BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO: CANTO DI PRIMAVERA (1979)
1) Ciclo; 2) Canto Di
Primavera; 3) Sono La Bestia; 4) Niente; 5) E Mi Viene Da Pensare; 6) Inferno
Città; 7) Lungo Il Margine; 8) Circobanda.
We are still not quite in the Eighties yet, and
this album does not yet have the proper license to be «atrocious». At this
point, it looks as if Banco are taking the relatively easy way out — instead of
properly selling out, like everybody else, and going for a fully «commercial
pop» sound, they are instead becoming a «soft jazz» / «lite fusion» act.
Apparently, the experiment of ...Di
Terra did not work out to critical or commercial success, so for their next
project, they went with something that goes easier on the budget than a
full-scale orchestra, and easier on the average listener than a completely
instrumental «neo-classical» recording.
The album title is right on the money: the
whole thing is a fairly coherent «Spring Song», with mostly bright, sunny,
happy melodies, many of them with a «pastoral» flavor (title track, for instance),
driven, as usual, by the Nocenzi interplay — the only bad thing about which is
that Gianni has completely switched over to new brands of electric pianos and
clavinets, so the whole experience has a decidedly «inorganic» flavor to it.
Even when they throw in some folky bits, making us dance along to the opening
lines of ʽSono La Bestiaʼ, they do it with these rather unsuitable keyboard
tones — eventually, who needs to hear those sounds played on stiff electric
keyboards when you can listen to Ian Anderson doing the same stuff on real
flutes?
Worse, most of the atmospheric textures are
tripartite — the annoying electric keyboards set the first layer of melody, the
brand new synthesizers set the second one, and the third one is usually
provided by Luigi Cinque's echoey saxophone that is not that far removed from the standards soon to be set by Kenny G —
smooth, inobtrusive, «melodic», boring to the point that, if you listen to this
stuff too intensely for too long, the only cure is to throw on ʽYakety Yakʼ as
soon as possible, or you might develop a lifelong incurable hatred for the
instrument.
The melodies are not exactly complete throwaways
— there is a lot of compositional activity going on here, and from a formal
technical point of view, Canto is
probably not any less complex than ...Di
Terra. But the fact that the boys are not officially «slouching» hardly
means anything if there is no exciting dynamics — no rises, no falls, no
climaxes, no Sturm-und-Drang, just a
lot of key and tempo changes that make the separate pieces about as different
from each other as the different blades of grass on that bright green spring
meadow they are singing about. Where are the thrills, the chills, the kills, goddammit?
On the other hand, with the exception of the
ornamental framework (ʽCicloʼ and ʽCircobandaʼ are two similar-sounding
happy-fusion-esque instrumentals that bookmark the record), this is all very
much DiGiacomo's show — the relatively short tracks offer full compensation for
the man's absence on ...Di Terra.
And with that, the San Remo spirit is back as well: every song is full to the
brim with flourishing mannerisms, exaggerated sentimentality, beards soaked
with artistic tears, and, occasionally, some theatrical martial punch. None of
it holds any serious emotional resonance for me, but most of it is done
reasonably fine and will always have its fans.
In a certain way, what this reminds me of is a
sort of Italian equivalent to Steely Dan's Aja
— except that beyond the smooth, seemingly «corny», «easy-listening» surface of
Aja there hides a darker, leerier
heart (a common thing with Steely Dan), whereas subsequent listens to Canto Di Primavera do not reveal any
surprises. I mean, Italian pop (heck, most Italian music from any time period,
for that matter) usually bares it all at once, and Banco are no exception — and
certainly not when they try to emphasize their «national» side over their
«cosmopolitan» ambitions. In the end, the only thing that prevents this
ball-o'-blandness from a «thumbs down» is that... well, we are still not quite
in the Eighties yet.
"exaggerated sentimentality"
ReplyDeleteWeird, when reading these words I rather think of a certain Australian combo you are reviewing too ....
I only have heard two songs yet - the first two. The instrumental opener is overlong and way simpler than everything they did before. But I don't hold the second as an objection; I can't get over the first one though.
Canto Di Primavera confused me. I agree with your description (bar DiGiacomo's singing, which doesn't mean I love it to death) of the song. But why do I like that rhythmical pattern so much? And why did the chorus stick in my head for a whole day? Doesn't this mean it's just an unusual but good song, even if the band adapts to its time to some extent?
I'll listen to it again.
And Canto Di Primavera is a good song indeed. So is Sono La Bestia, which is a bit repetitive, but tricky rhythms and time signatures while still sounding natural. That was something Gentle Giant had quite often problems with. I was ready to pan Niente - a generic ballad - when suddenly an almost atonal instrumental passage comes along. It still doesn't have a memorable melody though. The same for E Mi Viene, though the instrumental section this time is a lovely piano solo. Interno Citta (and not InFerno, GS - I consulted Banco's official website) the third smart ballad in row, this time with a nice guitar solo. It has an up tempo coda though. Then we have Lungo - another frigging ballad - which again has a lovely instrumental section (on the lower piano register this time). I want to get bored, but just can't.
ReplyDeleteLike the opener Ciclo the closer Circobanda lasts too long to my taste.
So except the two instrumentals I think this quite a fine album - thumbs up.
The chorus to the title track is just damn beautiful. If only they didn't so cruelly spoil the thing with electronic handclaps and all these other evils.
ReplyDeleteThe version on "Capolinea" could be beautiful too, but again, those bloody handclaps. What's up with that?! It's a pastoral art-pop song with bloody flute, not an arena anthem.