Mmp 9

Fourteen tracks cover the period between 1967-1972. The 15th track, La Nella Casa Dell'Angelo is actually from 1981.
Unique in the history of Italian progressive music, New Trolls were leaders and were for a time the top band in Italy. In 1973, New Trolls split into two camps, the hard-rocking Ibis and the symphonic-oriented New Trolls Atomic System. They crossed many different permutations of line-up changes, many musical stylings… and great hits, passing through beat, pop ballads, progressive rock works, hard rock, and melodic pop followed groups like Genesis and PFM.

Born in Forlì (Italy) in 1951, Riccardo Zappa is widely recognized as the greatest Italian acoustic guitarist. For five consecutive years he was voted the best in the poll promoted by the famous monthly magazine "Guitar Club". After that, he was declared to be no longer eligible for nomination. His music is in fact quite unique in the whole Italian prog scene; not can many other comparisons be found outside Italy, except perhaps Mike Oldfield, for his long, acoustic-based instrumental compositions.
His unmistakable trademark is the "Ovation" guitar, an instrument with a striking nasal sound, very suited to being handled with special effects. His first work, "Auhlela & Zappa" was recorded in 1974 as a duo, with lyrics and vocals by Klaus Auhlela and music by Riccardo Zappa himself…

A very distinctive and unique album among progressive Italian releases, the sole self titled LP by La Nuova Era sounds unlike any other and is well deserving of reappraisal. Entirely instrumental except for one short female vocal piece, the album features delicate instrumentation by way of a frequent blending of floating synths over gentle acoustic guitar, drifting ambience and classical piano atmosphere weaving around pulsing icy electronic soundscapes. Try to imagine a slightly darker mix of 70's and 80's Tangerine Dream mixed with a gentle Xian acoustics and you might have a better idea of what to expect. The somewhat murky production gives much of the album a slightly grim and confronting sound, ensuring the Christian elements maintain a very reflective and somber tone. The striking stony grey illustration of a crucifix on the cover is perfectly suited to the soundtrack as well.

Another interesting and modern progressive rock band hailing from Poland, Lizard were found in 1990 and spent the first six years of their existence on live performances, while they also recorded a demo tape.In 1997 they recorded an interesting debut named ''W Galerii Czasu'' with main influences being E.L.P. and King Crimson. Almost seven years passed before the band released their sophomore work at the dawn of 2004, entitled ''Psychopuls''. This time their sound seems heavier and less polished, but the musicianship remains at a top level. As the name of the band indicates, Lizard are much inspired by King Crimson, especially by their ''Red''-era phase…

Corporesano is an Italian prog rock band. "Corporesano" (2019) is their debut studio album.

Poland is becoming a 'pleasant progrock paradise: after Collage, Quidam, Riverside and Satellite here is the interesting four piece band (including keyboard, violin and guitar synthesizer) Lizard. This is already their fourth studio CD entitled Spam (after their debut album from 1997) and divided into six pieces, Spam #1-Spam #6. The music sounds pleasant and melodic featuring tension between the heavy guitar riffs and the flowing violin work. The songs alternates between dreamy and propulsive and bombastic with inspired Polish vocals. The keyboards sound a bit subdued but if you listen good these are blended very subtle into the music…

Probably the best Polish progressive symphonic group. It was founded in 1976. From the beginning, the musicians had concrete, defined musical interests. Their intention was to play rock music strongly influenced by classical music. Some people call them "Polish Yes" because of the symphonic sound and high, delicate vocal of Pawel Birula. They used to play mainly at the Warsaw student club Riviera-Remont where they had a lot of young fans. In the first half of 80-ies Exodus had a tournee in the USSR and West Germany. They recorded a few TV programs, did many radio recordings and released a few singles that were received very well. But singles don't adequately render the specific character of their music. They had the tendency for creating bigger forms of music and wanted their concerts to become para-theatrical shows…

The end of the 60s was an important period in jazz, as well as rock music, in Poland and the rest of the world, with the development of many styles and trends in popular music. In 1970 the jazz rock fusion band, Laboratorium was formed in Kraków. Their music soon developed in jazz rock fusion, and so were pioneers in this music in Poland. In their first years, Laboratorium's music was acoustic, cleverly avoiding any limiting definitions. At the beginning of the 70's there was very limited access to Western recordings but this did not prove an obstacle for the band, because of the musicians searching and experimenting in the field. On the contrary and because of their relative isolation, Laboratorium developed an unique sound which was often noted in various critical reviews…