Paciana story was a mid-70's Italian project, following an idea of Dalton's keyboardist Temistocle Reduzzi and journalist Luciano Capoferri to musically perform the story of Vincenzo ''Paci'' Paciana, a mythical figure of Bergamo during the 18th century, who was the Robin Hood of the area, stealing from rich and giving the poor, until he died falling from a bridge in the Brembo river, chased by the police. The studio project featured five additional musicians/singers, among them Dalton's guitarist Aronne Cereda and the album ''Opera Pop'' was recorded in 1975 at the recording studio I Raminghi's bassist Franco Mussita. This is very delicate and romantic Folk Rock with plenty of acoustic textures and a few proggy overtones, while Reduzzi always supports the music with his synths, electric and acoustic piano. Lots of male and female vocals present the thrilling bio of Paci Paciana in some very good vocal arrangements with warm singing. The music, while remaining fairly soft throughout, has an inner atmospheric content, mainly due to Reduzzi's symphonic keyboards and jazzy electric piano, while half of them contain the smooth electric guitar touch of Cereda or even some ethnic vibes through the sax and clarinet of Ferdinando Ghisleni. Of course the main driving forces remain the folky textures and the album has a strong singer/songwriter feel as a whole, but Reduzzi's obsession to constantly use his keys adds always a light proggy feeling.A couple of tracks are also close to DALTON's sound like the excellent closer ''Salto dal ponte'' or the keyboard-drenched ''Tema condutore''.Paciana story toured the theaters for some years, featuring over a dozen of musicians and actors in a very good Folk/Pop/Prog opera, that definitely should have been a great experience if caught live. The nice CD reissue by BTF makes the album easily approachable and this comes warmly recommended to all fans of light Progressive Rock, Folk Rock or melodic Italian Prog. Line-up / Musicians Temi Reduzzi/keyboards,compositions Aronne Cereda/guitars,vocals Callisto Callioni/trumpet Claudio Ciao/drums,vocals Mario Marcaletti/bass,vocals Raffaela Cattaneo/vocals Ferdinando Ghisleni/sax,clarinet Discography(Album) Paciana Story 1975
1.Ballata 2.Tema Conduttore 3.Al E' Sira 4.Tema D'Amore 5.Licenziamento 6.Rapimento 7.La Me Murusa Egia Confronto 8.Salto Dal Ponte
Pangea was really just a name given to the solo project of Mauro Paoluzzi, a producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. He produced, among others, the two albums by the jazz-rock outfit Madrugada. Their bassist Billi Zanelli and keyboardist Gianfranco Pinto returned the favor here by joining this "band" called Pangea. They are joined by Paoluzzi's wife Luciana on vocals and Claudio Pascoli on saxophone. Released (or nearly so, as noted) in 1976 "Invasori" is one strange fish. The album is a sound painting, an avant-garde work covering a variety of styles. Very calm and very spacey but a little different of classic Italian bands. They made a different vein and separate the classical music from progressive rock. It's more pure calm rock with calm guitar arrangements and calm keyboards. It's very balanced with good sound. Lyrics are in Italian and very balanced too. Line-up / Musicians Mauro Paoluzzi/guitar,drums,vocals Luciana Paoluzzi/vocals Gianfranco Pinto/keyboards,vocals Alessandro "Billy" Zanelli/bass,vocals Claudio Pascoli/sax,flute Discography(Album) Invasori 1976
Periferia del Mondo was formed in Rome in 1996 by woodwind player Alessandro Papotto (BANCO del Mutuo Soccorso), guitarist Giovanni Tommasi and bassist Claudio Braico, who were soon joined by drummer Tony Zito and keyboardist Bruno Vegliante. The band has performed several shows in Italy and abroad, and released two albums in CD and LP format: "In ogni Luogo, In ogni tempo" (2000) and "Un Milione di Voci" (2002), both featuring important guests such as Mauro Pagani, Vittorio Nocenzi, Francesco di Giacomo, Massimo Alviti, Luca Sapio, and many others. The two albums gained large appreciation and enthusiastic reviews from radios and papers all around the world. Periferia del Mondo also appears on two live productions: the CD "Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos" (2000) and the DVD "Gouveia Art Rock 2004" recorded in Portugal during their exhibition at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival together with Richard Sinclair Band and Isildurs. The style is a kaleidoscope of colours spreading from jazz-rock to psychedelic music to symphonic rock. Line-up / Musicians Claudio Braico/bass Alexandro Papotto/vocals,saxophone,clarinets,flutes,percussions,synthesizers Max G.B. Tommasi/guitars Bruno Vegliante/synthesizers,organ,piano Tony Zito/drums,percussions Alberto D'Annibale/violin Discography(Album) Un Milione di Voci 2002
1.Luci da un universo neonato 2.Percezioni della memoria 3.Un borghese piccolo piccolo 4.Incanti e perplessità 5.Two as one 6.EvaLuna 7.Cercando la via 8.Can stop 9.Espresso (parte 2) 10.Immagine 1 11.Di foglie e di acqua 12.Un milioni di voce 13.Monologo 14.Io brucio
The pioneer of Italian Progressive groups, PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI (PFM for short) is one of the leaders of the 70s prog movement. PFM developed a style which is uniquely Italian while maintaining links with the rest of the prog world. A lyrical, romantic and delicate music, full of fineness. A great melodic and instrumental richness, sumptuous compositions and arrangements. Sometimes compared with the early KING CRIMSON, the group had its own musical personality, with its elegant music. Their first album under the new name was Storia di un Minuto. They followed that one rather quickly with Per un Amico, which caught the attention of ELP's Greg Lake who invited them to visit London. During that visit, the group met Pete Sinfield (King Crimson, Roxy Music). Sinfield was so taken with the group that he decided to come on board writing lyrics and producing them. The result of that collaboration was Photos of Ghosts, but it was really only an English reworking of Per un Amico. Due to difficulties the British press was having with the name of the group, it was then shortened to PFM. The group released a true third album in L'isola di Niente. When it was set loose upon England, it was entitled The World Become the World. In the mid-'70s, Cook, a live album was released. It was renamed Live in U.S.A. for its Italian release. Their next release, after extensive touring and a short break, was Chocolate King. It became the first album to only feature an English version, the group having had done both English and Italian renditions of previous releases. The album, although not a huge commercial success, did generate enough interest to sign the band to Elektra Asylum Records. The next album, Jet Lag, was released in 1977 and was the last U.S. release, as they decided to return to Italy to concentrate on their home roots. They released Passpartù as the first album in their new homeland adventure. They eventually hooked up with RCA Records and released Suonare Suonare on that label. They followed that up with Come Ti Va In Riva Alla Città. The group waited about ten years before doing another album, with Ulisse coming in 1997. 2000 saw the release of Serendipity. Line-up / Musicians Franco Mussida/vocals,mandocello,guitar Franz Di Cioccio/drums,percussion,vocals Mauro Pagani/flute,vocals,violin Giorgio Piazza/bass,vocals Flavio Premoli/spinetta,keyboards,organ,vocals,synthesizer,Mellotron Discography(Album) Per Un Amico 1972
1.Appena un Po 2.Generale 3.Per un Amico 4.Il Banchetto 5.Geranio
