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Giancarlo Cutuli :
flute, sax, piccolo
Jerry Litrico :
electric guitar
Angelo Messina :
electric bass
Alessio Scaravilli
: drums, percussion
Benny Torrisi :
piano, keyboards
Giuseppe Scaravilli
: vocals, electric, acoutsic & slide guitar, flute, bass,
percussion, keyboards, wah-wah
Guests :
Vito Germena :
violin
Antonio Longo : cello |
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Malibran is the kind of Italian band
you think has been around for ages but still remains a big question
mark in the history of progressive rock. Apparently they released
their very first album “The wood of tales” on vinyl way back in 1990
but in between releases they needed plenty of time. So as long as
you didn’t know what was happening the world probably thought that
Malibran had called it a day. Not so because with this new release
they tend to be even closer to vintage Italian prog than ever
before. Mainly the decision to go back to singing in Italian is an
improvement adding an extra texture from which the entire album
benefits. Add to that the superb flute playing and wonderful layers
of keyboards plus outstanding guitarwork and you understand that
Malibran is certainly a force to be reckoned with.
The opening track ‘Si dira di me’
alone already justifies the purchase because this track simply
includes everything a proglover can dream of. The recording is
crystal-clear delivering a perfect detailed musical scope. Led by
Giuseppe Scaravilli who sings as well as playing the guitar,
keyboards, flute, bass and percussion, it enables the band to offer
two different styles of guitar in one single song. The fragile
interaction between keyboards and flute lay down the carpet on which
the titletrack can evolve. OK, maybe it contains some very strong
resemblance to the Genesis classic ‘Watcher in the skies’ but
Malibran tries to change it towards it’s own identity as soon as
they can. By introducing acoustic guitar and violin a song like
‘L’incontro’ can deliver a completely new sound, more intimate, more
modest, more classical, more authentic, even more typical Italian.
The style changes completely once the band introduces a very firm
drum pattern and synthesized bass during ‘Cherchio mobole’ giving
the whole a ‘funky’ twist.
The
slide guitar during ‘Mare calmo’ slightly evokes an early Pink Floyd
feel before it switches towards authentic Malibran. The album closes
with ‘In viaggio’ where Scaravilli sings in a very theatrical way
expanding the dimension of the song. Again some very tight but
correct drumming leads the way to some superb guitarsolo’s. The
flashes of organ slightly betray an adoration for Tony Banks yet the
rest of the arrangement perfectly suppresses the music to flourish
into deep Genesis waters ! On the contrary as for a very brief
section the music steers towards authentic Jethro Tull beautifully
executed on flute by Scaravilli, who else ? For those of you who let
the disc in his/her CD player : your patience is soon rewarded by
means of an unannounced slice of pure Jethro Tull ‘Bouré’ which is
tackled in a myriad of styles. A surprising end to a lovely album.
The nice 16 page booklet contains plenty of photographs taken during
the band’s visit at Progday in october 2000, a proof that this band
is loved the world over ! Fully understandable when you listen to
this outstanding album !
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