Search - Murple :: Io Sono Murple

A good album by this Italian band

Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 04/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Italian prog community is species rich and incredibly vast; perhaps overwhelmingly so. The fact that there were so many bands that released a single album, only to disappear off the face of the earth shortly thereafter makes it that much more difficult to get your arms around it. Murple is one of those bands and unfortunately it is easy to lose sight of these short-lived groups when the well known bands like PFM, Banco, and Le Orme dominate the scene. Io sono murple (1974) is a great album by a decent band and it is a shame that they did not stick around longer - there is a great deal of promise on this album and I personally would have loved to hear more from them.



The lineup on this album includes Duilio Sorrenti (drums, percussion, gong, tambourine, timbales); Pier Carlo Zanco (vocals, Hammond organ, piano, Eminent, mini moog synthesizer; and double bass); Mario Garbarino (bass guitar, percussion); Pino Santamaria (6 and 12 string electric and acoustic guitars; vocals).



While these guys may not have been capable of the blinding ensemble virtuosity of a Banco or a PFM, they certainly hold their own and released a very interesting rock record that features some classical aspirations. Of all the musicians, Pier Carlo Zanco is by far the most gifted musician and holds his own with the greats of the prog genre, English and Italian alike. Interestingly enough Pier Carlo Zanco was a piano and acoustic bass student at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia - this guy received formal training and trust me, it shows! The vocals (in Italian) are very good and the vocal harmonies are very well thought out. In large part, the music on this album mixes riff heavy and harder edged passages featuring some great Hammond organ and synth work with quieter, spacier passages with haunting melodies. The keyboard work really makes this album work for me though - especially the acoustic piano work, which is excellent. Although Murple is not easily compared to other bands active at the time, I do hear a little Le Orme and perhaps a smidge of Keith Emerson and Tony Banks - especially in the Hammond organ passages. For the most part however, Murple sounds like...well...Murple.



This remaster by Akarma is pretty good and features the LP format, along with the lyrics and some informative tidbits. The sound quality is OK.



This album is recommended to all fans of Italian prog."

Wonderful one-shot Italian prog album

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 08/25/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Murple, like way too many Italian prog band, like Semiramis, Celeste, Cervello, Biglietto per L'Inferno, Museo Rosenbach, proceeded to release on album, and then disappear (although be aware some of these groups mentioned did have followups or archival material that were recorded in the 1970s, but not released until the 1990s on labels like Mellow Records). Murple, like Semiramis and Cervello, was a band that truly only had one album released, without Mellow Records unearthing any additional stuff from the archives. Murple's one and only album, Io Sono Murple (1974) was oddly released only in Germany on the BASF label, and since the label apparently didn't seem too terribly interested in promoting non-German bands, it sank without a trace, making the old LP a collector's item. The band consisted of Pino Santamaria on guitar, Mario Garbarino on bass, Duilio Sorrenti on drums and Pier Carlo Zanco on vocals, piano, organ, ARP Odyssey, and Eminent. Like RDM's Contaminazione, Io Sono Murple is basically a bunch of short songs all segued in to each other for one continuous long play. But of course, this album isn't much like RDM musically. In fact, I don't actually call Murple's music the most original prog on the face of the planet, the ELP and Le Orme influences are rather obvious. Pier Carlo Zanco's organ style is often much in the style of Emerson or Toni Pagliuca (Le Orme). He often sets his organ to the same sound Pagliuca did for Felona e Sorona, while when he goes more in ELP-like mode, then he goes for a more standard Hammond organ sound. The album goes through different moods, from aggressive passages, to more mellow, classically-influenced passages and everything in between. The lyrics are said to be about a journey of a penguin, which seems a bit peculiar for a prog rock album. But at least the music is still excellent. Certainly a few passages can get on the bombastic side, so those turned off by that style, might not always find everything on this album satisfying, but there's enough passages where the keyboardist isn't so bombastic. But I have no problems with the bombastic style, so as long as it's done well, as this album proves. The album has been reissued on CD, first by Mellow Records with standard jewel case, and then much more recently, Akarma, which nicely replicates the LP gatefold, and even has the insert like you might find in the original LP, and an additional insert telling you the history of the band in both Italian and English. Might not be the very best in Italian prog, but still well worth having."