TODAY'S ALBUM: No.14 (8th November 2011)

'Io Sono Nato Libero' 

by Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
(1973)

One of the premier Italian groups of the 1970's, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso at their peak created some of the most intricate, elaborate and adventurous music within the entire progressive canon. Featuring a triple-layered keyboard sound that saw the multiple use of pianos, organs and synthesizers within almost every composition and the classically-trained vocal skills of former opera singer Francesco Di Giacomo, the group were formed in Rome during the early-seventies by the formidably-talented Nocenzi brothers Gianni and Vittorio, both of whom had been playing the piano since childhood. 
Also featuring guitarist Marcello Todaro, bassist Renato D'Angelo and drummer Pier Luigi Calderoni, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso's self-titled debut was released in 1972 on the small Ricordi label. No doubt partially influenced by the huge success British outfit Van Der Graaf Generator enjoyed in Italy during the early part of the 1970's, the group's ambitious sound featured a carefully-balanced mixture of electronic and acoustic instruments that displayed a prodigious complexity that occasionally bordered on the discordant, the unique piano, organ and synthesizer combination creating an intense, multi-layered effect tinged with operatic grandeur. A second, longer album, also released on the Ricordi label, followed later the same year, only this time the group were entering the realm of the concept album. Named 'Darwin!', the album was another densely-layered progressive opus, with the grouop's main writers - Di Giacomo and the Nocenzi brothers -  exploring the theory of evolution and it's various effects on the timeline of natural history. Once again it found all five musicians skilfully blending disparate musical ingredients and once again the album found favour in the Italian album charts, bettering their debut by a single place and reaching the lofty heights of no.4.
Released in 1973, again on the faithful Ricordi label and produced by Sandro Colombini, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso's third album 'Io Sono Nato Libero'(translation: 'I Was Born Free') followed on stylistically from it's predecessor, only with that album's intense edge smoothed slightly by a welcome symphonic edge that lent the material an even more expressive ambience. Although only reaching no.10 on the Italian album charts, 'Io Sono Nato Libero' was the album that alerted the Emerson Lake & Palmer-owned label Manticore Records to the group's cause, and just like fellow countrymen PFM, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso signed an international deal with the imprint. After shortening their name to just Banco(PFM had been known by their full moniker of Premiata Forneria Marconi in their homeland) the group started to re-work many of their original compositions to include English lyrics. However, unlike PFM, the decision to engineer Banco's material for an international audience only succeeded in blunting the group's formidable sound, and the subsequent series of albums failed to reach the lofty musical heights achieved on their earlier releases. However, in Italy, the group would remain a popular outfit throughout the rest of the decade, both in the studio and as a live attraction.
Of Banco's early releases it is perhaps 'Darwin!' that is the most famous, maybe due to it's concept-album status, yet it is 'Io Sono Nato Liberi' that features the group at their complex and challenging best. A perfect example is the fifteen-and-three-quarter-minute long opening gambit 'Canto Nomade Per Un Prigioniero Politico'('Nomad, By Hand A Political Prisoner'), a stirring and grandly-operatic progressive symphony filled with arresting instrumental passages that scales the full range of Banco's stylistic ouevre. This is progressive rock at it's richest, eschewing traditional base elements - such as the blues and traditional R'n'B - for a full-blown classical-inflected rock fusion that leaves no room for commercial sentiment. The nearest British touchstone is most probably Van Der Graaf Generator or King Crimson, yet even their at times aggressive music feels restrained in comparison. Perhaps the most notable aspect of Banco's luxurious-in-scope sound is the warbling vocals of Di Giacomo, whose impressive range segues seamlessly with the furiously ever-shifting musical patterns being weaved by the Nocenzi brothers deeply-textured approach. There is also a notable lack of a strong guitar presence, the keyboards, synthesizers and organs that dominate the group's sound leaving little room for an instrument obviously deemed surplus to requirements, a factor which again points to the subtle influence of Van Der Graaf Generator. 
Trying to describe the music of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso is a difficult task for anyone, the complexity of the sound, the constantly changing textures and the instrumental dexterity creating a highly-progressive style of music that is a world away from the mainstream sounds of Britain and the USA. However, those with an enquiring mind and the stomach for a challenge will discover one of the genre's most exhilarating and uncompromising outfit's whose albums push against the very boundaries of what is accepted as 'rock' music. Highly-charged and relentlessly-inventive, 'Io Sono Nato Libero' is certainly progressive music at it's most difficult, yet for those who persevere the rewards are exceptional. 


Key songs: Canto Nomade Per Un Prigioniero Politico, Traccia II