Locanda Delle Fate - “Forse le Lucciole Non Si Amano Piú”
Tracks:
- A Volte un Istante Di Quiete
- Forse le Lucciole Non Si Amano Piú
- Profumo Di Colla Bianca
- Cercando un Nuovo Confine
- Sogno Di Estunno
- Non Chiudere a Chiave le Stelle
- Vendesi Saggezza
- New York (bonus track)
Now that I have been listening to my iPod a lot, I have been reminded of my favorites again. Time to get this going.
I mentioned this site before, but there is a wealth of information to be found from the members of ProgressiveEars.Com. Amongst the many great artists it introduced me to, it also opened my ears to bands that didn’t sing in English.
(Not in order with the picture, which is really bad to begin with, but it’s the best available): Leonardo Sasso (lead vocals), Ezio Vevy (guitars, vocals, flute), Alberto Gaviglio (guitars, vocals), Michele Conta (piano, synthesizers), Oscar Mazzoglio (Hammond, piano, synthesizers), Luciano Boero (bass, Hammond), and Giorgio Gardino (drums, vibraphone)
Locanda Delle Fate (which roughly translates to “Inn of the Fairies”) was a late player in the progressive rock scene. This album is from 1977, as prog was on it’s way out. At least as a worldwide scene. But the album “Forse le Lucciole Non Si Amano Piú” (which roughly translates to “Perhaps the Fireflies Don’t Love Each Other Anymore”) is considered by many fans of Italian prog and prog in general as one of those “must have” albums. Sadly for the band, they were a one hit wonder, not recording their follow-up until just a few years ago.
As I mentioned in an earlier post of another Italian prog band, Italy has a real love affair with progressive rock. I attribute it to their love of opera. And many of the Italian prog bands have lead singers with operatic voices. (If you ever want to get Marcia’s goat, just sneak up behind her and say “Deus Ex Machina!”, an Italian band with operatic lead singer Alberto Piras who she did not enjoy listening to at NEARfest 2001.) And if not operatic, at least a very good singer in general. The funny thing is, even with this album being so very popular and praised amongst prog rock fans, lead singer Sasso’s voice is average at best. Many feel that is the weakest point of this album, but at least acceptable.
OK, so I have rambled on for a bit, and haven’t said anything about the album, other then the English translation of the title. So what is it about this album that I like? Mostly what everyone else likes about it. It is great symphonic rock recorded at a time when the genre was (as stated in a band biography on the internet) no longer in vogue.
The first three tracks, (”A Volte un Istante Di Quiete” is an instrumental) are probably worth the price of admission alone. There are so many little arranging things that I just love about them. They are beautiful pieces of symphonic rock and are so very enjoyable. The only complaint I have is a section where one of the other members sings a line to juxtapose Sasso’s voice. It is a great arrangement idea. Only wish they did more of that.
“Cercando un Nuovo Confine” starts the tapering off of the album, though it still is quite good. “Cercando” features some very nice background, but is less adventurous then the previous tracks. With “Vendesi Saggezza” the artistic wonder picks up again. Even near the end you hear the theme from the title track, giving the original album a very nice ending. “New York” was a single (I believe) the band released a year of so after this album and was included on the CD release of the album. It features one of the other members singing instead of Sasso. It’s a good tune, but might have been better set in the middle of the album, given how the final song of the original album finishes.
It’s a very good symphonic rock album that shouldn’t be missed by die-hard prog fans.
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