The full list
Line-up:
Sergio Piazzoli (vocals)
Antonio Fazio (guitar)
Alessio Burini (keyboards)
Paolo Padroni (sax)
Roberto Morbidelli (bass)
Fabrizio Fornari (drums)
Maurizio Morettoni (percussion)
A group from Perugia, active in the mid-70's that also played some live
concerts. Their music was inspired by english jazz rock
and groups such as Soft Machine and Henry Cow. Only some amateurish recordings
exist of their music.
None of the band members followed the musical career, but Piazzoli is a
well-known concert promoter.
Line-up:
Fabrizio Brunetti (voce)
Nanni Civitenga (chitarra)
Sergio Manzari (chitarra)
Vito Manzari (basso)
Sandro Bruni (batteria)
A popular group from Rome, active from 1968 to 1972, that had no record
releases despite recording some tracks at RCA studios. In their line-up, with
many changes throughout the years, they had bass player Vito Manzari, later with Il
Balletto di Bronzo, and guitarist Nanni Civitenga that went to Raccomandata
con Ricevuta di Ritorno and then formed Samadhi.
The group had a constant live activity, supporting the likes of Uriah Heep at
Rome's Teatro Brancaccio and playing various festivals, before the split.
Line-up:
Luciano Piccinno (guitar, vocals)
Vincenzo "Joselito" Pandolfi (keyboards, vocals)
Piero Nano (bass, vocals)
Carlo "Lallo" Schiavoni (drums, vocals)
Discography:
45 - Canzone mia/Brava Maria (Durium LDA 7694 - 1970)
45 - Questa bambolina di guai/Catene nuove (Durium LDA 7443 - 1971)
45 - Più grande del mondo/Dammi il sole (Durium LDA 7792 - 1973)
A group from Alessandria, three of their members (Pandolfi, Nano e Schiavoni)
had played as Oscars, the backing band of singer Don Miko.
With the new name Quel Pazzo Mondo they released three singles between 1970 and
1973,
mixing pop and slight progressive influences. Their sound was much harder
in concert, with covers of italian and foreign artists' hits, including Uriah
Heep, Deep Purple, The Trip.
On their first single, Canzone mia, the group was still a trio, so the guitar parts are played by Mauro Culotta, experienced
sessionman who was in Gens and collaborated with Ivano Fossati,
Ornella Vanoni, Mina and many others. All of the four musicians
sang, though the lead vocalist was drummer "Lallo" Schiavoni.
They even had some TV appearances,
but none of their singles was particularly successful. Oddly their second,
Questa bambolina di guai, was also issued in some southamerican countries,
like Bolivia and Argentina.
The musicians of Quel Pazzo Mondo backed in the concerts the duo Computers, that
issued between 1969 and 1971 three singles for Numero
Uno, among which an italian version of David Bowie's Space Oddity
entitled Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola.
Line-up:
Claudio Cacciatori (guitar, vocals)
Mauro Cocchi (keyboards)
Orlando Morisi (bass, guitar)
Davide Viviani (drums, vocals)
Discography:
45 - Amerò/Preludio n.1 (QS 00717B - 1978)
CD - La quinta stagione (Acqued8 ACQUED809 - 2002)
A group from the Bologna area that was formed in 1976, only
releasing a self-produced single at the time. Preludio n.1 on the B-side,
is a nice classical prog instrumental with keyboards to the fore, while the A-side is a
rocking track not particularly original.
The group itself produced in 2002 a CD including the 7" single tracks along
with 4 unreleased cuts among which the 21-minute long suite Quinta ed ultima
stagione. Their production mixes commercial pop songs similar to the Pooh
(like Sera vera) with others definitely in a good level prog style.
The CD, released in a limited pressing had a local distribution and is hence
difficult to find now. The beautiful cover is taken from a painting by the
Modena artist Walter Mac Mazzieri (that also made the cover for Uomo di pezza
by Le Orme) entitled Teatrino del desiderio antico.
Other members of the band, in the various line-ups, were keyboardists Oscar
Bettelli and Samuele Masarati and singer Flavio Leonardi. The last line-up broke
up at the beginning of the 80's.
Discography:
45 - Try this now/Dream walker (Basf Fare 06 13305Q - 1974)
A mysterious italian group that recorded a single for the german Basf label.
The tracks, sung in english, are very nice and fully progressive-styled with strong
hard influences on the first side and good keyboards riffs.
A different group called Raptus, featuring future guitarist of
Le Orme Tolo Marton, were in fact
Le Impressioni.
