Artist

PERIGEO

PERIGEO
Tony Sidney (guitar)
Franco D'Andrea (keyboards)
Claudio Fasoli (sax)
Giovanni Tommaso (bass, double bass, vocals)
Bruno Biriaco (drums, percussion)

NEW PERIGEO (1981)
Maurizio Giammarco (sax)
Danilo Rea (keyboards)
Carlo Pennisi (guitar)
Giovanni Tommaso (bass)
Agostino Marangolo (drums)

Often closer to jazz than to rock, Perigeo are always included anyway in the "Italian pop" listings, though the progressive influences in their musical style are limited.

The band, based in Rome, was formed in 1971 and soon had a good recording deal with RCA, releasing their first album in 1972.
A very popular group, their live activity was restless, being often invited to the pop festivals of the time, and they even played in France and England. Their best works are usually considered Genealogia and La valle dei templi. The band split after their fifth album and reunited some years later as Perigeo Special for the ambitious Alice double album, released with many important guests as a concept album on Lewis Carroll's story. 

A later album, Effetto amore in 1981 was released under the name of New Perigeo by a group of important sessionmen led by bass player Giovanni Tommaso, the only member of the original Perigeo. The line-up included Carlo Pennisi and Agostino Marangolo from Flea and Goblin and sax player Maurizio Giammarco who had played in Blue Morning and with the last incarnation of Canzoniere del Lazio. Six of the tracks on the LP were composed by Vanera (lyricist Pasquale Panella, popular in Italy for his collaboration with Lucio Battisti).

All the Perigeo members have had long careers as sessionmen. 
The whole band also appeared on an album by singer-songwriter Giovanni Ullu, released in 1978. 

In 2019 Perigeo reunited for a one-off concert in Florence. Original members Tommaso, Biriaco, Fasoli and Sidney were joined by keyboardist Claudio Filippini and percussionist Alex “Pacho” Rossi. The concert has been released on record in 2022 under the title One shot reunion - Live in Florence.

LP
Azimut RCA (PSL 10555) 1972 single cover - early copies included booklet
  RCA (NL 74103) 1989 reissue of the above
  RCA/De Agostini (PSL 10555) 2018 single cover with 8-page insert - no.11 in the De Agostini "Prog Rock Italiano" series
  RCA/Sony Music (19439 88707 1) 2021 single cover, yellow vinyl - 500 numbered copies - no.7 in the "Italian Progressive Archive" series
  RCA/Sony Music (19439 88707 1) 2021 numbered issue - yellow vinyl
  RCA/Sony Music (19658 70322 1) 2022 red vinyl
Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere RCA (DPSL 10609) 1973 laminated gatefold cover - later reissued with cat.no.PSL 10609
  RCA (NL 71934) 1989 reissue of the above
  Schema Easy (SCEB 927) 2015 reissue of the above - gatefold cover - LP+CD edition
  RCA/De Agostini (DPSL 10609) 2019 gatefold cover with 8-page insert - no.44 in the De Agostini "Prog Rock Italiano" series
  RCA/Sony Music (19439 91653 1) 2022 gatefold cover, blue vinyl - 600 numbered copies
Genealogia RCA (TPL 1-1080) 1974 initially with laminated gatefold cover, then with single non-laminated cover
  RCA (NL 71935) 1989 reissue of the above
  Schema Easy (SCEB 926) 2015 reissue of the above - gatefold cover - LP+CD edition
  RCA/De Agostini (TPL 1-1080) 2019 gatefold cover with 8-page insert - no.36 in the De Agostini "Prog Rock Italiano" series
  RCA/Sony Music (19439 72481 1) 2020 gatefold cover - white vinyl
  RCA/Sony Music (19658 77010 1) 2023 500 numbered copies - green vinyl
La valle dei templi RCA (TPL 1-1175) 1975 laminated single cover
  RCA (NL 71936) 1989 reissue of the above
  RCA/Sony Music (88985 44234 1) 2017 as above
  RCA/De Agostini (85) 2021 single cover with 8-page insert - no.85 in the De Agostini "Prog Rock Italiano" series
  RCA/Sony Music (19439 98834 1) 2022 yellow vinyl, numbered issue
Non è poi così lontano RCA (TPL 1-1228) 1976 single cover
  RCA (NL 74099) 1989 reissue of the above
  Sony Music (19439 88471 1) 2021 as above - blue vinyl
Alice RCA (PL 31470) 1980 2 LP - gatefold cover - as Perigeo Special
  RCA/Sony Music (19439 95042 1) 2022 reissue of the above - red vinyl
Effetto amore RCA (PL 31608) 1981 as New Perigeo - single cover
Live in Italy 1976 Contempo (CONTE 156) 1990 2 LP - gatefold cover
  Contempo (CO1024LP) 2018 as above - 500 copies limited edition
Live in Montreaux Sony Music (19658 70483 1) 2022 2 LP - blue vinyl - issued on CD in 1990
One shot reunion - Live in Florence Abeat (AB JZ809) 2022 recorded live in 2019 - 500 numbered copies - also exists in 150 copies with LP, CD and DVD signed by the band


