Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso

Released in 1978, Di Terra is a transitional album between the end of Banco's creative progressive rock phase (ending with the 1976 LP Come in Un'Ultima Cena) and the beginning of the group's more commercial phase (the 1979 LP Canto di Primavera). The Italian band's second all-instrumental album (Garofano Rosso was a film soundtrack), Di Terra is a symphonic suite in seven parts co-written by Gianni and Vittorio Nocenzi. Putting together an orchestra and a rock band was not new in 1978 (Deep Purple had done it years before), but rarely have the two been so nicely integrated. Of course, the project sounds a bit pompous, but the Nocenzi brothers' writing eschews the Star Wars effects to concentrate on textures and melodies. The music evokes Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, Maneige, Rick Wakeman's Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (minus the chorus), and the instrumental side of Banco…

There could not be a better time and occasion for Banco del Mutuo Soccorso to celebrate their 50th anniversary while simultaneously releasing their possibly most ambitious concept album since the release of their debut album ‘Darwin’ in 1972. The new album is called ‘Orlando: Le Forme dell’Amore’. Vittorio Nocenzi was working on this new album’s musical concept for years together with his son Michaelangelo and lyricist Paolo Lugli. Narrating a real XIV century poem through different songs and possibly describing the facts and the ideals was a mountain to climb.

The 1976 release As in a Last Supper marked a pivotal point in the career of legendary Italian prog rockers Banco. The previous year, the band put out its first album targeted at English-speaking audiences, on admirers Emerson, Lake & Palmer's own label, Manticore. (Fellow Italian proggies PFM were already part of the Manticore roster.) But that self-titled release was a hodgepodge of earlier tracks with newly recorded vocals in English, plus some new material. As in a Last Supper was the first "proper" Banco album targeted at the Anglo audience, the first to be conceived as a self-contained piece for Manticore. During this period, they were also going by the simpler Banco outside Italy, as opposed to their full name, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, though they'd eventually use the shorter moniker worldwide…

In 2012 and 2013 Sony Music produced two box sets to celebrate the first two albums by Banco: 40 anni, issued in 2012 as a 2-LP or 2-CD set, contains the first album along with a second record including new unreleased live and studio recordings. Darwin!, issued in 2013 as a triple vinyl or double CD, contains the original second album and a live version recorded in 2012, along with an unreleased studio track sung by Franco Battiato. Both the sets include a picture book. The 2CD / 3LP set Un’idea che non puoi fermare was issued in 2014 to commemorate Francesco Di Giacomo and contains some lyrics of the group declaimed by movie and theatre actors. The 3 LP version was also issued in a limited edition on clear vinyl, only sold by Amazon.

Darwin! will remain Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's masterpiece. This album, the band's second, is the proud equal of Premiata Forneria Marconi's Per Un Amico and Le Orme's Felona e Sorona in the Italian progressive rock hall of fame…

The long-lived and influential Italian progressive band Banco del Mutuo Soccorso was influenced by such British progressive giants as Yes and Gentle Giant while also drawing heavily on classical and folk music. Although the group simplified their sound in later years, from 1972 to 1976 the group produced a series of eclectic, densely arranged progressive classics…