Como buen viernes, trataremos de dejarles algunas cuantas cosas, todas las que podamos, para que puedan disfrutar de un fin de semana sin extrañarnos. Y... ¿qué mejor que la última producción de esta gran banda italiana para cerrar una semana llena de grandes aportes y sorpresas? Un disco tan agradable como su arte de tapa.
Artista: Locanda delle Fate
Artista: Locanda delle Fate
Álbum: The Missing Fireflies
Año: 2012
Género: Rock progresivo italiano
Duración: 36:01
Nacionalidad: Italia
Año: 2012
Género: Rock progresivo italiano
Duración: 36:01
Nacionalidad: Italia
Lista de Temas:
1. Crescendo (8:51)
2. Sequenza circolare (2:41)
3. La giostra (7:27)
4. Non chiudere a chiave le stelle (3:41)
Live - Asti Teatro Alfieri 1977:
5. Non chiudere a chiave le stelle (1:02)
6. Crescendo (4:31)
7. Vendesi saggezza (7:48)
1. Crescendo (8:51)
2. Sequenza circolare (2:41)
3. La giostra (7:27)
4. Non chiudere a chiave le stelle (3:41)
Live - Asti Teatro Alfieri 1977:
5. Non chiudere a chiave le stelle (1:02)
6. Crescendo (4:31)
7. Vendesi saggezza (7:48)
Alineación:
- Leonardo Sasso / voice
- Luciano Boero / Rickenbacker 4001S bass ('74)
- Giorgio Gardino / drums, vibraphone (live)
- Oscar Mazzoglio / Hammond B3, mellotron M 400, Yamaha Motif XS6, Roland V-Combo VR-760, Korg X50
- Max Brignolo / el guitars Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul (studio)
- Ezio Vevey / guitar (live)
- Maurizio Muha / piamo, Mini Moog, Mellotron M 400 (studio)
- Michele Conta / piano, keyboards (live)
- Alberto Gaviglio / flute, guitar (live)
- Leonardo Sasso / voice
- Luciano Boero / Rickenbacker 4001S bass ('74)
- Giorgio Gardino / drums, vibraphone (live)
- Oscar Mazzoglio / Hammond B3, mellotron M 400, Yamaha Motif XS6, Roland V-Combo VR-760, Korg X50
- Max Brignolo / el guitars Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul (studio)
- Ezio Vevey / guitar (live)
- Maurizio Muha / piamo, Mini Moog, Mellotron M 400 (studio)
- Michele Conta / piano, keyboards (live)
- Alberto Gaviglio / flute, guitar (live)
Otro aporte de Wan que teníamos disponible para publicar. Una novedad con olorcito a pasado, con nostalgia y mucho vintage.
Veamos de qué se trata esto que dejamos ahora:
"The Missing Fireflies" es un álbum editado en Febrero del 2012 por la veterana banda italiana Locanda Delle Fate. Contiene 4 temas inéditos en estudio que pudieron ser incluidos, dicen por capacidad, en el album "Forse le lucciole non si amano pi", más tres temas en directo grabados de un concierto de 1977 en el Teatro Alfieri de Asti (italia) con un sonido pésimo, propio de los piratas de aquella época, además de que dos están incompletos y acabados con Fade-out, que supongo que lo han incluido para los muy fan del grupo e incondicionales coleccionistas del rock progresivo italiano.Juan
La banda se reunificó en Julio del 2010 con 4 miembros originales mas 2 músicos nuevos: Max Brignolo a la guitarra solista y Maurizio Muha al piano y al mini-moog.
Los cuatro temas en estudio son un auténtico legado de talento de la sonoridad y emotividad que caracterizo al grupo a finales de los 70's, ni mucho menos se trata de temas descartados, de los que se suele utilizar para completar remasterizaciones, sino que verdaderamente son temas totalmente dignos de haber sido incluidos en el disco y que solo por el motivo de capacidad fueron excluidos en su momento.
