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Uomo di Pezza (1972)Genres: progressive rock, symphonic rock |
Italian trio consisting of Michi Dei Rossi (drums), Toni Pagliuca (keyboards) and Aldo Tagliapietra (bass, vocals, guitar) often compared to E.L.P.. Besides the line-up I cannot understand the comparison. I mean Le Orme could very well be (and they actually were) influenced by E.L.P. but this is not something you can make out or point to in their sound; on the other hand you can really hear some reminiscent of E.L.P. on the track "Alienazione" so the comparison is not that wrong for reference as long as one keep in mind that they don't share the same sound. This is something one should always remember when it's comes to references; it doesn't mean the bands in question are one hundred per cent alike. Well I strayed off quite a bit there, but with things sorted out (I hope), we can move on. "La Porta Chiusa" and the instrumental "Alienazione" are the best songs on the album. "Breve Immagine" is also very good highlighted by Tagliapietra's sad, almost melancholic voice. This is how his voice sound like all the time and this can be held against him, it's not very changeable; I mean it's always in the same pitch. "Figure di Cartone" features some acoustic guitar and fine keyboard work from Pagliuca. The same is also true about the song "Aspettando L'Alba". "Alienazione" are a frenzy fusion thing with especially good drumming from Dei Rossi. So what you get is keyboard dominated classical rock done with both power and passion and very Italian sounding, Very well done. A very good album but lasting only 32-minutes.
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Smogmagica (1975)Genres: rock, pop, progressive rock |
Orme added a guitarist – Tolo Marton – and flew to Los Angeles to record the ”Smogmagica” LP, surely part of a plan to conquer America. The result was the lowest point yet in Orme’s carrier. If this was due to the new member, the location or something else I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that this record is a crappy one, a mixture of rock, pop, blues, boogie all dressed up in a very commercial outfit. All songs are either downright bad or mediocre, the only exception being a little gem by the name of “Amanti di Citta” (and yes, they still sing in Italian regardless of the recording location). This song is recorded with – in some way – modulated voices that sounds like Davide Spitaleri on helium and the opposite of that! How well this gem on “Smogmagica” would stand on one of Orme’s better albums is however, very ambiguous. Pagliuca’s usually mighty keyboards are on this record replaced by mostly uninteresting synth work. The instrumental “Laserium Floyd” sounds like, as the title suggest, a Pink Floyd song drawn from “Dark Side of the Moon”, only ten times worse. “Primi Passi” sounds like the commercial Kansas, if they would ever sing in Italian! Well I could go on forever with this song criticism but there’s really no use in that since this is a low point in Orme’s catalogue and one to avoid.
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Felona e Sorona (1973)Genres: progressive rock, dark progressive |
Orme followed up last year’s promising album ”Uomo di Pezza” with this one, perhaps their finest moment. Not unusual in Italian prog – or all prog for that matter – this is a concept album. The special style of Orme created music that surprisingly often sounds very melancholic, yet rich and warm. The melancholic feelings I tend to get is in large owing to the voice of Tagliapietra who sings in this depressing style all the time, so that even the more musically “happy” songs sounds kind of sad, an interesting phenomena indeed. “Felona e Sorona” contains wonderful music with drums, bass, vocals, keys and occasional guitar. All members are part of the music and plays perfectly unified; this is not music scored for the sake of the keyboardist to shine on a one-man mission with the others as background musicians, no this is truly a band that have grown very tight and it shows on the record which is less keyboard dominated than the previous one, although there is no way around the fact that the keyboards are the most noticeable instrument, but that’s not very strange. The music is Italian progressive at its best with many changes in time and tempo, with melodic gentleness and harder assaults; with top-notch playing and perfectly staged themes that never lets you down, the whole piece match perfectly and makes it feel like an album of fantastic music thoroughly. Even so two tracks are standing out a bit from the rest and it’s the intro “Sopesi Nell ‘Incredible” and the outro “Ritorno al Nulla”. A fantastic concept album of rather dark and depressing progressive but nevertheless giving you a warm feeling inside. Arguably Orme’s best album. An English version is said to exist with English lyrics by Peter Hammill but it’s probably only available on LP – if anything.
