The full list
Line up:
Claudio Liotto (vocals, piano)
Andrea Zanatta (guitar)
Alberto Cazzola (keyboards)
Enrico Kötterl (keyboards)
Lucio Negretto (bass)
Paolo Fin (drums)
Discography:
LP - Tunnel (Knights KNR 001 - 1981)
CD - Tunnel (Mellow MMP 206 - 1994 - reissue of 1981 LP)
A group from Vicenza, previously known as Black Magic and Stregoni, that only
released this rare album in 1981, though the tracks had been composed between
1975 and 1980.
The sound is mainly pop-oriented, with few prog elements, the
cover is very nice.
The group was composed by young musicians, helped by the older Enrico
Kötterl that wrote the lyrics for all their songs. He was, and still is, a film
director and graphic designer.
Line-up:
Antonio Mandelli (vocals)
Attilio Piazzi (electric guitar)
Riccardo Bolis (acoustic guitar, vocals)
Discography:
CD - Dedicato (Giallo SAF030 - 1998)
A group from the Bergamo area, formed in 1974 as a trio, they later became a
quintet for a short time with the entrance of bass player Mauro Capitani and
drummer Sergio Marchesi.
The CD dedicated to this group by the Giallo Records label contains recordings
made between 1975 and 1977, live, from rehearsals or in the studio, with some
demos prepared for CGD. Their style is mostly based on improvisation, long jams
built on a repetitive acoustic guitar pattern with lead guitar solos, and vocal
parts not always complete.
The group broke up in 1979, having had a good live activity with the likes of
Franco Battiato, Eugenio
Finardi, Perdio,
Madrugada.
Discography:
45 - Evocando immagini di una cavalcata..../E diventeremo di nuovo limpidi (Laltrosuono 001 - 1981)
Formed in 1979 in Pavia, but their leader Emanuele D'Angelo was active since
1974, Acroama have been sometimes mentioned close to Janus, but they were in
fact a totally different group, despite sharing the same political
position.
The group had a limited live activity and only released a single in 1981,
containing two long tracks in a slightly progressive style, first issued with a
blue label, then with an orange one.
A melodic pop group, their Volo AZ 504 single was a chart hit in 1976.
Discography:
LP - Alia Musica (Music Collection/Jurg Grand 5500 231 - 1979)
With no less than 12 musicians involved, including Mauro Pagani as guest and producer, this group only released in 1979 a rare album of medieval tunes with traditional instruments. The album, much sought-after, has a deluxe laminated cover and contains a booklet with notes and lyrics.
Line up:
Anna Serena (vocals, guitar)
Angelo Presti (keyboards, vocals)
Terry Fanelli (bass, guitar)
Vito Salice (drums)
Starting with the name of Gli Astrali and after a line-up change, this
quartet from Turin recorded an album in 1970, but this was never released.
Reputedly this included prog-influenced tracks along with a keyboard-led
15-minute suite.
Line up:
Carmelo Lucà (vocals, keyboards)
Salvo Papale (keyboards)
Tony Miosi (guitar, vocals)
Michele Sidoti (flute, sax, vocals)
Enzo Ranieri (bass)
Enzo Guagliardo (drums, vocals)
Discography:
LP - Gli Alisei (Durium MS AL 77407 - 1979)
+ many singles
A sextet from Palermo that is often described as soft prog, gli Alisei were
formed by Carmelo Lucà and Michele Sidoti in the mid 70's, with various
musicians around the nucleus of the two founder members, still active in the
early 90's.
They released
some commercial singles (one of which, L'amore non ha età, sold around
300,000 copies) and an LP at the end of the 70's.
The group also backed a popular actor, Franco Franchi in his tours, and appeared
in two of his films.
Discography:
45 - Dai treno dai/Immagine bianca (Numero Uno ZN 50007 - 1970)
45 - Deserti di creta/Stasera che si fa (Erre RR 3060 - 1973)
Two singles exist with the name Alpha Centauri, but it is unknown whether it is the same group or two different bands. The single on Numero Uno, from 1970, is in a similar style to Formula Tre, the second one is softer.
Discography:
45 - Occhi chiari/Non hai capito (Ventotto PRV 28001 - 1971)
A group that only released a nice single in New Trolls style.
Discography:
45 - Canta e balla/Sogno di te (Fonit SPF 31275 - 1970)
A group from Liguria that featured future New Trolls and Nova keyboardist Renato Rosset, L'Altro Mondo only released this single, halfway between sixties and seventies rock styles.
Discography:
LP - Dove era lei a quell'ora (Produttori Associati PA/ LPS 38 - 1972)
LP - ...e mi manchi tanto (Produttori Associati PA/LP 50 - 1973)
+ many other LP's and singles
A melodic pop quartet from Naples, only notable for the long title track of
their debut album, a 14-minute ballad structured like a progressive suite, and
some soft-prog influences in their vast production. The group is still playing
nowadays.
