Artist

CHERRY FIVE

Tony Tartarini  (vocals)
Claudio Simonetti (keyboards)
Massimo Morante (guitar)
Fabio Pignatelli (bass)
Carlo Bordini (drums)

Though their eponymous LP's cover notes only list two musicians' names, singer Tony Tartarini (previously known as Toni Gionta and former singer with L'Uovo di Colombo) and drummer Carlo Bordini (that also played in a duo Rustichelli & Bordini), the group also included three members of Goblin, keyboard wizard Claudio Simonetti, guitarist Morante and bass player Pignatelli, with the first two of them being credited as composers for all the album tracks.

In fact the group, named Oliver, had been created by Simonetti and Morante, that also went to England in late 1973 to audition a singer, and englishman Clive "Artman" Haynes (or Clive Heinz, as he was then known) was briefly in the band, recording some tracks with them. He was sacked then, and didn't appear on the album. 
With new singer Tartarini the group recorded what was to become their first and only album in 1974, after a name change to Goblin, but it was soon shelved when Carlo Bordini refused to sign a contract with Cinevox as it could damage his career as session musician. The others went on with a new drummer, leaving out Bordini and Tartarini and recorded Profondo rosso. 

The unreleased album was shelved for a couple of years, and only released in January 1976 with the name of Cherry Five (a name that really didn't belong to any real group), and only Tartarini and Bordini were credited on the cover, maybe someone thought that it could damage the Goblin's career!
Even if it's not particularly representative of the Italian prog sound, the LP is a genuine rarity due to the great world success Goblin achieved with some of their soundtrack works, and is in many collectors' want lists.

A keyboard based album, sung in English, Cherry Five has strong influences by the likes of Genesis and Yes, especially in the fluid keyboard parts and powerful bass sound. It contains six long tracks with the opening Country graveyard and The picture of Dorian Gray. This last title, translated in Italian as Il Ritratto di Dorian Gray was in fact the name of Claudio Simonetti's first band. 

The two musicians whose names appeared on the cover of the Cherry Five album, Tony Tartarini and Carlo Bordini, have reformed this group in 2015 with Ludovico Piccinini (guitar), Gianluca De Rossi (keyboards) and Pino Sallusti (bass, who passed away in 2017) for a concert at the International Music Fair in Genua and to record a new album, Il pozzo dei giganti, issued by Black Widow and containing three long tracks inspired from Dante's Divine Comedy, to revive the legendary name of this band. In 2022 the duo De Rossi-Bordini issued the eponymous CD (Ma.Ra.Cash MRC 098) which contains the remakes of two tracks from Il pozzo dei giganti and two from Opera prima by Rustichelli & Bordini.

A genuine rarity, due to the Goblin connection and the small number of copies pressed, Cherry Five album was pressed in 1975, as demonstrated by the date on the label, but released in January 1976. By the way the recording dates on the cover are false, it had been recorded in 1974, not 1975. No counterfeits exist.

The Vinyl Magic CD reissue, out-of-print for many years, was replaced by a new one by Cinevox in 2002. The first vinyl reissue ever released in Italy was made by AMS in 2009.
The album also had a Japanese vinyl and CD issue (Nexus/King K25P 614). 
A new vinyl reissue has been released in 2006 by the German Amber Soundroom label (cat.no. AS 052) with the same gatefold cover as the original.
The latest Japanese CD reissue is by Arcangelo (ARC 7224), issued in 2007 with mini-LP gatefold cover.

The 2015 album Il pozzo dei giganti was released in standard vinyl (400 copies) and CD issues along with limited pressings of 200 gold vinyl copies, with booklet and three inserts, and 100 poster cover CD's.

Cherry Five - LP

Cherry Five - LP label

Il pozzo dei giganti - LP

Click on the picture to enlarge

Claudio Simonetti, Massimo Morante and Clive Haynes London 1973

Thanks to Clive "Artman" Haynes for information on his experience with Cherry Five and the picture above.