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 |
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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 |
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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) |
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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) |
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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.
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Azimut - LP cover and booklet |
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Abbiamo tutti un blues da piangere - LP |
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Genealogia - LP |
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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 |
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Alice QDisc - LP |
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New Perigeo / Effetto amore - LP |
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Giovanni Tommaso / Vivere a: Tokyo citta del paradiso - LP |
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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.