FEATURED ALBUM: Osanna - Palepoli

[Poisoned Youth]

Thoughts on this album from 1973? How does it hold up after 45 years? Where does it fall within the canon of Italian progressive rock?




Review from ProgArchives:

"Palepoli" is an album difficult to define. It is a concept album about Naples. It is a kind of musical conceived to be played in theatres with actors and dancers. Most of all, it is a melting-pot where different sounds and influences are blended together along with engaged lyrics (lyrics here are in Italian with some parts in the dialect from Naples) . In this album is evident the aim to experience new ways to "cross the styles".

The opener "Oro caldo" (Hot Gold) begins in a quiet Mediterranean mood (just flute and percussions), then come in an "electric tarantella" that leads to a guitar and keyboards passage in "Genesis style". "Hot gold drops from a trumpet / From where the shadow of a cold and silent note comes out. And the wind runs towards me / Carrying the reality into its whirls / I feel cold in my thoughts / Thousands voices are trampling on me.". Then the "show" goes on with continuous changes of rhythm and mood, great harmony vocals (with lyrics swaying from "Pulcinella's hilarity" to social subjects) and amazing instrumental breaks.

"Stanza città" is just a short instrumental bridge.

"Animale senza respiro" (Animal Without Breath) starts in a more jazzy and experimental way that after six minutes leads to an explosion. Then a delicate acoustic passage. ".You have no more time / You have no more hours / You have no more strength to believe in you / In this metre of life that you have / You are looking for the air of a breath / You have no more time / You have no more hours / You are nothing now.". There is no rest nor boredom, the music goes on and on and all you have to do is listen to: in this album many influences mixed up together give life to an original, complex and theatrical kind of "rock-opera" very difficult to describe.

"Palepoli" is without doubt the highest peek in the career of Osanna: it is an unique album and a masterpiece of the "Italian prog". - Andrea

[chalkpie]

One of my favorites out of Italia. Nothing else really sounds like this, although I have always thought they ripped off Wes Montgomery's Full House riff

Love this album.

[Zappathustra]

I constantly change my mind on this, so I will have to relisten before expressing any opinion.

[Scrotum Scissor]

There are days when I do, and others where I simply don't.

That well-known "fragmentarian", near-collage kind of setup to the music here has a lot of ideas going for it, but it doesn't always work - IMHO. But the great parts are truly fabulous.

[chalkpie]

Just like Napoli itself, there is a slightly rough but festive edge to this music that I simply adore, you can't place it in there if you tried, it's just there. That in a nutshell is why I love this one.

[Sputnik]

I think I've owned this album twice. I really have tried to get into it, but I just find it impenetrable. There are little fragments I like, but before it can ever establish a groove, it shifts to something else, usually something that I don't find so interesting. The whole adds up to nothing for me. Maybe if I understood the lyrics or saw it in context as a performance art thing I might feel differently. But this is one I tried to enjoy but just simply don't. Sampling it again now and I'm having the same experience.

C'est la vie.

Bill

[yoyiceu]

I find a lot of similarities between this album and Van der Graaf's 'Pawn Hearts', specially the 'Lighthouse Keepers' track, Van der Graaf's equally crazed magnum opus, but in any case I think it has been well established that Osanna was influenced by the Generator, as is evident in the way sax is used in both bands. And, of course, David Jackson has at times played live with Osanna in recent years.

[Zappathustra]

Everything that is bad about prog is in here - and that's a reason to love the album.

And I love the album's ambition and scope, it's overall atmosphere, but this is very unevenly inspired. It seems to run out of steam after the first ten minutes or so, and it never really takes off again. Yes, there are parts which are great, but because of the record's structure, this cannot be judged as the sum of its parts, but as a whole. And there it falls short of its ambition.

And one cannot ignore that some parts are "lent" by other bands, namely Van Der Graaf Generator and King Crimson. This is sheer copying at times, and it sounds embarassing.

This is a very enjoyable at times work, a very important work, but in my opinion not the masterpiece that many claim it to be. I think they could have discarded some of the ideas, develop more extensively some others and arrive at a much better result. But obviously this wouldn't be Palepoli but some other record...

[FredOCal]

I like the album, yet I wouldn't rate it in my top 5 from Italy. I haven't heard it in a few months so I'll give it a fresh spin and see if anything changes. I always found it very enjoyable but also one of those albums where I'll start to wander at points without really knowing why, as it's all good. I have to say that my favorite from them might be their stunning first, "L'Uomo." That being said, this is still a top album and something I'm happy to own and spin on a somewhat regular basis.