CD
Azimut RCA (ND 74103) 1989 reissue of 1972 album
  Sony/BMG (88697-97692-2) 2011 as above with mini-LP cover
  Gruppo Ed.L’Espresso (17) 2015 as above with mini-LP gatefold cover – no.17 in the “Progressive Rock Italiano" series
Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere RCA (ND 71934) 1989 reissue of 1973 album
  Sony/BMG (88697-92145-2) 2011 as above with mini-LP gatefold cover
  RCA/Mondadori (13) 2019 mini-LP gatefold cover with booklet - no.13 in the Mondadori "Prog Italia" series
Genealogia RCA (ND 71935) 1989 reissue of 1974 album
La valle dei templi RCA (ND 71936) 1989 reissue of 1975 album
Non è poi così lontano RCA (ND 74099) 1989 reissue of 1976 album
Live in Italy 1976 Contempo (CONTECD 156) 1990  
Live in Montreaux RCA (74321 14984 2) 1990  
Alice RCA (74321 18531 2) 1994 reissue of 1980 album
Alice RCA (82876 59279 2) 2004 reissue of the 1980 QDisc
Antologia Sony BMG (88875039332) 2014 box set with 8 CD's, 1 DVD and a 52 page booklet
One shot reunion - Live in Florence Abeat (ABJZ 240) 2022 recorded live in 2019 - digipack cover


VARIOUS ARTISTS COMPILATIONS
Free dimension
(with Grandangolo and Aspettando il nuovo giorno)
RCA (CKAY 27134) 1973 newspaper cover - RCA label sampler also featuring Nadma, Living Music, Brainticket
Trianon 75 - Domenica musica
(with Via Beato Angelico)
RCA (TCM2-1178) 1975 2LP - gatefold cover - live album including Antonello Venditti, Mario Schiano, Stradaperta, Rino Gaetano, Toni Esposito, Lucio Dalla and others
Q-concert
(with Aschimilero)
RCA (PG 33417) 1981 as New Perigeo - 4-track 12" mini-LP (Q-disc) with Rino Gaetano and Riccardo Cocciante
Giovanni Tommaso/I've been around
(with Sicilian sunset)
Musica Jazz (MJCD 1154) 2003 as New Perigeo - live recording from 1981, included on Giovanni Tommaso's solo album


SINGLES
(with picture sleeve)
La valle dei templi
Tamale
RCA (TPBO 1152) 1975 both tracks from La valle dei templi
Movie rush (La febbre del cinema)
Tema di Alba
RCA (TBBO 1224) 1976 both unreleased tracks, from the soundtrack of the film La febbre del cinema
Fata Morgana
Take off
RCA (TPBO 1278) 1976 both tracks from Non è poi così lontano
Alice QDisc (Il quartiere, Bella città, Festival, Tea party, Al bar dello sport) RCA (PG 33407) 1980 as Perigeo Special - 12" mini-LP (Q-disc) with tracks from Alice


PROMO-ONLY AND JUKEBOX SINGLES (with blank cover)
Via Beato Angelico
Torre del Lago
RCA (TPBO 1071) 1974 both tracks from Genealogia - promo-only, no cover
Confusione, gran confusione, ovvero Il processo
Bella la città
RCA (PB 6450) 1980 both tracks from Alice - as Perigeo Special - promo-only, no cover

 

All the Perigeo albums are rather common and cheap and have been reissued many times. 
Maybe the only rarity is the original first album with the 12 page booklet that includes the musicians' biographies. This was probably intended for promotional reasons and not included in later copies.

Some copies of Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere contained a small card (approx.14.5x9.8cm) with a quotation on popular music by Marcel Proust, which was also included in other contemporary RCA albums (among these Rovescio della Medaglia/Contaminazione, Festa Mobile/Diario di viaggio della Festa Mobile, Rustichelli e Bordini/Opera prima and Maurizio Monti/L'amore).
Genealogia was initially issued with a laminated gatefold cover. Later, after some years, it was reissued with the same catalogue number in a standard single cover, having on the back the same liner notes as the first version and a group photo.

Some of their LP's had foreign issues, La valle dei templi (with the title translated to Valley of the temples) and Genealogia had an US release with same catalogue numbers and minimal design differences, many of them had european releases.
Non è poi così lontano was issued in the USA with the title Fata Morgana, from one of its tracks. This was released by RCA with cat.no.1228 in 1977 and had a different single cover.

No counterfeits exist.

The retrospective 2014 box set Antologia contains 8 CD's with the studio albums from 1972-1976, the Live in Montreux and the double Live in Italy 1976 both issued in 1990, and a DVD with live recordings from 1993 and 2008.
Both Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere and Genealogia have been reissued in LP+CD version in 2015 by the Schema Easy label with gatefold covers.

Before their debut album Azimut, Giovanni Tommaso composed the soundtrack to a documentary entitled Vivere a: Tokyo città del paradosso, broadcast in 1971 and part of a six-part series dedicated to some world cities, produced by Corrado Augias. An LP mistakenly entitled Vivere a: Tokyo città del paradiso (RCA Original Cast SP 8039, but the label has the correct title Vivere a: Tokyo città del paradosso) was released, probably never put on sale. Tommaso himself confirmed that the album wasn't played by the Perigeo musicians, as was previously believed.

 

Azimut - LP cover and booklet

Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere - LP

Genealogia - LP

La valle dei templi - LP

Valley of the temples (US issue) - LP

Non è poi così lontano - LP

Fata Morgana (US issue) - LP

Alice - LP

Alice QDisc - LP

New Perigeo / Effetto amore - LP

Giovanni Tommaso / Vivere a: Tokyo citta del paradiso - LP

Movie rush - 7" single

Fata Morgana - 7" single

 

 

Drummer Bruno Biriaco's site is www.brunobiriaco.com/

 

 

Thanks to Virgilio Venditti, Monica Santosuosso, Annunziato Cangemi, Ubaldo Cibei (Franco), Valerio D'Angelo, Marco Giorgi, Paolo Verda for information and scans on this page.