Picchio dal Pozzo

1976
Aldo De Scalzi (keyboards, percussion, vocals)
Paolo Griguolo (guitar, vocals)
Giorgio Karaghiosoff (sax, flute, percussion, vocals)
Andrea Beccari (bass, vocals)

1977-79
Karaghiosoff quits,
enter:
Claudio Lugo (sax, flute)
Roberto Romani (sax, flute)
Aldo Di Marco (drums, percussion)

A sort of open group, based around the nucleus of Aldo De Scalzi (younger brother of New Trolls' Vittorio), Griguolo and Beccari and with large use of external collaborators.
Their first album was released by De Scalzi's label Grog, one of just five releases on this collectible label, with help from various artists from Genova such as Vittorio De Scalzi, Ciro Perrino and Leonardo Lagorio from Celeste, Renzo "Pucci" Cochis from Jet.
Often described like a sort of italian Canterbury sound, their first album includes an original blend of different sounding, based on keyboards and horns, with surrealistic lyrics and vocal effects. Interesting and intriguing, the album is worth a listen, and is very far from everything else in the italian prog field.

Their four years break has been recently documented by the CD Camere Zimmer Rooms, with very good quality recordings from the 1977-80 era, an interesting release with a very nice introducing track as Il Presidente with irreverent lyrics on the then President of Italy.

Their second official album was made in 1980, this time on L'Orchestra label after their collaboration with Stormy Six and the Rock in Opposition movement.
Another interesting album, still with complex rhythm changes and various influences, this also had a flexi single included.

Many of the musicians involved in Picchio dal Pozzo have followed their career in the later years, and a new four-piece line-up, featuring De Scalzi, Griguolo, Lugo and Di Marco, has released a new album in 2004. Called Pic_nic @ Valdapozzo this contains some recordings from late 2002 based on some sampled unreleased vocal experiments by Demetrio Stratos, who briefly assisted the band around 1979. An instrumental album for the most part (except for the Stratos experiments and a single vocal track), this is far from their older albums though it keeps a good quality. Some of the typical sound the group had created in the 80's is still there, though the album is closer to jazz and relies much more than in the past on improvisation, the surreal lyrics of the earlier albums are sadly missing!

LP
Picchio dal Pozzo	Grog (GRL 03)	1976	gatefold cover
Abbiamo tutti i suoi problemi	L'Orchestra (OLPS 55013)	1980	single cover with lyric insert bonus 7" flexi single
CD
Picchio dal Pozzo	Vinyl Magic (VM 067)	2001	reissue of 1976 album
Camere Zimmer Rooms	Cuneiform (RUNE 153) - USA	2001	1977-80 unreleased recordings
Pic_nic @ Valdapozzo	Auditorium (AUD 01704)	2004	new recordings
VARIOUS ARTISTS COMPILATIONS LP'S
Raccomandato di vinile (with Uccellin dal bosco)	L'Orchestra (OLPS 55555)	1981	Promotional label sampler, also includes Art Bears, Mamma Non Piangere, Stormy Six, Alessandro Carrera, Strumento Concerto, Ensemble Havadia
Recommended records sampler (with Uccellin dal bosco)	Recommended (RR 8/9) - UK	1982	UK-only 2LP release - Recommended records sampler - plastic bag with inserts also includes Stormy Six
PROMO-ONLY AND JUKEBOX SINGLES (with blank cover)
Uccellin dal bosco	L'Orchestra (no cat.no.)	1980	flexi 7" bonus with Abbiamo tutti i suoi problemi

The Picchio dal Pozzo albums have never been reissued on vinyl in Italy, the first one is harder to find than the second.
First one comes with a gatefold cover, second one in a single sleeve with a lyric 12"x12" insert.

Originally Abbiamo tutti i suoi problemi included a one-sided 7" flexi disc with the unreleased Uccellin dal bosco housed in a plain white diecut cover. This is by far their rarest item as most copies around seem to have lost it.
The same track was also included in two compilations, Raccomandato di vinile by L'Orchestra and on the english Recommended label sampler, a 2-LP set with many contemporary avantgarde artists from all over the world housed in a nice clear plastic cover with inserts.

Both album have been reissued in Japan (King K22P183 and K22P243) and the first one in Korea as well (SiWan SRML 2005). No counterfeits exist.

Picchio dal Pozzo has had a 2003 CD reissue by the japanese label Arcangelo (ARC-7027) with a mini-LP cover. This is also part of an 8-CD box set dedicated to Grog (that includes in fact only three Grog releases along with five albums originally on Magma).
Second LP Abbiamo tutti i suoi problemi had a CD reissue with mini-LP cover by Recommended Records (cat.no. ReR PdP) in 2006.

Picchio dal Pozzo - LP

Abbiamo tutti i suoi problemi - LP

Uccellin del bosco - bonus 7" flexi label

Camere Zimmer Rooms - CD cover

Pic_nic @ Valdapozzo - CD cover