Review Summary: A great debut from this Italian band. A great prog work.
“Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso” is the eponymous debut studio album of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso that was released in 1972. The line up on the album is Francesco Di Giacomo, Marcello Todaro, Vittorio Nocenzi, Gianni Nocenzi, Renato D’Angelo and Pier Luigi Calderoni.
Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso is an Italian progressive rock group that was founded in Rome in 1969. It’s one of the most important progressive rock bands that emerged in Italy in those years along with Premiata Forneria Marconi and Le Orme. However, we mustn’t forget also Area, a band a bit less known and with less long longevity but also great. This reputation is due not only to their longevity and great success in their native country, but also to having achieved international recognition, something rare for many of their contemporaries. Their music is characterized by the impressive skill of the Nocenzi brothers, Gianni and Vittorio, on the keyboards. The band’s initial line up went through several changes before any recording was released. Their debut eponymous studio album was released in 1972.
The self-titled debut album of them immediately attracted the attention of the public of the nascent progressive rock scene in Italy. It was a surprisingly mature work of inventive, classically influenced symphonic progressive rock, featuring exceptional musical execution and Di Giacomo’s emotional vocal delivery. This album was quickly followed by the equally acclaimed “Darwin!” and “Io Sono Nato Libero”. They formed a trio of essential albums for the RPI genre.
Already on their debut, Banco dedicated themselves to a Mediterranean form of progressive rock music characterized by brilliant keyboard runs and devoted vocals, which erupts at the right moment in overflowing dynamics and revels in perfectly articulated symphonic-abstract emotions. It’s evident at all times that the Romans were always keen to envelop the music of their Anglo-Saxon role models in a distinctive sound. Side A is almost entirely occupied by two songs while side B features the suite “Il Giardino Del Mago” in the style of “Supper’s Ready” of “Foxtrot” by Genesis.
“Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso” has six tracks. The album starts with “In Volo”, which is a short piece with calm tones and a medieval touch with spoken Italian vocals and flute-like keyboard tones. A touch of Mellotron fleshes out the mix on this brief introductory piece, which fades in a keyboard/choral flourish before the next track bursts out from the silence. “R.I.P. (Requiescant In Pace)” doesn’t live up to its name at all, there is no sign of peaceful calm here. It’s an incredibly upbeat track with some emotional, almost operatic vocals, and some complex instrumental parts and that in the final part turns into a sad ballad supported by Gianni’s flute. It’s really a great track that demonstrates the amazing quality of this band. “Passaggio” is a very short and beautiful piece played on harpsichord and introduces the complex harmonic textures of the next track “Metamorfosi”. Here we have a brief aperitif with some studio sounds and where Giacomo’s vocals here are restrained and sing-songy, suiting this short breather. “Metamorfosi” is a lengthy and complex track, a true prog track in its structure and which sees the voice re-emerge only in the finale. The band’s penchant for classical construction and jazz textures are very evident here. There’s loads of dynamics, quiet organ interludes burst violently into full band playing at rock intensity and pulling back to a jazzy groove in various moments. “Il Giardino Del Mago” is divided into “Passo Dopo Passo”, “Chi Ride E Chi Geme”, “Coi Capelli Sciolti Al Vento” and “Compenetrazione”. This is a long track that has distinct parts with different tempos and feel, which brings the total duration of the piece to over eighteen minutes. It oscillates between disturbing moments, at times hysterical, and other dreamlike and transparent, this is a piece that represents the climax of Italian prog rock music. This is an epic that doesn’t wear out with time. “Traccia” is a very nice piece. It’s a short instrumental that starts off with fast repetitive piano, turning into bombastic medieval sounding music. It closes what should be counted as one of the strongest debuts in prog rock history.
Conclusion: The self-titled debut album of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso was an extremely promising start combining the slightly melancholy and mysterious Mediterranean Italo sound with keyboard pyrotechnics made by the Nocenzi brothers. The band’s compositions are imbued with a profound overall concept, in which rapid keyboard interludes, rocking guitar riffs, folkloric gentleness, and transfigured vocal melodies are always combined into a multi-layered soundscape that initially reveals itself somewhat hesitantly to the listener, but after repeated listens, becomes permanently etched in the memory. It’s an amazing album, made all the more amazing by the fact that this was a debut release. It still remains a classic element of Italian prog rock. It seems nearly impossible to follow up. Yet they did, not once, but twice in the next 12 months. They managed to improve even further on “Darwin!” and “Io Sono Nato Libero”.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