[spacefreak]

How does it hold up after 45 years? Where does it fall within the canon of Italian progressive rock?

In my top-20 from Italy.

[TheH]

One of the important albums from Italy, though I have to admit that I'm not to crazy about it.
I really like their debut and "Milano Calibro 9" more than this one.

There is also a remake (plus new stuff) called "Palepolitana".

[Trane]

The only one I felt worthy of keeping from their discography

The debut and Milan Calibro are totally dispandable, IMH, but this one is great.

[miamiscot]

One of the greatest Italian albums. In my RPI Top 10. Difficult but extremely rewarding.

[Crystal Plumage]

It's a great album with some nice Mellotron/ sax eruptions ala King Crimson. I like it. Lino Vairetti is a great singer and entertainer.
I recently picked up the Città Frontale album El Tor which has some Osanna influences, but is more accessible. Great writing and even some Zappa influences. Osanna without being Osanna, sorta -ish.

[GentleFriend]

In my top-20 from Italy.

Oh yes! Masterpiece!

There is a Psychedelic inheritance to the mix and although I can hear some VdGG or KC it sounds very original and fresh even today. Pitty that they've never done nothing like this one.

By coincidence, yesterday I was re-listening the soundtrack for Milano Calibro 9. It is good. But not this good.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

How do I identify a CD pressing of this which doesn't have the infamous dropped channel on one of the tunes?

[Progbear]

The only one I felt worthy of keeping from their discography

The debut and Milan Calibro are totally dispandable, IMH, but this one is great.

I think all of their 70s albums are worthy but they only had one true classic, and that’s this one. A real work of art that I never get tired of.

How do I identify a CD pressing of this which doesn't have the infamous dropped channel on one of the tunes?

Ah, the OPTI.ME.S pressing that I used to own. There seemed to be a lot of issues with that pressing plant, as a lot of CDs pressed there (a lot of early Island and Fonit Cetra releases came from there) suffered from disc bronzing.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I think all of their 70s albums are worthy but they only had one true classic, and that’s this one.

Well, yeah. But the main trouble with Osanna, IMO, was their general unevenness. Even Palepoli is somewhat haunted by inconsistencies that certainly don't always come across as particularly deliberate in neither conception nor execution. I still like it as a whole, but it's never as out-and-out coherently strong as, say, their own brethren Cervello's Melos.

Landscape of Life is quite extreme at this, in that the opening and closing tracks are really good whereas the rest is close to throwaway - IMHO. Come to think of it, this thing was a problem with several well-known Italian 70s rock/hard rock/prog groups, like Nuova Idea, New Trolls, Formula 3, Ibis et al; truly great ideas, parts and passages paired with absolutely corny ones.

[spacefreak]

How do I identify a CD pressing of this which doesn't have the infamous dropped channel on one of the tunes?

Get any pressing except the 1991 Fonit CDLP 425 (Optimes manifactured CD). This version is with the one channel drop for over one minute.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

^^ Thanks!

[no.nine]

Get any pressing except the 1991 Fonit CDLP 425 (Optimes manifactured CD). This version is with the one channel drop for over one minute.

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the later Warner/Fonit pressings of the Italian prog CDs used the same masterings as the original Fonit CDs. So the Warner reissue might also have the dropout. Does anyone here have that one to verify ?

[Progbear]

The later Warner Fonit reissue corrects the fault.

[spacefreak]

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the later Warner/Fonit pressings of the Italian prog CDs used the same masterings as the original Fonit CDs. So the Warner reissue might also have the dropout. Does anyone here have that one to verify ?

I once had all CD pressings of Palepoli (before acquiring the vinyl). The Warner reissue was correct.

For the record, the one channel drop was on the "Animale senza respiro" track. Close to the 18th min. from what I can remember.

[no.nine]

The later Warner Fonit reissue corrects the fault.

I once had all CD pressings of Palepoli (before acquiring the vinyl). The Warner reissue was correct.

For the record, the one channel drop was on the "Animale senza respiro" track. Close to the 18th min. from what I can remember.

Thanks.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

There are days when I do, and others where I simply don't.

That well-known "fragmentarian", near-collage kind of setup to the music here has a lot of ideas going for it, but it doesn't always work - IMHO. But the great parts are truly fabulous.

agreed... some times when I play it, it works nicely. Other times it just annoys me. Ya gotta be in the mood for a work such as this one. Not on the level of PFM's PUA or SDM or even LDN. Nor on par with Banco's Io Sono, Darwin or even the s/t. Not on the level of Le Orme's FES or IBDB's YS or Sens Fix's PM... nope, this one isn't even in the top 10 Italian list for me.