Originally Posted by
Scrotum Scissor
The notion that much/most of the 70s RPI was about post-PFM'ish "Genesissies" is largely a myth. I collected Italian progressive during the early years of reissues (1989-95), and soon came to know this myth by numbers. I'd say the MAIN bulk of RPI was anything but "Genesissy", and that the latter notion stems mostly from the lack of a frame of reference on the part of the receiving end among certain anglosaxon "prog" audiences whose need to adapt the objective to its own domain is ever as relentless.
The one dominant trend with Italian rock groups during the era approx 1970-73, was that near-manic stew of hard rock aggression with more intriguing structures and patterns - and often sans the most overt sophistication of most British progressive bands. Many of them sound unusually raw to non-accustomed ears; Biglietto per L'Inferno, Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno, Campo di Marte, Procession, Capitolo Sei, Semiramis, Flea, even bigger names like Osanna - the list goes on and on. Some great playing with wildly ambitious ideas amidst often a semi-chaotic approach to arrangements and form. A lot of this arose from the particular influences of these acts; VdGG, Jethro Tull and King Crimson were held in extremely high regard from an early point, and indeed it shows. There were other schools of course, like the keys-heavy bands (The Trip, Orme, Metamorfosi, L'Uovo di Colombo, Latte e Miele etc.) who displayed a prominent influence from The Nice/ELP and Quatermass, to the more refined senses of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Quella Vecchia Locanda, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Maxophone, Arti e Mestieri, Museo Rosenbach and Locanda delle Fate (where indeed a pronounced Genesis-vibe became apparent), the jazz-influenced experimental bands (AreA, Picchio dal Pozzo, Il Baricentro and countless others) and so on. Il Balletto di Bronzo emannated from that formerly mentioned "manic" bulk, yet with Ys created something altogether utterly idiosyncratic and just, well - different.
The "complexity" or much alleged "inaccessability" (they are sadly often mistaken for one another) of this work rests on the grand scale of its overall structural concept, I think. It was an idea that simply demanded the tone of brute energy by which it was delivered; the feeling of charge and attack, of release and response, of doom and disaster. Anyone who read the original saga narrative of 'Ys' will know the depths of allegorical implications here. And yup, these weren't "fairies" or "fountains" or "topographics" of any kind - they were words and musical tales of despair and the destruction of the cosmos itself.
I love it. It attains an instrumental power and authority of conviction which VERY few 70s "symphonic" progressive acts would even come close to achieving, and I suppose this is what Steven Stapleton recognized when adding it to his infamous 'Nurse With Wound-list'. I also find it fascinating how the album's influence totally transgressed the "prog"-circuit and has been given credit with Japanoise bands, extreme metal acts and numerous purveyors of fringe rock in general.
The only other Italian act to match this combination of cerebral levels and sonic force was Cervello, whose Melos remains my no. 1 "symph" progressive title from down there.
The comparison with The Mars Volta is apt, although they were never really that successful at it. Modern progressive bands who come far closer to this sheer "transcendence of intense presence" in their music are Discipline and the now long-gone Time of Orchids, or someone like The Locust for that matter.
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