Italian Prog - Your 5 Favorite Albums?

Nice to see someone mention "di Terra." That one doesn't seem to get a whole lot of praise but I can't for the life of me figure out why...it is an incredible piece of work, IMHO.

 

Locanda delle Fate - Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Piu
Picchio Dal Pozzo - Picchio Dal Pozzo
Area - Crac!
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Darwin!
Alphataurus - Alphataurus

 

Italian progressive has been into my very favourite music ever, great mentions here so far, and I know, name just 5 could be hard to do, I can't even say at the time if the 5 I will mention can rotate tomorrow, but anyways here is my top 5 for now:

Jumbo-DNA
Le Orme-Uomo Di Pezza
Premiata Forneria Marconi-The World Became The World
Il Balleto Di Bronzo-YS
Jumbo-(same)

For those who wants to dig a bit deeper into this marvellous music, I recommend to listen the Rock Progressivo Italiano boxed CD, I have bought that here in Mexico, but I am pretty sure you can find it on eBay.

 

PFM - Per un amico (1972)
PFM - Storia di un minuto (1972)
Alphataurus (1973)
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (1972)
Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra (1973)

 

Hey, I was going to see Banco here in Tokyo next month, but the singer just died in a traffic accident in Rome, I assume the tour will be cancelled..

 

1. Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra
2. PFM - Storia di un minuto
3. Le Orme - Collage
4. New Trolls - Concerto grosso
5. The Trip - Caronte

 

ok, here's mine:

1. Osanna - Palepoli
2. Osanna - L'uomo
3. Museo Rosenbach - Zaruthustra
4. Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - s/t
5. J.E.T. - Fede, Speranza, Carità

hard not to mention New Trolls, Le Orme and P.F.M., but I had to give props to the lesser knowns...
Osanna has to be heard to be believed, awesome!

 

Right now, I'm really loving this R.P.I. classic. There are some very inventive arrangements and textures going on throughout, a nice mix of different flavors. One of the great Italian "one offs" (though they actually had a couple of other releases).

 

1-Definitely the first three albums from PFM but my vote for "Storia Di Un Minuto"
2-Le Orme: Felona E Sonora
3-Il Balletto Di Bronzo: YS
4-Locanda Delle Fate: Forse Non Si Le Lucciole
5-Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso: Darwin

I like these two Live Albums:

-Banco del Mutuo Soccorso: Papagayo Club 1972
-PFM: Live In USA

 

As much as I love Per un Amico, I must say that it is a frustrating album. Il Banchetto, for example, has some of the most beautiful melodies and arrangements on PuA, but they are swamped halfway through by some nasty, dated synths. Sad face.

 

Il Balletto Di Bronzo – YS
Museo Rosenbach – Zarathustra
PFM - Per Un Amico
PFM - Storia di un Minuto
Franco Battiato - Pollution

 

Yes, I can confirm that lyrics were a protest against religion.
But things changed and Claudio Canali (the voice of the band) now is an hermit monk: you can see him (on the left) with Tony Pagliuca (the legendary keyboard player of the band Le Orme) in the recent picture below:

 

Great pic, I'm glad both of them are fine. I may say he (Claudio) aged very well, looks pretty good. Our beliefs will change during our lifetime, aging is a constant process of changing and sometimes the change is extreme. However, if you look closer Claudio still has that defiant look, well some things never change... thank God.

 

It pains me to admit that I only have 3 Italian Prog albums -love each one in this order:
1. PFM--Per un Amico
2. PFM--Storia di un Minuto
3. Banco - Darwin
edit: I also have some additional PFM (both English and Italian) but the quality pails compared to their first 2 albums IMHO.

 

Area - Arbeit Macht Frei
Stormy Six - L'Apprendista
Alphataurus - Alphataurus
Le Orme - Felona e Sorona
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

 

1. Maxophone
Mind blowing masterpiece.The best italian prog,and along with Abbey Road
and Dark Side Of The Moon,the best album ever made.I have not heard all
the editions,but prefer the english language version as I enjoy the lyrics
and the song sequencing works better.It is recorded from vinyl but still sounds
good.I have a japan italian language edition from the 80's or early 90's that
sounds superb and the mix is slightly different.As with all the great prog albums,
give it a few dedicated listens to fully appreciate.

2. Perigeo-Fata Morgana (Italian title- non e poi cosi lontano)
Unique blend of jazz,rock,prog.Melodic,inventive,wonderful.

3. Arti & Mestieri- Tilt, Giro Di Valzer, First Live In Japan
Another great italian band.

 

1. De De Lind - Io Non so Da dove vengo e non so dove mai andro uomo e 'il nome che mi han dato
2. Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra
3. Metamorfosi - Inferno
4. Area - Arbeit Macht Frei
5. Alphataurus - Alphataurus

I have both De De Lind and Metamorfosi on vinyl although I only own reissues but de de lind sounds excellent on my turntable on loud, very punchy and natural sound and the flutes sound excellent on it and I think it was really well recorded

 

Picchio Dal Pozzo's 2nd LP, Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi

Aware of PFM from teens, and more recently Goblin. Stormy Six never appealed to me. So, this was the only Italian prog LP I have been drawn to buy. I still like it and have a flexi disc with another song on it.

 

FOR ALL PFM FANS
You need to know that for the first 2 albums the remastered versions released in Blu-Spec2 CD are brickwalled, victims of the loudness war.

-Waveshape of "Impressioni Di Settembre" (from standard 2005 sony release):

-2014 Remastered JAPAN Blu-Spec2 CD waveshape:


-Recommended Versions-
Storia Di Un Minuto: Sony BMG Music / RCA 82876760302
Per Un Amico: BMG Ariola / RCA ND 71784

Hope for these informations to be helpful in your future decisions.

 

Anything with Mister Doctor.

 

Love Mr. Doctor. Wish he would release something post Dies Irae.