# Italian progressive rock



## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Is anyone here interested in Italian progressive rock?

For those who know nothing about it, Italy has one of the greatest progressive rock histories out of all countries, on par with Britain and Germany as far as output, I believe even exceeding Germany. While I haven't enjoyed it as much as England's, it's something where there is constant discovery. It would be even more interesting for me if I knew what they were saying, which is something that probably holds back appreciation also in classical (not understanding Italian).


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I've listened a lot of it over the years, but onestly I'm not a great fan of it. For a while I've been obsessed with Area, that is probably the best italian band in the seventies, but now I heard their music very rarely. 
I think that most of the things produced then seems now very outdated, and there's not much I listen with pleasure.
If I have to single out some good albums I would say Arbeit macht frei (Area, experimental jazz rock), Un biglietto del tram (stormy six, a RIO band), the first album made by Picchio dal pozzo (something like italian version of the Canterbury sound), the first one made by Napoli Centrale (jazz rock, funk), and Forse le lucciole non si amano più (Locanda delle fate, classic prog).
To me however the best italian prog album is not really considered part of the genre, and it's Anima latina, an album made by Lucio Battisti, who's one of the most popular pop musicians ever in Italy.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Thanks for the Lucio Battisti suggestion. I'm listening to it now and it sounds good. It avoids what I don't like about much of the Italian progressive rock I've heard, which is when it sounds like frantic rock music with a lot of blues scales. It seems some progressive Italian musicians still feel they are discovering the blues scales and Italian prog rock in the 1970s has too much of it for my taste. There was a thread on progressiveears about Non-British Cantebury that uncovered much good music I've never heard, which is a good sub genre that was more inventive music theory wise. I do like the Italian prog musicians when they stick closure to classical music modes, which it seems they really excel in. The later Italian prog music that surfaced on the forums seemed pretty dark and nihlistic, and may reflect some of the current intellectual trends there.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

regenmusic said:


> Thanks for the Lucio Battisti suggestion. I'm listening to it now and it sounds good. It avoids what I don't like about much of the Italian progressive rock I've heard, which is when it sounds like frantic rock music with a lot of blues scales. It seems some progressive Italian musicians still feel they are discovering the blues scales and Italian prog rock in the 1970s has too much of it for my taste.


do you mean stuff like Rovescio della medaglia or Garybaldi? I'm not a great fan of that kind of things. But I have to be honest, I barely remember their music now.



regenmusic said:


> There was a thread on progressiveears about Non-British Cantebury that uncovered much good music I've never heard, which is a good sub genre that was more inventive music theory wise. I do like the Italian prog musicians when they stick closure to classical music modes, which it seems they really excel in. The later Italian prog music that surfaced on the forums seemed pretty dark and nihlistic, and may reflect some of the current intellectual trends there.


Who are you thinking of?


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Back in the '70s, I was into Sensations Fix, headed by Franco Falsini. I didn't follow the band past the fourth or fifth album. The first two were glued to the turntable during the mid-'70s among my clique.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I have a number of CDs by the usual suspects (PFM, Banco, QVL, etc), but I never quite got into them. It is not the non-Englishness - I like bands like Harmonium, Bacamarte, Shingetsu, or Grobschnitt.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Could be my favorite country for prog!

The well known classics (Banco, PFM, Le Orme) hold up very well for me, and get pretty regular rotation on my system. And some of the lesser known bands from the 70's are just as good (Il Bellotto di Bronzo, Arti e Mestieri, Museo Rosenbach, Aqua Fragile, Picchio dal pozzo) even if they had less releases.

As already mentioned, Area are about as good as it gets!

Then there's the new generation, beginning in the mid 90's and continuing very strongly to the present.

One of the best is Deus ex Machina. They are an avante-garde leaning prog/fusion band, with major chops, and a unique vocalist (YMMV) that has a 5 octave range.

Il Tempio delle Clessidre are more in the classic 70's style, but they do it so good. They have a great keyboardist in Elisa Montaldo.

Slivovitz are a unique jazz-rock band with influences from various ethnic music.

Yugen are a modern avant-prog band. One of the best of its kind currently active. They have a bit more classic prog than most avant-prog bands.

There are many more, but those are a few off the top of my head.



> bands like Harmonium, Bacamarte, Shingetsu, or Grobschnitt


All great bands.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Simon Moon said:


> Balletto di Bronzo


ew
personally I find their album Ys absolutely horrible

Sometimes I still listen to Arti e mestieri, Furio Chirico was a monster, not exactly an example of subtle drumming (a cross of Buddy Rich/Billy Cobham/Mike Mangini... that sort of thing) but he has incredible chops.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

The later Italian prog music that surfaced on the forums seemed pretty dark and nihlistic, and may reflect some of the current intellectual trends there.



norman bates said:


> Who are you thinking of?


I can't remember it now because it wasn't my thing. It may have only been two different bands, 
and I believe it was post 2005.

One finds a lot of that spirit in recent prog. They don't have the "manners" of the 1970s stuff, they are
more into reflecting a lot of the negativity around them in recent times.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

norman bates said:


> ew
> personally I find their album Ys absolutely horrible
> 
> Sometimes I still listen to Arti e mestieri, Furio Chirico was a monster, not exactly an example of subtle drumming (a cross of Buddy Rich/Billy Cobham/Mike Mangini... that sort of thing) but he has incredible chops.


Yeah, YS is a very polarizing album.

Yes, Furio can over play a bit. But their first album "Tilt" has so many great and beautiful melodies, that his busy drumming is not a distraction for me. And there are enough parts, that call for that kind of playing.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

The first section of this piece is my favorite Italian prog work. Like the music the German band Novalis creates, it's very simple and classically derived yet somehow larger than its simplicity.


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

This thread made me want to check my favorite record bar later to find out if they have CDs by Alphatarus, Furio and Deus ex Machina. Kudos to TS :angel:


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

regenmusic said:


> The first section of this piece is my favorite Italian prog work. Like the music the German band Novalis creates, it's very simple and classically derived yet somehow larger than its simplicity.


I have a mint copy of this on vinyl, with the double gate fold sleeve.

It regularly sells for about $1000.00!


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Iean said:


> This thread made me want to check my favorite record bar later to find out if they have CDs by Alphatarus, Furio and Deus ex Machina. Kudos to TS :angel:


Some of the Deus Ex Machina are out of print temporarily. Although they are slated to be reprinted soon.

Their 2 best are, "De Republica" and "Equilibrismo Da Insofferenza". But all of them are great.

They have a couple of their releases available on Cuneiform Records.

http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/deus.html

Oh, but the way. The vocals on the first 4 releases are in Latin, not Italian.


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## The Deacon (Jan 14, 2018)

I had the origional (textured cover) of Planetarium.
I returned it to the store I got it from because I was getting loud ticks on the last (and best) track.
The store owner was the leader of the legendary Canadian prog/psych group, Christmas. (He is now a local minister).

They played the track and , low and behold, there was no ticking! (Must have had a click-and-pop noise reduction system on their system). So they would not take back the lp.
It would all end well - cos that lp is now worth maybe $400 - only that I later on traded it off!


...

Another thing I'm kicking myself for:
Found the E.A.Poe lp in a Toronto used record store decades ago. I was ,and still am, into Ital prog, but I wasn't aware of this band. Was about to buy it but noticed it had sax so I put it back. It was $8.

Now its a top italprog rarity.


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