El tema que abre "Crescendo" tiene todas las particularidades que desarrollo LDF en su album "Forse le lucciole non si amano pi=F9", como si de un punto y seguido se tratara, un tema intenso con buenos cambios rítmicos, pasajes instrumentales densos y la particular voz barítona de Leonardo Sasso exprimiendo sentimiento y emoción a raudales.
Tras el corto instrumental "Sequenza circolare" con el solo de piano de Maurizio Muha a lo Banco, llega una secuela de Crescendo, titulado "La giostra" y digo secuela porque no deja de ser la versión "moderna" y regrabada del tema en cuestión. Para terminar el mejor broche que uno puede esperar, la balada romántica "Non chiudere a chiave le stelle".
En conclusión la pasión y el amor por la buena música hicieron renacer de nuevo a esta banda que a remolque de bandas como Banco, PFM, Le Orme, se quedo a puertas de entrar en su división, ahora vuelven y ofrecen aquello que debio formar parte de un album ya de por si historico en el progresivo italiano como fue "Forse le lucciole non si amano pi=F9".
En el futuro esperamos un disco con temas nuevos a la altura que se espera de Locanda Delle Fate.
Y vamos con otro comentario:
Ah, qué bonito es lo bonito, y qué bonito está este disco… "The Missing Fireflies" «Las Luciérnagas Extraviadas» fue presentado el 4 de febrero de este año en ocasión especial de un concierto que LOCANDA DELLE FATE dio en el Teatro Alfieri di Asti, y contiene material inédito hasta entonces. Son siete canciones en total, de las que cuatro son de estudio y tres en vivo. Las de estudio son canciones que no cupieron en el álbum "Forse le Lucciole non si Amano Più", primer disco del grupo, y las en vivo fueron tomadas de un concierto que la banda dio en 1977, también en el Teatro Alfieri. Así pues, estamos ante una realización compilatoria (^) francamente memorable, que salvo los temas en directo suena atemporal.Alfredo Tapia-Carreto
Los temas en estudio que no cupieron en el debut de LOCANDA DELLE FATE, no cupieron por problemas técnicos. No se podían meter más de 25 minutos por lado al LP sin demeritar la calidad sonora del disco (1), así que decidieron no incluir cuatro canciones. Esto fue bueno en su momento, y es la razón por la que ahora, dado que nunca antes habían sido parte de ningún disco, "The Missing Fireflies" lo estamos evaluando en los ProgAwards 2012. La categoría en la que compite es Mejor Álbum Italiano, y es un contendiente digno. Su rock progresivo clásico sinfónico es totalmente italiano, y ahora sí (§) que oírlo es observar el tiempo a través de un cronoscopio. No obstante a su sonido clásico, es gracias al trabajo de ingeniería musical que las canciones no se oyen viejas, sino que se escuchan de concepción actual y ejecutadas con modales ortodoxos. Así pues, rescatando una idea musical que aunque archivada nunca ha muerto al avanzar el tiempo, este disco y su precioso empaque nutrirán las sensaciones del amante de la música rock bien hecha, rock progresivo clásico sinfónico ortodoxo y, por si fuera esto poco, italiano.
Y ahora algunos otros comentarios en inglés, como siempre...
Return from summer evenings past...Finnforest
While LDF are widely hailed as one of the great Italian prog bands that is by no means a unanimous opinion. Many Italian prog fans who prefer the grittier side of the scene scoff at the prestige afforded Locanda, Maxophone, or Corte dei Miracoli. Locanda's late 1970s debut makes many personal favorite lists, an incredibly rich and luxurious symphonic prog treat. While many RPI bands are tagged with the Genesis-influenced label it really wasn't as prevalent as it was made to seem: my own experience after hundreds of albums is that Van Der Graff and Deep Purple styled hard rock were just as important if not more so. But Locanda were one band who surely appreciated Genesis and Yes, along with stalwarts of the Italian scene like PFM and Orme. Many people mention Banco as well but LDF were no where near as adventurous as the Darwin legends. They were a band about beauty and melody and for those who wanted an impeccably produced mix of symphonic and pastoral, their debut is pretty much essential. My own opinion was that the album was lovely but hardly what I reach for when I want core-RPI. I never found them all that representative of the scene.