Since 1978 their drummer is Ruggero Stefani (from Fholks,
L'Uovo di Colombo, Samadhi,
Mediterraneo), while more recently
keyboardist Enrico Olivieri (Metamorfosi) and
guitarist Gianfranco Coletta (Chetro & Co., Banco
del Mutuo Soccorso) were added to the current line-up.
ANAWIM
Discography:
LP - Quattro cristiani in giro per il mondo (Rusty RRS 303319 - 1976)
LP - Missione: uomo (Rusty RRS 303321 - 1977)
LP - Concerto di Natale (Rusty RRS 303325 - 1978)
One of many groups that, in the 70's, mixed Christian-inspired lyrics with a rock musical background, these Anawim recorded at least three albums for the Rusty label, all with multi-vocal parts (sometimes embarrassingly out of tune, especially in the first LP) and large use of flute and organ. Probably the most interesting for the prog fans is the third one, containing a side-long 20+ minutes Concerto di Natale.
Line-up:
Gianfranco Mentil (guitar, bass, vocals)
Eddy Meola (sax, flute)
Gianfry Lugano (keyboards)
Gianpiero Morsut (drums, percussion)
Discography:
LP - Andromeda (S.R.M. DA/L 33010 - 1978)
A group from Friuli, whose 1978 LP was produced by a recording studio
from Udine.
Even if it suffers from bad recording and performing quality, the album has some
interesting moments, and contains original tracks along with two covers.
There's a guest appearance in the album by bassist Piero Pocecco, who also
played in concert with the band even if he was not a real member.
Of the band members, Meola and Lugano followed their career as musicians, the
latter also played in the Nascita della Sfera album.
Meola also collaborated on the
Mister Paperrock Orchestra album on the same label.
Discography:
45 - La mente mia/L'organista (Erre RR 3055 - 1973)
Just a single for this group, on the same label as Ut. Their style is melodic prog, the A-side is better than the other track.
Line up:
Rosario Brancati (vocals, flute)
Rocco Tolve ( guitar)
Enzo Cammarota (keyboards)
Stefano Rubino (bass)
Franco Sileo (drums)
Filippo Parisi (percussion, vocals)
Discography:
45 - Pensieri d'aprile/Quel qualcosa di nuovo (Las Vegas 5001 064 - 1974)
A little known group that only released a good single in 1974. For the use of
flute they have been compared with Osanna.
Bass player Stefano Rubino had a solo career in the late 70's, with the first
two albums on Radio Records.
Line up:
Walter Bottazzi (vocals)
Tullio Mazzaretto (guitar)
Gigi Terzo (keyboards)
Ivano Aldighieri (bass)
Roberto Trentin (drums)
Discography:
LP - Un'isola senza sole (Casedil RGRLP 003 - 1972)
LP - Ho smesso di vivere (Delfino - 1979)
CD - Ho smesso di vivere (MP MPRCD 042 - 2002 - reissue of second LP)
CD - Un'isola senza sole (MP MPRCD 051 - 2007 - reissue of first LP)
Another group from Vicenza, active since around 1964, Gli Apostholi released two pop albums with very
light prog influences (especially their first); both are very rare and expensive.
It seems that the first album, initially issued in very few copies, was newly
recorded by the group in 1983 and pressed in a second issue in 500 copies. The
2007 CD reissue of Un'isola senza sole refers to the 1983 edition.
The group is still active with a five-piece line-up, featuring Paolo Savegnago
(vocals), Walter Bottazzi (guitar, vocals), Alcide Ronzani (guitar), Gigi Terzo
(keyboards) and Roberto Trentin (drums, vocals).
Line-up:
Roberto Marini (vocals, guitar)
Arnaldo Biondi (keyboards, vocals)
Giorgio Merli (bass, vocals)
Antonio Merli (drums, vocals)
Discography:
45 - Sonia/E lei (Pony X 3005 - 1971)
45 - Il tuo splendido amore/Agnus Dei (Picci LG 3016 - 1973)
After a first melodic pop debut with the original line-up featuring drummer Bruno Bizzi, this group from Sorano, near Grosseto released a second good single on the collectible Picci label. Their style is not far from Blocco Mentale, with organ-led sound and melodic vocals. The group disbanded soon after the release of the second single.
Discography:
LP - Trasparenze (Polydor 2448 014 - 1973)
+ many others LP's and singles.
The former leader of I New Dada, a very popular beat group that even supported The Beatles in their legendary italian tour, Arcieri left his old band for a solo career, and even had an interesting progressive release with the Trasparenze LP from 1973, an album with good instrumental parts. Subsequently he formed the Chrisma (later Krisma) duo with his wife Christina Moser.
