Biography
Le Orme was one of
the three major Italian groups, the other two being PFM and
Banco, to attain some semblance of international success and
sustain a lengthy career that has lasted until the present day.
The band began as a beat/pop group with heavy Beatles and psychedelic
influences, releasing a number of singles, and two albums, in
that vein. By 1970 however, the band having been scaled
down to its core trio, Le Orme began to pursue greater ambitions,
and met with record company resistance in recording of their
Collage album. However, the the increasing success
of bands like Genesis and especially ELP eventually convinced
the execs to give Le Orme a shot in the Italian market.
1971's Collage would be the bands first step in the direction
of progressive rock, establishing the keyboard/bass/drum trio
format that would serve them well over their next few albums.
The band's truly
classic period begins with their next release, Uomo di Pezza,
which was a finely honed progressive rock onslaught, contrasting
gorgeous balladry with explosive keyboard bombast, and would
attain Gold sales status in Italy. 1973's Felona E
Sonora was a grand concept work, fully fleshed out both
musically and conceptually, crystallizing the bands vision and
undoubtedly establishing them as leaders in the Italian scene.
The band was contacted by Charisma label head Tony Stratton-Smith
for an English release of the album, and Van der Graaf Generator's
Peter Hammill, who was apparently a huge fan, wrote the lyrics
and liner notes. This English version is apparently extremely
rare, and I'm not sure how it turned out in the end. The
next album, Contrappunti, would see the addition of a
fourth member, Gian Pero Reverberi on piano, and would facilitate
an even more complex approach. However, Contrappunti
would effectively close out the band's streak of success, as
the band would dabble more in pop and folk for the remainder
of the decade, and into the early 80s before disbanding.
The recent resurgence
of progressive rock in the 90s has apparently called the members
of Le Orme back from retirement, as the band reunited in 1990
for another pop album, Orme. However, upon the
departure of Tony Pagliuca, the band decided to rethink their
strategy and has attempted a return to their progressive roots.
The more recent albums like Il Fiume and Elementi
have been praised by many as the bands best output since
Contrappunti, and won the band headlining slots at LA's
Progfest in 1997 and Mexico's Baja Prog festival in 2000.
- Greg
Northrup [October 2001]
Source: Le
Orme Fan Site
Uomo
Di Pezza (1972)
This is
one of Le Orme’s definitive Italian progressive rock albums.
Although there is definitely an significant Emerson, Lake &
Palmer influence here, as in the bombastic Moog and Hammond
workouts countered by mellow balladry, Le Orme were always much
better. The band displays their distinct Mediterranean
feel, and an honest romantic feel without coming off as tacky
or overly sentimental. Opening track “Una Dolcezza Nuova”
is a track of unimaginable beauty, starting out with frenetic
keyboard playing before swinging into a tender, piano backed
ballad. The album swings between this beautiful, romantic
melodicism and powerful moments of ELP-like bombast, which seem
initially derivative, but are definitely infected with their
own style. "La Porta Chiusa" is an explosive number, featuring
very aggressive keyboard leads over a fiery rhythmic backdrop.
"Gioco Di Bimba" perhaps best typifies the bands more restrained
side, another beautiful melodic ballad, with a tender vocal
melody backed by acoustic guitar. This dichotomy between
bombast and beauty is what really defines this album.
It's not quite as integrated a feel as would characterize their
next two albums, Felona E Sonora and Contrappunti,
though its fantastic nonetheless, and one of Le Orme's three
essential albums.
- Greg Northrup [2000]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
Felona
E Sonora (1973)
This is
probably one of my top favorite Italian progressive rock albums,
and definitely in the upper-echelon of the prog releases in
general. Le Orme play extraordinary symphonic progressive
rock in the trio format; very beautiful and romatic sounding,
as Aldo Tagliapietra's vocals have a gentle, earthy quality
to them, although the band definitely has the marked ability
to rock out, as evidenced in the fantastic "L' Equilibrio" and
the closing instrumental "Ritorno Al Nulla".
Emerson, Lake
& Palmer is the overused, and not entirely accurate, reference
point for Le Orme, though perhaps a decent place to start understanding
the basic format of this band for Itali-prog newbies.
That is a sound characterized simply by bass, keyboard and drums,
with occasional sprinklings of guitar. However, Le Orme
is definitely the superior band, rarely sounding at all mechanical,
but instead richly symphonic, lush and darkly beautiful.
Though there is quite a bit of heavy keyboard soloing, a la
ELP, it rarely comes off as pretentious or wanky. Instead,
Antonio Pagliuca acts as a master of texture and delicacy, incorporating
a wide variety of keyboards, occasionally double tracking, and
truly delivering on the conceptual moodieness of Felona E
Sonora, though he definitely takes the occasional liberty
of displaying his extensive chops.
This is a concept
album that delivers a full and inegrated story line, though
I'm unclear on exactly what it is, due to the obvious fact that
the lyrics are all in Italian. It has something to do
with two sister planets, one Felona and one Sonora, one of which
has a happy and joyous population, while the other's is other
miserable and listless. I don't know exactly what happens
with the two planets, but the music on this album definitely
tells its own story. A great album.
- Greg Northrup [2000]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
Contrappunti
(1974)
Another
fantastic Le Orme album, and really the close of their classic
trilogy. The distinction of Contrappunti is
that they've added a fourth member, though I don't really
hear much in the way of a drastic change in sound.
There is a little more texture in the songs, and a little
more going on in places, but this is still classic Orme.
The band still relies on the distinction between bombastic
keyboard frenzies like the title track and tender ballads
like "Frutto Acerbo".
Like
Felona E Sonora, this album also manages to integrate
the two and create some songs that are loud, powerful and
beautiful like "La Fabbricante D'Angeli". This
is another great Le Orme album in the tradition of the previous
two. If you have those you'll enjoy this one for sure,
as it is just different enough for them to not repeat themselves,
though I'd take either of the previous two over this one.
- Greg Northrup [2000]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
Elementi
(2001)
Le Orme has
finally returned with a new CD. From the gorgeous
Paul Whitehead artwork (think Nursery Cryme on 10!)
one would think that this album harkens back to the band’s
glory days; and you’d be absolutely correct! Elementi
is a concept album on the four elements (fire, water, earth,
air) all of which will be lost on the listener who isn’t
fluent in Italian. However, the language barrier hardly
gets in the way of the music, which is lush, romantic symphonic
rock in the grand Italian tradition. Anyone familiar
with the band’s other classics such as Felona e Sonora
and Contrappunti is going to fall in love with this
one.
Elementi
is similar in style and execution to Il Fiume, the
band’s previous CD. Though the tracks are short, they
flow together as one long suite. It is perhaps a little
more up tempo than Il Fiume and most of that CD’s
occasional new age tendencies are gone. Compositionally
speaking, this is a very successful album. These guys
really know how to open up and let rip with a symphonic
keyboard driven theme and then mellow out with reflective
haunting variation. Those sampled mellotron choirs
are appreciated as well! Aldo Tagliapietra’s voice
is as warm and sincere as ever and he even plays some sitar
here and there. This is one of those albums that you
put on and listen to all the way through; no single track
stands out as each piece depends on what came before.
Personally,
I feel that Le Orme is one of the greatest progressive bands
of all time. It’s really a shame that they’ve lived
in the shadow of ELP for so long, especially since they’ve
continued to produce high quality music for 30 years.
They don’t hurl notes at you or show off their classically
trained abilities. Instead, they let melody and emotion
shine through. With Elementi, they’ve proven
yet again how special they are. So Rob and Chad, how
about a headlining spot for NEARFEST 2002?
- Steve Pettengill [October 2001]
