review by daniel

These guys are really, really good. They are not symphonic like Yes or Genesis, but they blend classical music and rock. You could compare them to Gentle Giant, since they have similar approaches to song writing, but Quella is a lot rougher, less complex and don’t have the vocal harmonies that are characteristic of Gentle Giant (one might add that Gentle Giant never managed to produce an album as good as this one). Another comparsion would be Jethro Tull, due to the energetic flute playing, but I think the similarities end there. Like Gentle Giant they don’t rely on a single lead instrument. Instead the violin, flute and electric guitar alternate as lead instruments (supported by bass, drums, acoustic guitar, piano, synth and good melodic vocals in Italian). The good news is that the lead instruments sound equally great. Themes are often played with one lead instrument, then other instruments join in and the whole thing is repeated with a different lead instrument before the band moves on to a new theme. The result is a varied sound with lots of changes in mood and tempo. Fortunately, the musicians and songs are so good that these changes never sound constrained or “cut-and-pasty”. You get the feeling that they push the right button all the time, as if the tunes cannot be played in any other way. Brilliant.

Finally a warning to those interested in buying the album: Do NOT buy the cd release from 1995. The sound quality is totaly unacceptable on that one. The last two songs are almost completely ruined by background, or in this case foreground, noise. That is a shame because they are both great songs. The last song, “Sogno, Risveglio E...”, is a deliciously beautiful and quiet song driven by violin and piano, and you can imagine how vulnerable such a song is to background noise. Buy the remastered paper sleeved version from 2002, on which the problems are fixed.