Line-up:
Beppe Pippi (vocals, guitar)
Gianni Treossi (guitar)
Claudio Golinelli (bass)
Nicola Venditto (drums)
Discography:
45 - Senza tempo noi/Il mio cuore è un reattore (Dig It MM 024 - 1973)
A group from Forlì including former Forum Livii member Beppe Pippi and bassist Claudio Golinelli from the beat group I Baci (later with Vasco Rossi, until nowadays), both were also in Hellza Poppin; they only released a single in 1973, mixing a hard rock sound with poppy vocals, and split soon after, never having played live.
CESARE REGAZZONI / ATP
Discography:
LP - Giobbe, uno degli uomini (Eco 600 - 1977)
Credited to Regazzoni on the cover, this expensive record is in fact played
by ATP, a six piece group with Roberto Rizzoli (vocals), Tino Carretta (vocals
and drums), Alberto Ferretti (guitar and banjo), Umberto Minoliti (keyboards),
Otello Azzali (sax and flute), Sergio Podofillini (bass). The style is pop with
religious-inspired lyrics, made by 15 tracks with an average length of 2-3
minutes, the progressive influences are very subtle, and can be especially heard
in the use of flute.
Cesare Regazzoni, with his real name or as Anaw, composed other
religious-inspired records, children songs, and later dedicated to new age.
ATP issued another similar LP in 1980, entitled Profeti, uomini dell'utopia
(Eco 630).
Discography:
45 - Mondo malato/Non era un sogno (Delta ZD 50077 - 1971)
EP - Melinda (RCA PG 33406 - 1980)
This artist, that had previously played with beat group I Girasoli, released
a rare and beautiful psych-inspired single in 1971, but it went unnoticed.
Righini reappeared with a more commercial mini-LP in 1980, Melinda, a
12-inch "Q-disc" with four tracks.
Line-up:
Luciano Regoli (vocals)
Fernando Fera (guitar)
Roberto Gardin (guitar)
Claudio Simonetti (keyboards)
Walter Martino (drums)
Very popular in Rome in the early 70's, this group couldn't unfortunately release anything on record.
They played at 1971 Caracalla Festival with a five-piece line-up, then reduced
to a trio with Simonetti, Martino and bass player Massimo Giorgi, obviously with
much more emphasis on keyboards and inspired by the english group The Nice.
After their split, Simonetti and Martino formed for a short time Seconda Generazione and
then Goblin.
Bassist Giorgi later played with Quella Vecchia
Locanda, singer Luciano Regoli with Raccomandata con
Ricevuta di Ritorno and Samadhi,
guitarist Fera formed Alberomotore.
Discography:
45 - In tre/Noi eravamo noi (Parade PRC 5073 - 1969 - as "Le
Rivelazioni")
LP - The Revelations (Help ZSLH 55018 - 1971 - as "The Revelations")
This group from Rome is relevant for the presence of bassist Fabio Pignatelli
(later with Flea, Cherry
Five, Goblin), and though still in a beat style
released a single in 1969 and played at Caracalla festival in 1970.
It was presumably the same group that recorded an all-instrumental psychbeat
album on Help, under the name The Revelations,
with some tracks written by the composer Gianni dell'Orso under the nickname
Proluton.
Discography:
LP - Roisin Dubh (Cetra LPX 64 - 1978)
An unusual group from Rome playing irish folk music, Roisin Dubh included, among others, the irish singer Kay McCarthy, Luciano Gaetani on guitar and banjo, and Barbara Barbatelli on violin and mandolin. Their only album from 1978 is now rare and sought after.
Discography:
LP - Notte chiara (Una Sors Coniunxit ZPLU 34035 - 1978)
+ others
Singer-songwriter from Molise, active in the Rome area, Rufo had a contract
with It and his debut album appeared on the
newly-born Una Sors Coniunxit
label. Many musicians of the so called Naples Power play on the album, among
them Jenny Sorrenti, James Senese of
Napoli Centrale, Massimo Guarino, Enzo
Petrone and Danilo Rustici from Osanna, Enzo
Avitabile from Città Frontale.
Lino Rufo is still playing, his latest album, Fuggo, is from 2001.
Websites:
www.linorufo.com/
Discography:
LP - Il sole di Tabriz (Studio - 1990)
LP - Il volo della bolla (Cosmorecord CR 001 - 1994)
Guitarist and bass player from Lugo, Romagna, Rumi composed and recorded some psych-influenced tracks in 1968-69 that never appeared at the time. These have only seen the light in 1994 on his Il volo della bolla LP, while the first official LP, Il sole di Tabriz, had been recorded in 1989.
Thanks very much to Vincenzo Pandolfi, Paolo Barotto, Giuliano Semprucci, Maurizio Fulvi, Antonio Rosetti, Tolo Marton, Fabio Marchignoli, for pictures and information on groups featured in this page.
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