 | L'Uomo (1971)Genres: rock, psychedelic rock, proto prog |
review by thomas
This is weird and wild music played in a psychedelic and proto-prog way more than it’s played in the progressive way most of us know Osanna for. Everything on this record seems to have a mirror-side of opposites to it. If there’s a bad harmonica line – like the line in the beginning – then there’s a good one, found in “Everybody’s Gonna See You Die”. If there’s a cheesy tenor saxophone (song 2) then one might find good tenor and baritone saxes elsewhere.
Some songs are in English – the abovementioned, “Lady Power” and “Mirror Train” – for some reason unknown to me, I don’t understand why ‘cause they are rather bad, with exception for “Everybody’s Gonna See You Die”. Now, I have read somewhere I can’t remember that “L’Uomo” like “Milano Calibro 9” is a soundtrack to some obscure Italian film and maybe that has something to do with it, though I still don’t get the point of why they have three English tracks on it. The songs also float together without any pauses other than the obvious LP one. So one might guess it’s at least a concept album of some sort.
Still here are many excellent moments of music, like many parts with strong electric guitar, bass, drums, flute and on top of that often some acoustic guitars and some organ. These parts remind me of Jethro Tull. The bad parts often sound like your average 60s/70s rock band desperately trying to give life to some tired old riff or melody that weren’t even good the first time around, like the album “Ballad of a Peaceful Man” by Gravy Train, a record I find tremendously overrated. In the end I think the good stuff overweighs the bad and Osanna fans will most likely enjoy it, even though it isn’t near the fantastic “Palepoli” album.
 | Palepoli (1972)Genres: heavy progressive |
review by daniel
This is one of those albums that everybody but me seem to love. It sounds good in theory; rough, heavy and diverse progressive rock, with plenty of influences (hard rock, jazz, even blues), performed with the right instruments (including flute, saxes and mellotron). In practice it often sounds like a studio jam where the band tries out ideas (some good and some not so good). As if I got “the Palepoli Sessions” instead of the finished record. There are two main reasons for this. One is the extremely poor sound quality, that effectively blurs some instruments (most frequently the keyboard and bass parts). The other is the lack of flow in the music. The different pieces of music don’t fit together that well, and the result is an album that leaves a fragmentary and unfinished impression. Another complaint concerns the singer, who sounds decent in the calmer parts, but “screamy” and annoying in the heavier parts.
A decent album that has its moments. Biglietto Per l' Inferno, Museo Rosenbach and Il Giro Strano are however better bands in the same vein, if you ask me.
