Outer Music Diary

Nico, Gianni, Frank, Maurizio - Canti d’Innocenza Canti d’Esperienza. 1973. New Trolls in disguise, and if you’re familiar with what this bunch was up to in the 1972-1975 timeframe, this will hold no surprises. “Canti d’Innocenza…” plays to their hard rock side (still with plenty of changes to mark it progressive) and ignores their new found fusion tendencies. “UT” and the Ibis albums are the closest barometers. I bumped this up a bit, as an appreciation of hard rock helped offset any typical Italian symphonic prog expectations.

Capsicum Red - Appunti Per Una Idea Fissa. 1972. Been a long time since I heard this one and it’s better than I remembered. One thing holding it back is an abominable production. Guessing master tapes are lost like most Bla Bla label albums. Capsicum Red are yet another Italian beat/pop group who attempted a jump on the Italian prog bandwagon. In the same league as J.E.T., but no one killer cut like ‘Fede, Speranza, Carita’.

Petrus Castrus – Mestre. 1973. Looks like Petrus Castrus didn’t get the memo that this kind of psychedelic music was dead, gone and buried by 1973. Or probably more to the point, 1973 was the earliest they could get into the studio. Close your eyes, and you’d swear you caught an Italian beat group from 1968 (despite the obvious language difference). Still there are some great psych fuzz bits, combined with good catchy songs, with that delicate Mediterranean feel in the acoustic moments. The band would improve dramatically on their followup (which I recently spoke of), but this is a good primer. Not a whole lot of Portuguese rock albums from the Salazar / Caetano dictatorship period.

Perception - Mestari

I doubt very many people search out the music of Perception without coming through the Magma connections first, even if they’d have better belonged on the ECM label around the same time. My copy of this is possibly too scratchy to be able to appreciate the music, given this is avant-garde leaning, improvisational free-jazz, a style probably best absorbed live and in the moment. Vinyl noise competes with all the other instruments, rendering most of the album rather noisy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I’ve never considered any of the Perceptions very inspired. Anyway, it’s one I’ve given up on.

Super Freego - Pourquoi es-tu si mechant?

A title I reviewed for an article on French progressive rock for Exposé in the 90s. About the only similarities between it and the rest of the French progressive world is the multiple vocalists’ similarity to that of Eskaton, particularly later in their career when the Magma influences had calmed to a certain extent. For the most part Super Freego remind me more of the Cars or other pop/new wave of the early 80s and my guess that’s probably where they’re coming from. In my genre guide (link on right) I mention progressive rock’s assimilative tendencies, this is a good example of said tendency.

Miles Davis Sextet - Electric Factory, Philadelphia 11/17/70

Midway between the Isle of Wight show and the Cellar Door sessions comes this fair sounding live show. Given it’s still a sextet, I’m wondering if Chick Corea was still hanging around this late in the game. In a year of stunning, legendary gigs this one seems a bit half-assed and surprisingly straight. Then again it’s a lot easier to “feel it” when the sound is better.