Work got in the way the past few days, so a short one to continue the therapeutic trend of listening and writing. I debated which album from Le Orme I wanted to feature here, but in the end the classic of the genre beat out its lesser known (to my ears) follow up, and so we come to Felona E Sorona. The”E” is vitally important, as I discovered when I mistakenly bought Felona & Sorona, which is the same album but with English lyrics written by Van dear Graaf Generator’s Pete Hammill. Folks, don’t make the the same mistake I did. Go for the original article – there’s a reason it’s a classic.

It’s nice to hear a different configuration, in this case a simple trio of bass, drums, and – of course – keyboards. A lot of them. The calling card of Felona E Sornoa, a concept album about two very different planets whose conflicting personalities (one is warm and inviting, one is cold and prone to disaster) invert and impact their fates. You don’t need to know that, but it sets a vibe that keyboardist Antonio Pagliuca emphasizes with his playing, often layering keyboards and organs one atop another, backed by the great up front drumming of Michi Dei Rossi and bassist/guitarist/vocalist Aldo Tagliapietra. The guitar is more for acoustic strumming, small accents and effects; the bass is really doing a lot of the work along with the keyboards here.

Tagliapietra has a clear, if high and slightly nasal voice, but it works for the music, and on the opening eight minute song “Sospesi Nell’Incredibile” the entire mission statement of the band is laid out: symphonic elements juxtaposed against extended rock workouts and more experimental, electronic noise excursions. A little space rock, even? You can hear a lot in Felona E Sorona if you look beyond the more obvious influence culprits: ELP would be an easy mark except there’s a much better sense of song structure here (sorry, ELP).

The rest of Felona E Sorona is composed of shorter pieces, none going past the five minutes mark, and more than a few not even hitting the three minute mark. In that way songs like the brief, acoustic “Felona” and the piano-led, ethereal “La Solitude Di Chi Protegge Il Mondo” feel like short movements of a much larger suite. There are a few surprises afoot, like the almost industrial effect of the repeated synth riff that sounds like a guitar buzzsaw on “Attesa Inerte”.

The rest of the album is mellow, with the bombast and rock only returning on the closer “Ritorno Al Nulla.” But man, what a closer. Massive synths and repeated figures bring an air of desperation and SF movie climax to Felona E Sorona, and the bombast that I loved on the first track is brought back around to close the proceedings out with a bang. Also finally: guitar solos! Le Orme may not have quite the rock pedigree that other bands at the time may have leaned on, but for the opening and closing songs alone, and the sense of swing, of unfettered experimentation make this not only an essential Italian prog release, but an essential progressive rock release.