Franco Battiato

At times albums are born out of an explosion of creativity. At other times they are a sort of musical distillation of ingredients, carefully selected and combined to create a tasteful and sensitive sonorous balance. Ones and Zeros is a successful mixture of musical colours. A project that has evolved over years, lending itself to the contributions of musicians of very different musical and cultural backgrounds, each one leaving their own very personal touch on the project. Ones and Zeros is the second solo album of Saro Cosentino. Already active on the electronic and musical fronts, with Ones and Zeros, Saro has widened his musical boundaries to encompass a fuller and more organic conception.

Roberto "Juri" Camisasca, from near Milan, despite a very limited discography can be considered a cult figure among Italian rogressive music followers, especially fans of Franco Battiato and fans of Italian prog that blazed it's own path rather than following 'traditional' English style progressive rock. In 1974, Battiato joined his friend Roberto "Juri" Camisasca (they met while serving in the army) to play VCS3 and keyboards and co-produce the latter's debut album, La finestra dentro ("the window inside"). The result was something slightly different from early seventies' Battiato classics like Fetus (1972) and Pollution (1972): the driving forces here are Camisasca's excellent acid-folk songwriting and his unique, thrilling voice Juri strongly influenced by his collaboration with Franco Battiato, who signed Juri to the label and produced the LP, also playing the VCS3 synth on it.

Jumbo's second album was recorded very soon after their debut and its release happened the same year. Still on the Phillips label, but offering a rather controversial gatefold artwork (with as well as an equally debate-sparking title, musically speaking, there is a world of difference between their debut and DNA, almost a genetically modified change, if you will. With an unchanged line-up, this is a very impressive change showing how quickly they matured. Don't be driven off by Alvaro Fella's reputation of having a difficult voice, this is completely inaccurate as he is in the average of Italian prog singers, no more, no less…

This DVD features a short documentary about the history of the band. Alvaro Fella, Daniele Bianchini and Aldo Gargano talk about the beginnings of "Jumbo's adventure" and the Italian prog rock scene of the early seventies while some excerpts from "DNA" and "Vietato ai minori di 18 anni?" are in the background (the dialogs are in Italian with English subtitles). You can see also many old pictures that can give you an idea of the "halcyon days" of the band. An unplugged version of "La strada porta al fiume", from Jumbo's debut album closes the first part of the DVD.
The second part features some live excerpts from a concert in 1995. Many tracks are taken from the most recent albums ("Folle corsa", "La mia vita", "Bella & finta", "Metropolis" and "Lakota"). Nothing special indeed, although the final track, a long and original version of "Suite per il sig. K." is absolutely worth listen to.
The DVD ends with some short excerpts from a live performance in Paris in 1990…