Banco Mutuo Soccorso 2.0

During this live concert Banco plays most of the better numbers that has made them popular over the years, and by including many of the past members of the group, some of the old feel is recaptured. Francesco Di Giacomo's voice has darkened a bit over the years, but it is still strong.
They did it the best way: a great summer open air concert with all the past and present member of the band. That show is captured live here and is excellent both for the sound quality and the great musicianship.

Legendary Italian progressive rock band Banco del Mutuo Soccorso released its first LP in 1972 on the label Dischi Ricordi. The lineup included Vittorio Nocenzi (keyboards), Gianni Nocenzi (piano), Francesco Di Giacomo (vocals), Renato d'Angelo (bass), the newly arrived Pierluigi Calderoni (drums), and guitarist Marcello Todara, who would soon be replaced by Rodolfo Maltese. This eponymous release revealed a band with stellar musicianship, an inclination toward the kind of classical-meets-rock blend the Nice had been doing in England, affinities with the burgeoning European prog rock scene, and yet retention of strong connections with a hard-to-define Italian sound, thanks mostly to singer Di Giacomo. Banco del Mutuo Soccorso contained the fast-paced "R.I.P.," a good rock number with a surprisingly lyrical bridge, and "Metamorphosi"…

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. In Darwin!, every promise made by Banco's eponymous debut was realized. Vittorio Nocenzi's writing has flourished into complex songs blending Italian songwriting, bel canto, and progressive rock. The arrival of guitarist Rodolfo Maltese crystallized the band's luxurious sound, all topped by Francesco Di Giacomo's operatic vocals. The majestic "L'Evoluzione" opens the album, providing some of the best moments ever recorded by this band (along with "Canto Nomade per un Prigioniero Politico")…

In 1975, the Italian progressive rock band Banco del Mutuo Soccorso released its first English LP after three Italian ones. Following the example of fellow progsters Premiata Forneria Marconi, they shortened their name to Banco and re-packaged a handful of tracks from their previous records with English vocals to put together an introductory package for the English-speaking world. But unlike PFM's Photos of Ghosts, Banco contained two new pieces, and the old ones had been completely re-recorded, some even re-written.

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's third LP, Io Sono Nato Libero, was released only a few months after the impressive Darwin!, and featured the same lineup (brothers Vittorio and Gianni Nocenzi on keyboards, Rodolfo Maltese on guitar, Pierluigi Calderoni on drums, Renato d'Angelo on bass, and Francesco Di Giacomo on vocals). It yielded one classic track, "Non Mi Rompete," a beautiful Italian ballad that would be part of the band's set list for the rest of its life. Another important track is "Traccia II," which develops the musical idea found at the end of the 1971 LP Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. Music history may have preserved these two pieces, but the real point of interest on Io Sono Nato Libero is the 15-minute opus "Canto Nomade per un Prigioniero Politico," a complex and very moving piece (the title translates to "Nomad Song for a Political Prisoner")…

Banco's first three albums are heralded by prog fans for good reason, they contain some of the finest progressive music out there. This title gets far less attention which is a shame as the usual letdown in quality some bands have after their acclaimed period is not present here. This is a solid RPI title by any definition. This album is in some ways their most accomplished to date, featuring incredible arrangements and wonderful composition. Yes the long epics have been replaced by shorter pieces but they are very engaging. Blending classical and jazz influenced jamming into their usual complex dramatic stew, at first the album can be a bit overwhelming and less accessible. It may not grab you as immediately as the earlier albums, but give it time and it will…

Garofano Rosso is an instrumental album. Now, why would a band with such a prominent singer as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso record an instrumental album? Because behind Francesco Di Giacomo's voice one finds strong instrumental compositional skills. And so the band was asked to write and record a soundtrack for the movie Garofano Rosso. (Keyboardists Vittorio and Gianni Nocenzi would later write a handful of other soundtracks, both together and separately.) But the album is not the actual soundtrack; two tracks, "Zobeida" and "Funerale," don't appear in the final cut, and the band fiddled with the track order to make things more interesting. Therefore, Garofano Rosso stands as a good album on its own, not as exciting as Darwin! or Io Sono Nato Libero, and not as impressive (or pompous) as Banco's other instrumental LP Di Terra, but still an honest effort…

With "Canto di Primavera" Banco closes the era of the seventies giving their music a touch of late Camel sound, as it evident in the opener instrumental "Ciclo". We are far from the richness and complexity of albums as "Io Sono Nato Libero", "Darwin" or even "Come in un Ultima Cena" but there are still some excellent moments of excellent contribution to the italian progressive scene. The sound is more polished and song-based with relaxing and melodic ballads enriched by nice keyboards parts, acoustic guitars, sparse sax touches and even mandolin.

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.