So here we are decades later and the fireflies have returned for a summer evening just off the woodlands. The moon is large and spirits high, a warm fragrant breeze from the south. LDF is again a working band and participating in festival performances in and out of Italy. This album is a concoction of new recordings and old live performances designed to put them in the prog public eye. For that purpose it is a very successful return indeed. However, if the band truly desires a legacy with the RPI bands they are often compared to, they will need a new collection of originals more convincing than their last comeback attempt in the 90s, which was not well received by prog fans. Listening to this album I believe they have the potential to pull it off.
The first four tracks are recent recordings of material written years ago. To their credit, not only is the material good but they managed to produce it in a fashion complimentary to the songs and the period. It has that warm and mellow vibe, even during the punchier sections, which could fool one into thinking these were outtakes from the Forse sessions. It sounds clear and vibrant but not overly loud and sterile like many of today's albums. (Keith Richards recently lamented how he wishes he could rescue today's music from the supposed benefit of modern production, I hear him loud and clear.) The songs are upbeat and melodic as you'd expect from LDF, with those juicy guitar leads that scream cross between Howe and Hackett to the point of being comical at times. 'Crescendo' is this gorgeous and jubilant classic that sounds like a cross between Hackett-era Genesis and Basso's 'Voci.' Fantastic marriage of keyboard and guitar melody, with Sasso's smooth, reassuring vocal. It percolates with energy, detailed drumming, and warring factions of guitar and bold piano runs. 'Sequenza Circolare' is a most appreciated (by me) classical piano solo which should again thrill fans of Luciano Basso. 'La Giostra' is next, another stellar long track in similar territory as 'Crescendo' and sadly the last new firefly we meet in this outing, as the fourth 'new' song is a re-record of a 'Forse' track.
The rest of the album consists of three live songs recorded in 1977 during their 'Forse' days. It's always a gift for RPI fans to get a chance to hear quality live recordings from the 1970s, as they tend to be rare and sometimes of very spotty sound quality. While these three songs are obviously far from today's standards of live recording quality, they are certainly adequate for this listener to enjoy. They are sadly brief, in fact two are just excerpts, but the glory comes through in a live cut of 'Vendesi saggezza' from the 'Forse' album. While it will be hard for some to accept the sound quality, if one sets aside our learned prejudice for 'perfect' sound, we can clearly hear the power of LDF as a live act at the time. These guys were firing on all cylinders and their hybrid of romantic symphonic is indeed fitting with their representative lovely cover art. They made a big mistake by cutting off these three tracks however, they are almost more like teasers. Clocking in at just 36 minutes there was plenty of room for more songs and complete versions of songs.
While I enjoyed this very much and was tempted to give it four stars, three is probably most appropriate. It contains two essential new LDF cuts (Crescendo and Giostra) along with a bunch of other good stuff that suffers a bit from the convoluted, cut and paste feel of the album. I'll say it again guys....get in the studio and make a true prog-rock epic follow-up to Forse. Your fans are there, and it sounds like the band is still in top form despite the years.
Like many other bands within the golden Italian prog rock scene, LOCANDA DELLE FATE were one of those who got lost in the annals of obscurity, to all but those invested in the scene. With that in mind, the two albums they did release garnered some very noble acclaim, with some reviews I read claiming them to be on part with some of the style's very best. Perhaps in some hope to shine a light on their work once more, LOCANDA DELLE FATE have risen from the dead to give listeners a short dose of their music. Sadly, 'The Missing Fireflies...' comes across as a muffled compilation, always hinting at the band's quality, but never demonstrating it. Especially for those who may have been excited to hear that the band was coming out with something new after so many years, this collection of songs does not warrant the wait.Conor Fynes
This is not to say that 'The Missing Fireflies...' is a bad collection of songs, however. LOCANDA DELLE FATE make music on the melodic side of Italian prog rock, and comparisons to BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO are not unwarranted. To admit, I always preferred the more adventurous theatrical RPI bands to their GENESIS-like counterparts, but there is no qualm with the music here, which is rather consistently mellow and tasteful. The compilation is split between a handful of freshly recorded songs, and live tracks from the band's heyday. The recorded material is the more notable of the two here, although the live recording is surprisingly crisp. LOCANDA DELLE FATE's music is fuelled largely by gorgeous synths and the RPI-canon vocals of Leonardo Sasso, who does well to bolster the BANCO comparisons this band has received.