Discography:
45 - Soli noi/Donna straniera (PDU PA 1121 - 1977)
45 - Vivere come noi/Io adesso (PDU PA 1127 - 1978)
A pop group from the late 70's, they only released some singles on the PDU label, in a melodic prog style not far from Odissea (with a voice similar to that group's singer). Some say they included a former Jumbo member, but the four names mentioned as composers on the labels don't help.
Line-up:
Luigi Piergiovanni (vocals)
Pietro Eugeni (guitar)
Stefano Piergiovanni (bass)
Stefano Riccioni (drums)
Discography:
45 - Who are you kidding?/A virgin case (Mia M1518 - 1977)
45 - Due corpi in armonia/Moquette (Mia M1530 - 1978)
CD - Ars Nova (Mellow MMP317 - 2002)
Quartet from Rome, formed in 1974 by the Piergiovanni brothers, coming from
Cassa del Comune Accordo, Ars Nova only recorded two singles during their
career, which has been documented by Mellow with a posthumous CD, which includes
studio and live tracks and a cover inspired from the legendary
Picci LP's. Musically the group is often compared with
Officina Meccanica, with progressive-inspired
tracks along with more pop-oriented songs.
Since the end of 1978, when the original guitarist and drummer left, the group
became a six-piece, with brothers Luigi and Stefano Piergiovanni joined by the
guitarist Romano Carboni, twin keyboardists Riccardo Gnerucci and Pasquale del
Duca, drummer Stefano Falcone, and this line-up survived until the break up at
the end of 1980.
Luigi Piergiovanni still works in the record business with the independent label
Interbeat created with his brother, sadly passed away in 2001.
Discography:
45 - Ritratto di una donna in premaman/Beatles' song (ASA MC 3-001 - 1979 ?)
45 - Vuoi proprio me/Serenità (ZIZ ZZ 1002 - 19??)
A Sicilian group that released at least two singles between the end of the 70's and the early 80's, the first one being in a Ping Pong style with very light progressive influences. One of the songs is sung in italian, the other in english.
Line up:
Monica (vocals)
Guitar Duck (guitar, vocals)
George Hush (keyboards)
Mike Arge (bass)
Roby Benedini (drums)
Discography:
LP - Ash (Lasapa LPSP 8500 - 1979)
45 - Lei città/Foto di gruppo (Jezabel OR 1465 - 19??)
An obscure italian group that only released an inconsistent english-sung rock album with
strong foreign influences under false names. A rare single under their name,
sung in italian but without a release date. also exists.
Drummer Benedini, from Brescia, had been in
La Bottega del Fabbro and also played with singers Marcella and
Gianni Bella.
Line up:
Emilio Mondelli (vocals)
Franco Cassina (guitar)
Maurizio Vergani (keyboards)
Tino Fontanella (bass)
Glauco (drums)
A group from Lombardia which included most of the future members of I Ricordi d'Infanzia. They were formed in 1970 and played together as Gli Aspidi until 1972 when they changed name after the entrance of the new drummer Antonio Sartori. They only appeared with Forse amore non è on the Fonit compilation LP Nuovi complessi d'avanguardia da Radio Montecarlo.
Line up:
Giampiero Alloisio (vocals, guitar)
Enzo Cingano (keyboards)
Gianni Martini (guitar)
Bruno Biggi (bass)
Mauro Arena (percussion, vocals)
Alberto Canepa (percussion, vocals)
Discography:
LP - Dietro le sbarre (Dischi dello Zodiaco VPA 8325 - 1976)
LP - Marylin (ALT 001 - 1977)
LP - Il sogno di Alice (EMI 3C064 18424 - 1979)
CD - La rivoluzione c'è già stata (L'Alternativa - 2002)
More progressive in its intentions than in its record production, this group from Genova was created to mix music and image giving their concerts a strong theatrical appearance. Musically speaking their LP's are rather thin and far from the rock-inspired taste.
Discography:
LP - Poligrafici, pensionati, trombai e santi (Tickle TLPS 5014 - 1977)
Though its title, cover and label (the same as Antonius Rex's Zora album) can give the impression of a progressive record, this is in fact the work of a rock inspired singer-songwriter.
Line up:
Giorgio Di Paolo (bass, flute)
Mario D'Amicodatri (keyboards)
Armando Gasbarri (violin, viola)
Maurizio Toto (drums)
Asuma Rimna from Chieti were formed in 1973 and played together until 1978 with an intense live activity mainly in their area. Their style was strongly inspired by the Canterbury groups.
Discography:
45 - Passaggio/Parole inutili (Basf Fare 05 13315Q - 1974)
An unknown group that only released this single on Basf in 1974, the A side has a beautiful flute part in early PFM-style.
Thanks to Salvo Papale, Luigi Papi, Fabio Zuffanti, Fabio Marchignoli, Luigi Piergiovanni, Rocco Trezza, Alesssandro Lentini, Daniele Sabatucci, for information and pictures included in this page.
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