Premiata Forneria Marconi: Passpartù (Zoo Records, 1978)

P.F.M. are the giants of Italian prog-rock. Despite their celebrity, their records always showed some consistent flaws: the lack of a gifted singer; the poorness of the lyrics; the substantial unoriginality of their musical themes. "Passpartù" isn't generally regarded as their peak, but unquestionably solves two of the three problems above.
Though the singer - Bernardo Lanzetti from Acqua Fragile - doesn't have a versatile voice, the lyrics are brilliant and imaginative: they are a work by singer/songwriter Gianfranco Manfredi, who privileged levity above his usual causticity for the occasion. What's more, the music makes a resolved step towards the incorporation of folkloric material: the resulting sound is a hybrid of jazz-rock fusion in the vein of Weather Report and Mediterranean suggestions which remind of Area (compound meters in profusion!) but show a very personal acoustic edge.
Everything converges to a surprisingly breezy album, where the instrumental skill of the musicians doesn't suffocate the pop appeal of the music, but weaves smart woofs which enhance it with class and moderation .

"Passpartù" ninth studio release from P.F.M., and the second without their well-known violinist Mauro Pagani.  Many tracks feature Roberto Colombo on keyboards - later a key producer of Italian new wave.

Tracklist:

1. Viene il santo
2. Svita la vita
3. Se fossi cosa
4. Le trame blu
5. Passpartù
6. I cavalieri del tavolo cubico
7. Su una mosca e sui dolci
8. Fantalità

Download (128 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:
Gianfranco Manfredi: Zombie di tutto il mondo unitevi (Ultima spiaggia, 1977)
Alberto Fortis: omonimo (1979)

Toni Esposito: Rosso napoletano (Numero uno, 1975)

Jazz and the Mediterranean: two worlds merging into one with the suspended atmospheres of "Rosso napoletano". A magical record, capturing the most alluring aspects of Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis and elevating them to an almost mystical lightness. Hypnotic funky grooves and a miniaturistic work on percussions are the key element - and the most discreet one - of the sound, equally tipified by charming keyboard brushstrokes (piano, e-piano, synthetizers, all unfolded with calm, equilibrium and an elegant sense of obliqueness) and wavering saxophone themes, metamorphosing Southern-Italian folklore into a new melodic language.
The album succeeds in being both relaxing and thrilling at the same time: its delicate stream cradles and bewitches, but the everchaning breeze of its details won't ever let you yawn.

"Rosso napoletano" is the first solo album by legendary Neapolitan session-drummer Toni Esposito, and features Robert Fix on saxophone,  Paul Buckmaster on keyboards, and Gigi De Rienzo on bass and guitars, plus many guest appearences.

Tracklist:

1. Rosso napoletano
2. Danza dei bottoni
3. Il venditore di elastici
4. Breakfast
5. L'eroe di plastica

Download (192 kbps)

Similar albums on the blog:

Spirale: omonimo (King, 1974)

Daniele Sepe: Malamusica (1987)

El Topo: Pigiama psicoattivo (Off, 2008)

On a first glance, El Topo sound exactly like Tortoise. And also after a second listening. Jazz + electronica with an undeniable passion for kraut-rock; Ry Cooder-like guitar slides, rhythm interlocks, vibraphone... And entirely instruental - yes, El Topo do sound exactly like Tortoise. That's not something anyone is able to.
Nevertheless, a careful listening reveals some peculiarities: "Pigiama psicoattivo" is warmer, less detached and abstract, more psychedelic and freeform than anything ever published by Tortoise. It's also even jazzier, surely more electronic and many times quite close to the style of quintessential jungle/jazz beatmaker Squarepusher.

They don't sound Italian at all, that's sure, but they are from Rome. The band was founded in 2006 and "Pigiama psicoattivo" is their second studio album, published by the young Belgian label Off.


Tracklist:

1. Tosca
2. Sonics
3. Seicento giri carico frontale
4. Pigiama psicoattivo
5. Telegraph Dakar
6. Scelsi
7. Errore meccanico
8. Crew'n'c
9. Macinino

Download (192 kbps)

Alberto Camerini: Cenerentola e il pane quotidiano (Cramps, 1976)

Alberto Camerini was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and he stayed there until the age of eleven, when he relocated to Milan. There he soon became involved in rock music, first teaming with Roberto Colombo, then forming the band Il Pacco with Donatella Bardi, Eugenio Finardi, Belloni and Lucio Fabbri.
While the others began recording as solo artists or got into other bands (Lucio Fabbri was to join P.F.M.), Camerini became an acclaimed sessionman thanks to his whimsical guitar playing.

As of 1976, he signed with Cramps Records and recorded his first solo album, "Cenerentola e il pane quotidiano". Musically speaking, the sound is the typical one of Cramps Records: kaleidoscopic, zippy jazz-rock combined with folk and singer/songwriter structures - very close to Area or Finardi's Cramps-era albums. Camerini merged some exquisite Brazilian nuances to the formula and his very sprightly melodic talent, creating a dynamic, easy-going style.
The lyrics aren't stunningly literate, but they're brilliantly critical: while they do not explicitly step out of the left-wing youth culture, they ironize upon its trends and irrationalities. "Pane quotidiano" laughs at the vegetarian fashion, while "La ballata dell'invasione degli extraterresti" is an illuminating picture of the hippies as "aliens":

Approfittarono del lusso della civiltà avanzata,
Si nutrivano di scarti della società privata
Riciclavano le macchine e i vestiti non usati,
Si vestivano di niente, di stracci colorati.
Vivevano in bande in case occupate,
Non avevano famiglia o tradizioni antiquate
Comunicavano tra loro con nuovi segnali,
Tu li avresti detti diversi invece erano tutti uguali.

They took advantage of the luxury of the advanced civilization,
They lived on the waste of the private society
They recycled cars and unemployed dresses,
They dressed of nothing, of coloured rags,
They lived in bands in squatted houses,
They didn't have a family or antiquated traditions
They communicated with themselves with a new kind of signals,
You'd have said they were all diverse, but they were all the same.

Tracklist:

1. La ballata dell'invasione degli extraterrestri
2. Maracantù F.C.
3. Pane quotidiano
4. Sicurezza
5. Droga (aiutami dottore)
6. La straordinaria storia dell'invasione della televisione
7. TV Baby (gli eroi della televisione)
8. Santa Marta
9. Cenerentola

Download (192 kbps)