Osanna
Rosso Rock

There is no doubt that in the last twenty years there has been a renewed interest in a genre like progressive rock. Exploding in the early 1970s, a child of the previous decade's psychedelia, prog had its glorious moment, only to make way for more accessible genres like disco and punk. Italy had a very vibrant scene and the response from the audience was such that, for instance, luxury bands like Genesis were more successful here than in their homeland.

If the "usual" Banco, PFM and Le Orme were among the heavyweights of the national scene, it is a pity that a name like Osanna is often forgotten. If recent times have seen several formations from those years come back to play and bands that received little exposure at the time now have the chance to make up for some lost time, it must still be noted that there are reunions and reunions. While PFM and Le Orme have had the courage to look forward, proposing new albums and, if necessary, revolutionizing their lineup, with the intention of continuing a story that began forty years ago, for others the situation is a bit different. The Neapolitan Osanna, in fact, have been sparing with new material, focusing, with albums like "Taka Boom" and "Prog Family", on a constant reinterpretation of their repertoire.

The latest effort of the Neapolitan sextet in order of time is this "Rosso Rock", a live album recorded at the Club Città in Kawasaki, the venue years ago for a famous PFM concert. Assisted by young talents and, on the occasion, accompanied by the Tokyo Vieille Ensemble Orchestra, Lino Vairetti, the group's voice and linchpin, revisits the historic "Preludio Tema Variazioni Canzona", the soundtrack of "Milano Calibro 9", a classic of the Italian police genre of the 1970s, written back then with Luis Bacalov, already known for the Concerto Grosso of the Genoese New Trolls.

"Rosso Rock", besides having the merit of being excellently played and recorded, has the quality of managing to condense in a little over forty minutes the entire sound of the group, no easy feat. Osanna's is, in fact, a varied and intelligent progressive, encapsulating within itself a thousand nuances, not least, of necessity, the music of the Neapolitan tradition. Listening to what Vairetti and his band do on stage, it doesn't seem like forty years have passed and the notes still sound fresh and current: it moves from the grandiose beginning to more frantic moments, with classical music, hard rock, refined jazz and pop moments alternating effectively, writing one of the most interesting pages of Italian rock of those years. The pop gem "There Will Be Time" is a small masterpiece and closes a classy performance beautifully, today as it did forty-plus years ago. Certainly, much water has flowed under the bridges, but the class remains.

The studio tracks, placed at the end, including a reinterpretation of "Fiume", originally contained in "Landscape of Life", and the beautiful unreleased pieces "'O Culore 'e Napule" and "Rosso Rock", show two very different sides of the ensemble's music: the first is overwhelming and lively, a true homage to "Neapolitanity," characterized by subtle and delicate atmospheres the second, a worthy culmination of an album of sure depth. Self-celebration and taking historical tracks on tour are all well and good, but given the quality of the, unfortunately rare, new material, would it not finally be the case to work on an album of originals? Given the abilities of the Neapolitans and the popularity they are once again enjoying, it would truly be a shame to waste such an opportunity.