Perhaps it's simply the lack of dramatic tension in the music, but 'The Missing Fireflies...' washes over me pleasantly, but fails to capture my spirit. The lackluster flow of the compilation also does not help matters. While I was unaware of the band's music before hearing this collection, it is clear to me that a full-length from these guys would have been much preferable, as their penchant for melodies would have been much better showcased in the context of the epic longform that they once prospered in. 'The Missing Fireflies...' is enjoyable, but I imagine longtime fans of LOCANDA DELLE FATE will find themselves disappointed. 6/10
This is a compilation album of both studio and live tracks. The live music is from 1977 and the studio tracks are either seventies songs that weren't completed back then and finished here (tracks 1 & 2) or different versions of those 1977 songs (tracks 3 & 4). The biggest compliment I can give this band is that the new music they have recorded here (tracks 1-4) is amazing. These guys sound as good if not better than they did with their 1977 classic. Unfortunately the power and beauty of the first four songs disappears with those final three live tracks. The sound quality isn't nearly as good on those live ones sadly. I have to mention the cover art as well which rivals the famous one from their 1977 debut. Beautiful stuff.John Davie
"Crescendo" opens with pulsating organ that builds as drums, synths then guitar join in. Vocals before 2 minutes. Piano and drums lead 4 minutes in then the vocals return 5 1/2 minutes in as it settles. It kicks back in a minute later. "Sequenza Circolare" is a short intro for the next track and it consists of piano melodies then bang ! It kicks in at the start of "La Giostra". Amazing sound ! Vocals follow. This is simply gorgeous. It's so uplifting after 4 minutes. By the way this track was featured on their 1977 live album but not on the studio album back then. "Non Chiudere A Chiave Le Stelle" is from that 1977 studio album. It's mellow to start with mellotron. And yes it's real mellotron, in fact an M400. Vocals a minute in.
As I mentioned the live tracks just don't sound nearly as good although I kind of got used to the sound by the closing 8 minute song.
I will be keeping this in my rotation simply to listen to those 4 amazing opening songs. These guys still have it ! A low 4/5 stars.
Ten years after the ephemeral reunion of the late nineties Locanda delle Fate came back with a renewed line-up. This time the reunion was mainly focused on the live activity and the band rearranged the old repertoire with a vintage taste for some live performances with excellent results and in 2010 they played their first concerts since the late seventies. The current line up features the veterans Leonardo Sasso (vocals), Luciano Boero (bass), Giorgio Gardino (drums) and Oscar Mazzoglio (Hammond, keyboards, minimoog) plus two new members: Maurizio Muha (piano, Moog, Mellotron) and Massimo Brignolo. In 2012 they released a new album on the independent label Altrock, "The Missing Fireflies", featuring some new studio versions of old pieces and some live tracks taken from a 1977 concert.Andrea Parentin
The studio version of "Crescendo" (Growing up) is amazing and the vintage sounds take you back in time... "How much of life is wasted by waiting for tomorrow / The petals of a Time without seasons fall down / Some leaves are dancing like butterflies for us all around / I try to catch them by it's time to growing up now...". This song was composed back in the seventies but it was never recorded in studio before and the new version respects the way it was conceived.
"Sequenza circolare" (Loop) is a fine, short instrumental composed by the newcomer Maurizio Muha and is a perfect introduction for another piece composed in the seventies and here recorded in studio for the first time, "La giostra" (The carousel). It's a beautiful, timeless track about the magic power of dreams... "She is clinging to my nerves that are taking off in orbit above me / I have no fear but standing here I can already see some mirages...".
