Nicola
Randone is one of many Italian musicians with a lot of experience. After
some harder work with Sicilian Grey Owl he has created a new standard with
'Morte di un amore'. Not that this first solo-album will immediately appeal
to all die hard prog-lovers, perhaps because there are too many different
musical styles and the language. It's always difficult to be inventive and
original in the music business, but Nicola has at least proven with this
album that progressive music is not necessarily a-commercial. Next
to the logical influences of Italian progbands of the seventies (Le Orme,
Locanda delle Fate,..) there are certainly elements of pop and AOR. All
tracks are sung in Italian, a language that is not always appreciated
amongst proggers. 'Morte
di un amore' is distributed by BTF with nice artwork and a well illustrated
booklet, the songs and production have a high quality. Some songs will sound
a bit too 'poppy' for the real progger, but you have to give it a try : the
album will grow on you. The
first track 'Visioni' is a perfect illustration of the talents of Nicola: a
melodious and symphonic introduction with powerful but emotional vocals,
accompanied by a romantic sounding piano, gradually changing into
progressive synthesiser sounds with many special effects. Many influences
are going through my mind, and yet it's impossible to put a name on it, or
should I say it's 'Randone'? The
next tracks are less progressive but contain enough elements to differ it
from the regular 'pop'-song. 'Il
pentimento di Dio' is based on a reggae rhythm, not immediately expected and
related to Italian vocals but very nice, certainly after guitar, keyboards
and choirs give the song a totally different direction. It
seems like Italians have the feeling for ballads and you can find one too on
this cd 'Tutte le mie stelle', a potential hit. 'L'Infinito'
starts very quietly but tends more to AOR, also by the presence of the
uninevitable guitar solo and the symphonic accompaniment. The excellent
vocal qualities of Nicola are well illustrated in this song. A
melodic introduction with recordings of World War II (Hitler) on La Giostra
feels like having a message. But honestly, my knowledge of Italian is very
poor, so I was happy to have the translations of the lyrics directly from
Nicola. And then you discover that those lyrics are very poetical, sometimes
religiously inspired but you could expect that from an Italian. The madness
of war is well described in 'La Giostra' and especially the atrocities of
Aushwitz. A
beautiful song with an ethereal atmosphere, which can be defined as the
trademark of this poet. And at the end you can hear some gothic sounds too,
is this a coincidence? The track ends with accordion sounds : a musical
melting pot. 'Un
Cieco' surprises me in a different way, again a song with some splendid
guitar solos, sometimes reminding of the virtuosity of Steve Morse Strananoia
sounds a bit poppy with Celtic influences, a song about love but with
amazing lyrics: I suggest to read the English translations of the lyrics on
internet, it's worthwhile! 'Amore bianco' seems to be a quiet ballad, but
has also a rhythm change in it The
title track 'Morte di Un Amore' is an epic song, a masterpiece that will be
appreciated by every progressive fan. Pure Italian rock, with some heavy
guitars, excellent vocals. Again some gothic influences, I could enumerate a
few bands, but this cd is really very original. At the end a track with
surprising special effects: a heartbeat, storm, and an ambient atmosphere
like Jean-Michel Jarre. Some
tracks will be too soft for certain people, but the level of the tracks is
always very high, so this is really not a negative point. I would prefer
some more prog influences on the next album, but 'Morte di un Amore' is
truly a heart-warming and original cd. A new style has been discovered : the
'progressive singer-songwriter'. Reviewed by : Claude 'Clayreon' Bosschem |
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