L'Uovo di Colombo - 1973 - L'Uovo di Colombo

L'Uovo di Colombo

1973

L'Uovo di Colombo

01. L'Indecisione (4:55)

02. Io (3:32)

03. Anja (4:37)

04. Vox Dei (4:57)

05. Turba (4:09)

06. Consiglio (4:48)

07. Visione Della Morte (6:42)

08. Scherzo (0:22)

Toni Gionta / lead vocals

Enzo Volpini / keyboards, acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Elio Volpini / bass, guitar, vocals

Ruggero Stefani / drums, percussion, backing vocals

A "supergroup" of sorts, L'Uovo di Colombo was born from the ashes of I Fholks and Flea, adding future Cherry Five singer Toni Tartarini to round out the band. This enjoyable 1973 record is just good enough to recommend, but not so good it's essential. The weak link is the lack of guitar, as both Enzo and Elio Volpini struggle to fill out the compositions with it; what limited guitar there is feels like an afterthought and actually detracts from what the band does well. The album gives me mixed feelings: On the one hand, I wish the group had more of an opportunity in live performance and label support to realize a second album; on the other, I am somewhat glad things didn't work out, as the band's dissolution led indirectly to Elio Volpini rejoining Flea/Etna and Toni Tartarini joining Cherry Five.

What the band does well is summed up during the last two minutes of "L'indecisione." A multitude of styles is revealed in this brief amount of time, as the song fluidly transitions from classical prog, to jazz rock, to dissonant ELP-inspired mayhem. An overabundance of analog synth adds weight and carries the track through to its end. The jazz touches continue in "Io," and Tartarini delivers an assertive vocal performance. "Anja" begins with a nice dual-keyboard attack until the bass and drums join in...after a keyboard break the bare instrumentation leaves you wanting more. Some heavy guitar power chords or even a final lyrical verse would suit the song better, but instead we are treated to a fade out. A missed opportunity, if you ask me. "Vox Dei" is stagnant, as the band starts to set into a groove but never really does anything interesting with it.

"Turba" finally sees some electric guitar love, and this instrumental is actually quite a fun listen. The drum work in particular is genuinely funky. "Consiglio" reverts to the tone of the previous two songs, which is one-dimensional and lacking the progressive spirit. I wouldn't necessarily call it pop music , but the tendencies are there. "Visione della Morte," in comparison, sounds like a totally different group of musicians; Tartarini leads a delicate ensemble of plucked piano, acoustic guitar and tasteful bass accompaniment. Then the drums kick in and after a brief solo, drive the song home to a fulfilling conclusion. This segues into "Scherzo" quite nicely, and we again hear the classical prog influence show itself. There is even a touch of flute, ending the album on a gentle, albeit uncharacteristic, note. L'Uovo di Colombo has been in and out of print for many years, and tracking it down may be more trouble than it's worth. Italian Prog aficionados will want to hear it at some point, but this release is probably not essential for the casual listener.

This self titled album was the only album by these Italian prog rockers. The album is a very consistent package from the start to the finish. None of these tracks really stands out because the whole album is pretty solid and good. The album sounds nice with lots of hammond organ and quite hard prog rock style. There are some softer parts as well so I wouldn't call this LP as heavy prog really.

L'Uovo di Colombo succeeded with their only studio album pretty well. It's not a great album but it does it's job quite good. An entertaining progressive rock record which is still nothing that awesome or special.Another one-shot band that would have deserved much more attention. An album with no fillers and an excellent technical level. Highly recommended.