Flea On The Honey - 1971 - Flea On The Honey

Flea On The Honey

1971

Flea On The Honey

01. Mother Mary (7:26)

02. A Woman Of Distinction (2:54)

03. King's Thoughts (3:46)

04. Let The Flags Fly High (2:40)

05. Louise (My Little Ship) (2:43)

06. Moon Park Woman (3:41)

07. Face To The Sun (3:38)

08. Happy Killer (3:56)

09. Don't You Ever Feel Glad (3:01)

10. The Next Election (4:25)

Carlo Pennisi "Charlie" / guitars, percussion, vocals

Antonio Marangolo "Tony" / piano, organ, flute, harmonica, lead vocals

Elio Volpini "Nigel" / bass, acoustic guitar, vocals

Agostino Marangolo "Dustin" / drums, percussion, guitar, vocals

This is the first album by FLEA ON THE HONEY, a quartet from Sicily but based in Rome. After this release, they shortened their name to FLEA and released the much better "Topi o Uomini" in 1972. Then they broke up for a while after some personnel changes, but the original quartet reformed in 1975 and produced a really good Jazz Rock album under the name ETNA.

This album is very far from the jazz rock style of 1975. Here there is proto-prog hard rock, with rocking guitars, interesting riffs, even some flute a la Tull. The songs are nothing special, but are not bad. In fact several are quite good--apart, that is, from the singing. They chose to sing in English, with lyrics which approach unbearable. Had they sung in their native Italian, or even kept the album largely instrumental, that would have been a great improvement. But in terms of its contemporaries, it is similar to ROVESCIO DELLA MEDAGLIA'S "La Bibbia"-- again, apart from the silly English lyrics and accent. (The band even sports English names on this one!) There are definitely signs that point to their next wonderful, more overtly progressive album, but in these short songs the approach is hard rock with prog flavoring.

Etna is one of my favorite jazz-rock albums ever, and Flea-Topi e Uomini is one of my favorite Italian prog albums, so of course I had to check this out eventually. It's pretty goofy 1960's style pop, but the first track is pretty good. The story behind the album (giving the ragazzi English names to cash in on the British Invasion) is hilarious, and the inner pictures on the album are charming. ("Who is your favorite Flea on the Honey? I like Nigel!") The bad pronunciations of the English lyrics add to the whole schtick too.