Unless my sources are wrong, I’m pretty sure Italy isn’t going to survive Group D in the World Cup. That means no elimination round berth for the Italians, they’ll be going home empty-handed this year.
It also means today’s one of the last days I can devote to an Italian album, since for the past week I’ve been highlighting records from my collection that were made in participating World Cup countries. So today is for you, Italy. Losing to Uruguay hurts. Let’s try to make that hurt go away with some good old fashioned traditional Italian music.
Italian prog.
It’s not the most expensive or rare Italian prog record I own, but it was one of the first I ever purchased. When my company obtained what might have been a top ten prog collection in the country a few years back the heaviest hitters in the batch (Museo Rosenbach, Balletto Di Bronzo, Alphataurus, J.E.T., L’Uovo Di Colombo, Semiramis, etc.) all flew out the door immediately. You don’t have to try very hard or wait very long to sell off “holy grail” prog records around Los Angeles. But since I didn’t have a minimum of $1500 bucks on hand to purchase any of those titles, I had to settle for the cheaper ones. I picked up a lot of albums by groups like Area, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Perigeo, Le Orme, Osanna, and others. For a while I figured a Korean “reissue” (cough cough) of the J.E.T. album was the closest I’d get to owning some heavy hitters. It took some time (and maybe a raise, or more hours, I can’t remember exactly how it happened) before I could step up my game and buy some original Franco Battiato albums. I’ve stepped up my game a little more since then, but in those early days I spent more time exploring the affordable titles and finding ones I enjoyed. I wanted to make sure I purchased original Italian pressings, but they had to be in my price range, which meant somewhat limited options. I hadn’t heard of them before, but the New Trolls albums were really good. And so were the Perigeo albums.
The first one I picked up — based solely on the price ($20) and the album artwork (awesome) was La Valle Dei Templi. A couple weeks later I picked up a copy of Genealogia, but I don’t like that one as much as this one. If you’re looking around and you come across either of those, or the equally solid Abbiamo Tutti Un Blues Da Piangere, you could do worse than to file those away in your collection. They’re all good albums. The top review at Prog Archives says:
“Having started as a traditional jazz ensemble in the late 60s, with the turn of a new decade Perigeo tuned in for the prog rock wave and expanded their style as they began their recording career. Not that they became less jazzy, but definitely they became more sensitive and receptive towards the jazz fusion influence of Return to Forever and Weather Report, post-Wyatt Soft Machine, and even some occasional colours of “Caravanserai”-era Santana latin jazz and a bit of prog-oriented psychedelic sounds. By the time they recorded this, their album no. 4, Perigeo was a well known act in the avant- garde jazz circuits of Italy. The catchy opening track is a perfect example of the band’s ability to write attractive musical ideas and technical proficiency (perhaps this is the Perigeo album to start with). Then comes the title track, which starts with a brief orchestrated intro founded on a few gong bangs, and an exotic passage based on a Latin- like piano motif accompanied by soft electric piano, humming, and wind chimes; then comes the main motif, again, a well crafted exercise of jazz fusion. Other amazing examples of Perigeo stuff are ‘Mistero della Firefly’ and ‘Periplo’. On the softer side of things, ‘Pensieri’ stands out as a piece of sheer beauty in a reflective mood, despite its short duration. On the other hand, ‘2000 e Due Notti’ exposes a dense ambience created by somber synth layers, dramatic sax lines, and floating guitar leads, all of them assembled upon a languid tempo heavily carried on by the drummer and the bassist – a mesmerizing combination of exotism and dark mystery. Overall, the clever inventiveness shown in the guitar/sax/keyboard solos, avoiding gratuitous pyrotechnics in order to keep a focus on the essential composed ideas; meanwhile, the rhythm section works with solid effectiveness and fluid precision. Definitely, a Perigeo album is not something to be recommended to any prog fan that usually feels repelled by “too much jazz”, but it sure can be a satisfying experience for those who crave for something other than only symph prog from Italy. Excellent!”
La Valle Dei Templi was officially filed away on my shelves October 4th, 2010. Purchased, of course, from my place of work. Not a day goes by that I don’t walk in there and wish the walls were still filled with those insanely rare, beautiful condition titles we sold four years ago. Hell, that collection would probably be worth double or triple what it once was if we reacquired it today. Which means I probably still wouldn’t be able to afford any of those heavy hitters. But I’m happy with what I found, and wish I had that opportunity to hear more and buy more for myself. Maybe someday…
Perigeo
Le Valle Dei Templi
(RCA Italiana – TPL1-1175, 1975)
A1. Tamale
A2. La Valle Dei Templi
A3. Looping
A4. Mistero Della Firefly
A5. Pensieri
B1. Periblo [MP3]
B2. Eucalyptus / Alba Di Un Mondo
B3. Cantilena
B4. 2000 E Due Notti
B5. Un Cerchio Giallo