The last studio track is a new version of "Non chiudere a chiave le stelle" (Don't lock the stars), a piece about a beautiful girl who wastes her time closed in her room, lost in her dreams. The original version was released in the 1977 album "Forse le lucciole non si amano più" but this version is good as well.
The live tracks are taken from a concert in Asti, at the Alfieri Theatre, on November 21, 1977. The sound quality is not bad but part of the original tapes are lost and what's left are just the final part of "Non chiudere a chiave le stelle", "Crescendo" and "Vendesi saggezza". It's an interesting document of the live performances of the old line up, nothing more. Well, all in all I think that this is just a new starting point for the band and I'm looking forward to a new album with new original stuff!
In my opinion, Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Piu was one of the best produced 70's prog albums. How did it manage to sound so spectacular compared to other recordings of the time? When it comes to The Missing Fireflies, essentially leftovers of the earlier album, it is likewise produced to a very satisfactory level. The overall sound, from the keys to drums is crisp, punchy, and full. The performances are inspired, especially Luciano's beautiful singing. There's really nothing to complain about here. The Missing Fireflies basically sounds exactly like it should've been on the original album, and it would have been, had their not been technical limitations on the album production. If one was to complain about something, it might be that they were hoping for something that sounded like a different album, but they didn't get it. Well, that wasn't really the purpose here, now was it. You get loads of keyboards and pianos dueling off in magical Italian fashion, gorgeous vocals, perhaps some of the best in Italian 70's, in my humble opinion, and compositions which show great use of transitions and moods while maintaining a magical romantic sort of atmosphere, all the while never being afraid to get 'proggy.'Matt Di Giordano
My only beef with this release is the poor sound quality of the live tracks. Unfortunately, they sound like they were recorded on a microphone in the back of the concert hall and were never mixed. It's pretty bad, I'm not kidding. Nothing we can do about it. In the end, however, I wasn't hoping for a Locanda live album. I just wanted the extra studio tracks, which they delivered splendidly. A real treat for fans of the band and those in the mood for a bit of Italian 70's nostalgia.
What's a bit perplexing about this release is not the modern re-recording of old compositional ideas, but the questionable vintage source then used to complete them.Jeff Carney
In fact, I found the modern recordings to sound absolutely brilliant. Better than could ever have been expected, they truly capture the spirit of how this musical work was surely envisioned in 1977. What is strange is that the 1977 recordings are from a distant audio source, when much of this material was already available via a different performance as a soundboard source, as evidenced by its release on Mellow in 1993. As I've noted in my review of that very Mellow CD, those recordings were absolutely butchered with digital noise reduction, but one would have to think the original tapes used by Mellow would exist. Could those tapes have provided a soundboard quality representation of the 1977 recordings which were used to finish out this fascinating, unreleased musical work?
I guess we can presume that the soundboard tapes available for Mellow's "Live" were unavailable for license or lost to the sands of time. I will say that the 1977 recordings of this material actually sound a bit better here than those on the Mellow CD. Again, this is down to the poor mastering on the Mellow CD. Nothing to do with a vast difference in performance.
So how to rate such a release? It's difficult, but given the quality of the modern version of LDF and their ability to capture a sound so truly similar to their original, I think 3/5 stars is entirely fair.
3.5/5 stars. 1st 4 tracks (4.5 stars). 1977 live tracks (2.5 stars). La Giostra (5 stars).progbaby
We need a full new studio album from them after this :-)
Before diving into this gem, I wanted to throw one thing out there that you should know. This cd is split into two parts.
Part 1 contains 4 songs done in the studio this year which total about 21+ minutes.
Part 2 contains 3 old live recordings from 1977 which total about 15-16 minutes.
Having said that, you'll get about 35 minutes of music from this cd.
On to part 1 which is why I bought the cd in the first place. I remember years ago listening to the Mellow Release "Locanda Delle Fate Live" (Bless Mellow records for making all this available to us) and being very very sad that the only recording of "La Giostra" in existance is a recording that is practically unlistenable. For all practical purposes, that song may be better than any of the songs on their "Forse" album which is really saying a lot (for those who know that album)...
