Review Summary: Another obscure work from the 70’s Italian prog rock scene.
“Buon Vecchio Charlie” is the only studio album of Buon Vecchio Charlie that was released in 1972. The line up on the album is Richard Benson, Luigi Calabro, Sandro Cesaroni, Sandro Centofanti, Paolo Damiani and Rino Sangiorgio.
As we know, progressive rock music was born in the end of the 60’s. During the 70’s it was essentially a phenomenon that occurred in the UK. Despite that, it also appeared in many other countries all over the world. But, it had an important expression in some European countries, especially Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, France and Italy. Italy was always a special place to prog and was responsible for the birth of some of the best representative bands of this genre like Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Le Orme and Area with a long career. But it was also the place where an amount of bands appeared and only released a single album, which is the case of this band.
Buon Vecchio Charlie was an Italian progressive rock band that was formed in 1970 in Rome, Italy, with a five piece line up. After some time they became a six piece line up. In 1971 the band entered into the studio to record tracks for their debut studio album. The quality was good, and the album could well be amongst the best productions of that period. But despite the involvement of various manufacturers, the work was not printed. Disappointed by this state of affairs, the band broke up in 1972. The album, which had been shelved for over twenty years, was finally unearthed in 1990. So, Buon Vecchio Charlie became one of the bands that had no records released during their lifespan, which was a pity.
The band’s name was chosen because they would like to be remembered as a person, the good old Charlie. The sextet offers us a valuable prog rock work played perfectly, extremely complex in its structures, with distant and vaguely medieval tones. The recording has a typical Italian progressive sound, very good instrumentation where the keyboards and the flute have great relevance. So, this Italian band’s sole legacy is a wonderful instrumental album of pure symphonic prog with some strong classical influences and a touch of jazz. Bands like King Crimson, Colosseum, Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull and The Nice come to my mind. Despite the production isn’t perfect, “Buon Vecchio Charlie” is one of the better, very early (pre-Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Le Orme) Italian prog albums and is surely recommended for all lovers of the vintage Italian symphonic prog rock style.
“Buon Vecchio Charlie” has only three tracks. “Venite Giu Al Fiume” is a rather peculiar, but all the more energetic and well trodden remake of “In The Hall Of The Mountain King” by the Norwegian classic composer Edvard Grieg. This is a faster jazz rocker dominated by the waving Hammond organ and the groovy flute playing and also to the saxophone. There are also subtle vocals and a long guitar solo towards the end. It reminds me at times of the classic adaptations of The Nice. “Evviva La Contea Di Lane” has a calmer atmosphere creating passages of great beauty. It serves as such a break between the two lengthier tracks on the album. It’s almost a Canterburesque jazz piece, once again dominated by the organ, with some beautiful singing, elegiac flute playing and a wonderfully freaky sax solo at the end. Unfortunately the piece is a bit hidden between the other two. “All’Uomo Che Raccoglie I Cartoni” is divided into five parts: “Prima Stanza”, “All’Uomo Che Raccoglie I Cartoni”, “Terza Stanza”, “Beffa” and “Ripresa”. This is a tasty and valuable short lived suite moving on coordinates that are at first fast and aggressive and then slow and sweet. The 15 minutes will accompany you on a musical journey at the limit of imagination. It ranges from highly melodic and gentle to frantic and nigh on avant-garde at times, with classical guitar, jazzy interludes and hard rocking fury. It closes the album prettily.
“Buon Vecchio Charlie” also has two bonus tracks, “Rosa” and “Il Guardiano Della Valle”. These are two short tracks oriented to folk rock. “Rosa” is a delicate song with 4 minutes and 34 seconds, which is based on the story of a woman, Rosa, who left. The guitar base conducted by Benson and Calabro is simply fantastic. “Il Guardiano Della Valle” can be considered a nice closing with beautiful lyrics and excellent singing. The two numbers are a nice addition to the album.
Conclusion: “Buon Vecchio Charlie” is another great album of Italian provenance and it’s my secret tip for the lovers of hard/prog rock from the 70’s. This is really a very decent album that would have had the potential to become an Italo-Prog classic if it had been mixed and released at the time. So, it was really a shame not to have been able to listen to this fantastic sextet anymore. Overall, this is an excellent album which unfortunately is never considered among the masterpieces of the Italian prog rock scene, a really very complex and beautiful piece of music. Despite the English prog folk matrix being evident, the originality of the melodies and the dialogue of the instruments have truly a perfect original execution with its choirs and soloists. It’s a great album for all the lovers of the genre and of good music too.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
