro
3. Verso sud
4. Mondi che si cercano
5. Verso sud (ripresa)
6. Una donna
7. 29457, l’asteroide di Marco Polo
8. Serinde
9. Incontro dei popoli
10. La prima melodia
11. Xi’an - Venice - Rome
12. La Via della Seta