Ah and what a treat that there is a clean/crisp/re-recording of "La Giostra" done on Part 1 which clocks in close to 8 minutes. I was nervous that perhaps LDF would use new modern instruments (ie, drum machines and digital keyboards) as it seems to be trendy these days. Ah but what a surprise as this song (and all 4 of the studio songs) sounds so nostalgically 70's that I cannot tell the difference. You could literally put these 4 songs on their 1977 album and not know the difference.
"La Giostra" is simply a beautiful emotional epic with many melodic surprises. And Sasso's voice has not really lost a heartbeat. IN-fact, it sounds even more awesome on parts of this album.
"La Giostra" alone is worth the price of this album.
Another pleasant surprise is a studio version of their 1977 song "No chiudere a chiave le stelle" with Sasso doing all the vocals on this. If you recall on the 77 version (track 6 on their "Forse" album), Sasso does is not doing any vocals on that one. So once again, a beautiful track with a twist (Sasso on vocals). The opening studio song "Crescendo" is another top notch 8+ minute "emerson-esque with italian touches" song in the style that you came to know and love on their original 77 album. Plenty of surprises and emotional vocals. The 2nd song "Sequendza circolere" is a 3+ minute instrument classical piano piece (maybe the least interesting of the studio songs but still very good and definitely not a throwaway track) .
Now you get into part 2 which contains 3 live versions from 1977 with better sound quality than anything on their "Locanda Live" mellow releases album. But still I won't be listening to these 3 songs on part 2 nearly as much as they're there for the fans I think.
All in all a slightly disjoined album (in terms of parts 1 and 2) but oh my oh my the 4 studio songs you get on part 1 make this another essential classic italian prog album.
Just be warned though that you'll only get 21 minutes worth of studio music on this album so it's more like an "EP" with an extra 15 minutes of live recordings from 1977 thrown in.
Still though "La Giostra" makes this all worth while and it may be in my top 5 all time favorite prog songs and I'm so grateful they came into the studio (with Sasso) 34+ years later to do it the way it should have been done in the first place.
For that, I rate this a "masterpiece" but take my review with a grain of salt if you're only a mild fan of italian progressive rock...
I love that these italian prog bands are getting together again after 30+ years and doing new albums.
Now if only Alphataurus can complete their new album (which was supposed to be released in Jan of last year) but I'm not sure what the hold up is.
If you like the 1977 "Forse" album and can accept you'll only get 21 minutes of new material in the same vein of their 1977 album, then this purchase is a no-brainer...
This is also a "no-brainer" if you were sad (over the years) about the low-quality recording of "La Giostra" from their "Locanda Live" album and wished to have a good clean crisp studio recording of it. Here's your chance now :-) It was the primary reason I bought this album and I ended up pleasantly surprised at the other 3 studio tracks. In the order of my favorites, it's "La Giostra", the opening "crescendo" track, "Non Chuidere a Chiave le stelle"(thanks to Sasso for the vocals) and the instrumental "Seqquenza circolare" track. I don't see myself listening to the live tracks much but please know the sound qualify of those is better than that of which you'll hear on the "Locanda Live" mellow release. But these live tracks still suffer a little bit from bootleg quality but they're still listenable.
