Search - Apoteosi :: Apoteosi

Nice example of Italian prog

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 01/26/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For those as familiar with the Italian prog scene, you know that there are way too many groups who only give us an album or two and then disappear. Groups like PFM, Banco, Goblin, and Le Orme gave us tons of albums, but of course as time went on, their quality of input did drop thanks to the declining interest of prog (most of these groups went pop by the late '70s, most of their last good albums came out in 1977 or 1978). Apoteosi was one of those groups that only recorded and released one album and then disappeared. Sometimes better one album than a whole bunch of albums with later stuff not worth your time. They released their only album in 1975 on the small Said label, original LPs of course not exactly easy to come by.



The group consisted of siblings Silvana Ida on vocals, Massimo Ida on keyboards, and Federico Ida on bass on flute, with Franco Vinci on guitar and vocals, and Marcello Surace on drums. What's really worth noting was Massimo Ida was just 14 when they did this album, and he used Hammond organ, ARP 2600, string synth and piano. I am really surprise anyone that young involved themselves in a prog rock band and actually recorded, showing that Italian youth at that time must have had an interest in prog rock (certain other Italian acts like Semiramis, Latte e Miele, and Cervello also had members under 18 when they were recording and releasing albums). It's a huge shock when you compare the likes of Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) in present-day America up against an actual musician of similar age over 30 years ago playing in a prog rock band in Italy.



How to describe the music of Apoteosi? Well they don't seem to remind me of any particular group. It's easy to compare many Italian groups to PFM, Banco or Le Orme, or if they were a heavy group, like Il Balletto di Bronzo, Osanna, or Museo Rosenbach, but this is not the case. The group featured female vocals of Silvana Ida plus lots of nice keyboard work from Massimo Ida, making you completely forget he was only 14. This isn't heavy progressive rock, so Il Balletto di Bronzo or Museo Rosenbach this is not. It tends to the softer end of progressive rock, although that last piece, called "Apoteosi" has a stronger spacy feel that reminds me a bit of late '70s Eloy and while my favorite piece on the album, is not typical of the album.



This is one of those albums you won't have as a "must have" (certainly not worth the big money that the original Said label LP is worth, but worth the price of the CD reissue), but it's still a worthy album in your collection, and the fact this music was done by teenagers proves that even very young people were fully capable of doing this kind of music if they put their effort into it."