So, I just increased my Italian prog collection by several-hundred percent from what it used to be. Because until the other day I don’t think I owned more than a single record from that genre. Now I own a handful, and more will be arriving shortly. Very cool! I think, at least for the next month or two, I’m going to try my best to devote Wednesdays to transferring and sharing some of these artifacts that are now a part of my record collection. There’s an insane amount of far-out shit that was recorded in Italy during the late 60s and throughout the 70s, so I’ll do my best to share with you whatever I can.
Today’s audio gold was recoded by a band called New Trolls. Their first record, Concerto Grosso No. 1 was released in 1971, and is cited by many as one of the most important albums affiliated with the Italian progressive rock movement. Yes, I now own it. Yes, I will be sharing it soon. The next year they released two more records, UT and Searching For Land. Night On The Bare Mountain was unleashed in 1973. During that year, the band split into two factions: Ibis (a hard rock group) and the band commonly referred to as New Trolls Atomic System. The latter band released a self-titled album later in ’73 that was initially titled N.T. Atomic System only to have a sticker placed over the cover changing the title to New Trolls Atomic System, I suppose because they didn’t know if people would recognize the abbreviated band name. The truth was, the members of this group never intended for that to be the band’s name. It just ended up that way after a court order. Even more confusingly, the band semi-reformed about a year later and released another album. Far be it from me to understand the inner workings of most-likely stoned Italian rock bands from the ’70s.
Anyway, this is Night On The Bare Mountain, which is a rough Italian translation (Una Notta Sul Monte Calvo) of “Night On Bald Mountain,” an easily recognizable composition written by Modest Mussorgsky. You’ve heard it used frequently in popular culture throughout the years. There’s a disco version on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It appears in The Wizard Of Oz during the scene where Dorothy is rescued from the Wicked Witch’s castle by her friends. Most people remember it from the Disney animated motion picture Fantasia (YouTube).
The New Trolls version of “Night On Bald Mountain” is fucking insane. ARP synthesizers transform the classical composition into a whole new psychedelic, wild tune. Searing guitar leads and motorik drums take it even further into the psych/prog abyss. In short, it kicks a lot of ass. The rest of the album doesn’t quite stand-up to the lead track (which also appears on the NT Atomic System record I believe), but that doesn’t make it any less killer. All-in-all a fantastic effort.
Enjoy. Plenty more New Trolls to come…
New Trolls
Night On The Bare Mountain
Pan, 1973
MediaFire DL Link
01. Night On The Bare Mountain (Una Notta Sul Monte Calvo)
02. To Believe Again (Tornare A Credere)
03. When The Grass Covers The Earth (Quando L’erba Vestiva La Terra)
04. The New Sermon Of Father O’Brien (La Nuova Predica Di Padre O’Brien)
05. Later I Saw (Ho Visto Poi)
06. Hibernation (Ibernazione)
