The Big F
Is

Those who are around forty years old will remember Top Gun, a quintessential film of the '80s like no other, with Tom Cruise incinerating Libyan jets ad majorem gloriam statunitensem and will also remember the theme song of the soundtrack, the rather dull "Take My Breath Away" that accompanied the feats of the scientologic Tom.

Well, that tune was played by a Los Angeles group, namely Berlin, who must have made quite a bit of money from it, but... sometimes one wants to do something else, especially if he likes completely different music. So, the bassist and drummer decided to change direction, found a guitarist, formed a new band, and ventured into the harder rock of the '80s.

"Boom" some might say, but allow me, I remember the period, in 1988 the glam of Guns and Roses was strong and what would become grunge with Soundgarden and Jane's Addiction was emerging, while Metallica ruled metal, but when I saw a cover on the shelves with a detail from "The Musical Hell" of Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, with the ear pierced by an arrow, curiosity was strong. And even stronger was the impact of the music on my ears! At last, hard rock as it was played in the times of Black Sabbath and Zep, which in the early eighties had been somewhat lost, suffocated by the dominant new wave.

After the blistering debut that (quoting Scaruffi) "sank its claws into the stormiest blues deriving tribal rhythms and torrential blasts of guitar" (and, like Peppino, I've said it all), they remained silent for years, until 1993, when they reappeared with a new album, where the hard blues rock loses some of the initial psychedelia to move onto more "classic" grounds.

This is the album I want to highlight because this is more of a recommendation than an actual review, as it seems unfair that this band, so great musically yet commercially unfortunate, ends up in oblivion, a cult object for a few intimate fans.

So, hard rock, played by three sumptuous musicians, super powerful drums, dark and pulsing bass, tense and precise guitar, and growling voice for a deluxe blues that harks back to the golden times of the seventies.

The music of Big F is pure heavy rock, characterized by great imagination and sensitivity, strong, alluring, and elevated by dazzling gems like "Mother Mary", a sweet ballad enriched by the acid guitar, "Way Low To Be Low", introduced by a mighty drum attack and launched like a train, the hypnotic "Fefofi", the initial "Patience Peregrine" and the final "Lube", mixed with jazz flavors over which a trumpet insinuates, paying homage to the great Miles, who wouldn't have minded much, leaving one to imagine what the band's sound could have been, had they not packed it in early due to disheartening sales results.

I don't know how easy it is to find Big F's albums today, but I recommend them warmly with the hope that someone can rediscover them and give them the honor they deserve.