Museo Rosenbach
Zarathustra

THE REVIEW

MUSEO ROSENBACH – Zarathustra

Open your heart and ears... this is an album from 1973, a time when a genre of rock was emerging that would become successful in Italy and around the world, a genre that would influence the illustrious - and somewhat overrated - Dream Theater: progressive, whose "canons" – if they can be called that – had been defined a few years earlier by fundamental albums such as "In The Court Of Crimson King" by the great King Crimson, but also – I mention randomly – Banco del Mutuo Soccorso’s "salvadanaio" and the very early works of PFM.

But what makes this album, unknown to most, so beautiful, special, and original? ...a series of circumstances and events of the time that shamefully obscured and censored it: today, it has become a cult object and was rediscovered by some – abroad – only years later. An album with epic, almost Wagnerian tones, where the technical skills of a truly extraordinary drummer (Giancarlo Golzi, future drummer of Matia Bazar) stand out.

The "song" form (verse.chorus.verse.chorus.bridge.chorus) is abolished, keyboards and mellotron are massively present, the 4/4 time signature is abolished, with mostly odd times: these are the fundamental ingredients of an album you absolutely must have if you love the sounds of Banco and Area. Even if the album may seem "old" to some – particularly the singing style, typical of the era and which vaguely resembles that of Demetrio Stratos...

The group has always said to be strongly influenced by Banco del Mutuo Soccorso of the time, that is, from the aforementioned first album and "Darwin": the musical background also includes blues, Hendrix, and The Who.
It is impossible to ignore the content of the lyrics, inspired by Nietzsche’s writings ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra"), where the hermit retreats for years on a mountain to escape the mediocrity and hypocrisy of men, and to reconstruct a new table of values.

There were numerous controversies due to the black cover, the collage with a prominently displayed photo of Mussolini, and the references to Nietzsche. Indeed, in a highly ideologized era like the 1970s, when the vast majority of prog bands were openly left-wing (Area, PFM, Banco del MS...), but to be fair there was – and still is – also a component of "identitarian" rock (Janus), of the far right, Museo Rosenbach was placed in this political area: phrases like "I live the superman" were accused (without just cause) of apologizing for Nazism... those were the years of lead, and the German philosopher was then considered an ideologue of reactionary thought – although it was later proven otherwise. Besides, the group has always declared their detachment from politics (they said the photo of the duce was a "provocation," while other sources claim it was made later without their knowledge…) least of all from the right. The fact is that the museum did not have the opportunity to make themselves known to the general public, even though participation in festivals with big names of the time was nevertheless substantial.

We hope they are rediscovered and reevaluated today...

Line-up:
Alberto Moreno – bass, mellotron
Giancarlo Golzi - drums
Marco Balbo - guitar
Andrea Biancheri - vocals
Marioluca Bariona – keyboard

"Like autumn, the world wants to fade, it offers swords to the sky tramping loyalty". (Degli Uomini)