My cd player will be stuck on "La Giostra" for the next 2+ weeks :-)
Locanda Delle Fate’s fairytale-like name stems from a rather unromantic place – a brothel in their home town of Asti, in north-western Italy (well-known to wine lovers for its fabulous sparkling dessert wine). Originally a seven-piece, the band got together in the early Seventies to play covers of the legendary English prog acts, then moved on to writing their own material. Their first demo attracted the attention of the high-profile record label Phonogram, and their debut album, Forse le Lucciole Non Si Amano Più was released in the summer of 1977. Unfortunately the days of prog’s widespread commercial success were numbered, with the punk and disco movements already in full swing. Disappointed by the lack of response to the album, Locanda Delle Fate disbanded shortly afterwards; their partial reunion in 1999 for the pop-oriented Homo Homini Lupus was also short-lived.progmistress
In spite of being plagued by bad timing, in later years Locanda Delle Fate and their 1977 album have become a cult object of sorts for fans of classic Seventies prog, especially those more oriented towards a lush, romantic sound steeped in the Italian tradition as well as in the symphonic stylings of early Genesis. Indeed, they have often been tagged as the Italian answer to Genesis, and those who prefer the edgier side of the Italian prog scene tend to dismiss them as overly sweet and melodic. However, it cannot be denied that Locanda Delle Fate are more than just a bunch of Genesis wannabes: besides their obvious talent as musicians and composers, they can also boast of the magnificent vocals of Leonardo Sasso (who did not participate in the 1999 reunion).
Locanda delle Fate got together once again in 2010, taking full advantage of the much-touted prog revival, and the success that eluded them the first time around seems to have finally headed their way. The release of The Missing Fireflies at the beginning of 2012 presents their loyal fans with some previously unreleased material, including some original 1977 live recordings. Thanks to Marcello Marinone of AltrOck Productions and his father Davide (who had been the sound engineer on Forse Le Lucciole…), the “missing fireflies” have finally seen the light of day; the original live tapes have been painstakingly cleaned up, and the proofs for the cover artwork of the 1977 album have kindly been put at the band’s disposal by artist Biagio Cairone. The stylishly packaged album is enhanced by Paolo Ske Botta’s graphics and classy photography; while AltrOck stalwart Udi Koomran has lent his expertise to the mastering of the finished product.
For obvious reasons, The Missing Fireflies… will be seen more as a collectors’ item than a genuine new release. The four studio tracks, however, reveal the strength of Locanda Delle Fate’s current line-up, which includes most of its founding members. Only one of those tracks, “Non Chiudere a Chiave le Stelle”, appeared on the band’s debut album, though the keyboard-heavy “Crescendo” (also present in a shorter live version) and “La Giostra” also date back from their early days. The only completely new track is the 2-minute piano bravura piece “Sequenza Circolare”, composed and interpreted by keyboardist Maurizio Muha, which introduces the stunning “La Giostra” – a gorgeously melodic composition with tightly-woven instrumental parts complementing Sasso’s warm, smooth vocals, melding Genesis influences (particularly evident in Max Brignolo’s airy, stately guitar work) with Italian flair.
The live tracks amount to less than half of the album – which, at around 35 minutes, is already quite short for today’s standards. In spite of the less than stellar sound quality, they allow the band’s collective talent to shine. In the exhilarating version of “Vendesi Saggezza”, Sasso’s passionate vocal performance brings to mind Francesco Di Giacomo (to whom he has often been compared), while powerful, Banco-like keyboard parts blend with a pastoral feel in true Genesis style.
All in all, The Missing Fireflies will be a worthwhile investment for dedicated followers of the band and fans of the original RPI scene, while newcomers might want to try Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Più before taking the plunge. In any case, the release of the album, together with the success of Locanda Delle Fate’s recent live outings (at the time of writing, they have just returned from Japan, where they appeared at a festival in Tokyo together with other historic Italian prog bands), bodes well for the future of the new incarnation of the band. US prog fans will have the unique opportunity to see them at Farfest, which is scheduled to take place on October 4-7, 2012, at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware.
Y no me detengo demasiado porque tengo más cosas para traerles, increíbles, para que disfruten en éste fin de semana.
Quiero anunciar que voy a denunciarlos a las autoridades pertinentes del caso ante el acopio indiscriminado de treméndisimos Discos todas las semanas ¡Todos contra el muro cabezones! No se mueran nunca.
ReplyDeleteGran comentario, totalmente de acuerdo. Gran disco de una gran banda europea.
ReplyDeleteItalia dio al mundo unos cuantos grupos sobresalientes, aunque mis favoritos siempre van a ser PFM, Le Orme y Banco.