New Trolls
Tempi Dispari

The life of this historic band from Liguria has been extremely troubled. Since the days of "Una notte sul Monte Calvo," legal battles over the name have been continuous and lineup changes almost a daily occurrence. Regarding the album I'm writing about, I'm talking about N.T. Atomic System, who the previous year had released the self-titled LP, today considered a cornerstone of Italian progressive music.
This "Tempi Dispari" includes part of the lineup from the previous album; the latter included Giorgio Baiocco on sax and flute, Renzo Rosset on keyboards, Tullio De Piscopo on drums, and RamasandiranSomosundaran on percussion. In "Tempi Dispari", only Baiocco and De Piscopo remain.

Recorded at the Alcione Theater in Genoa during a concert, "Tempi Dispari" is an anomaly within the New Trolls anomaly; if until that moment the progressive turn seemed coherent, despite the post Monte Calvo confusion, now we find ourselves with a work that is difficult to define. And above all, an inessential work.

First of all, the tracks: there are only two, and the titles are mere metric indications of the structure: "7/4" and "13/8", as called by the sadly very Italian prog cover. And since the titles already convey the intention to start from a metric framework, when listening, we face a hastily put together live jazz rock performance.
The most marked influence is undoubtedly that of Soft Machine and specifically "Fifth" and "Six," which are the most chill and anodyne, orphaned of the great Robert Wyatt. In certain moments, the citations are directly taken from the albums of the British colleagues; for example, in "7/4", we can clearly hear the intro of "All White".

There's not much to say about this obscure Trolls album: it is entirely instrumental, based on odd times, and although the band plays adequately, with Gianni Belleno obsessive and linear like Hugh Hopper, the best parts come from Baiocco's beautiful sax, who interprets the coltranian lesson, resembling in sound and phrasing to Bennie Maupin. As for De Piscopo, the drumming is, as usual, precise, fiery, and unfortunately, also overwhelming and invasive, a real manufacturing limit of this otherwise remarkable drummer.

"7/4", the best track according to the writer, moves from Belleno's dark riff towards a quick double always on the same meter.
"13/8" instead sees a long guitar intro, played by de Scalzi, where the Adagio from the historic "Concerto grosso" number 1 is quoted.

In conclusion, "Tempi Dispari" is just a curiosity and nothing more. A highly derivative work in a period when there was a small boom of jazz rock; even on this front, New Trolls tried to strike while the iron was hot, but the results were minimal, and in fact, the album had been consigned to oblivion until the reissue a few years ago.
I'm sure that somewhere, someone appreciates this work, maybe even considering it a masterpiece. But this is often the fate of extravagances.

A kiss to everyone and until next time.