The complex world of Italian prog and new music

An entry you may be surprised to see in our forthcoming Italian music book "A Fistful Of Spaghetti"

Luis Enríquez Bacalov
Composer (born 1933, Buenos Aires, Argentina) who worked mostly doing film soundtracks. He did a lot of excellent scores before he discovered rock music, including some Spaghetti Westerns and a few Giallos. Some films with Bacalov music in our video collection: Django (1966), La Vittima Designata (The Designated Victim, 1971), Milano Calibro 9 (1972), Il Boss (Murder Inferno, 1973), Un Hombre Llamado Noon (The Man Called Noon, 1973), Shoot First... Die Later (1974), Colpo In Canna (Loaded Guns, 1975), La Città Sconvolta (Kidnap Syndicate, 1975), Gli Esecutori (Street People, 1976), and Vacanze Per Un Massacro (Madness, 1980).



Bacalov's complete discography is at least 60 albums, of which the majority are soundtracks or used in films. Aside from initally trying to imitate Ennio Morricone (with whom he also collaborated), Bacalov's range was wide, from pastoral orchestral through to weird avant-garde (of which PITTURAMUSICA is a good example) and experimental jazz (album DESBANDES featuring Gato Barbieri). He also did funky psychedelic soul (some pieces in the "La Seduzione" soundrack) and all sorts of rock and pop styles (of which "The Summertime Killer" showcases, including two pieces that sound like New Trolls). His trademarks in the 70s became rich symphonic strings and Bach inspired melodies mixed with dramatic themes and rock rhythms.




For prog fans, his best material is these three collaboration albums he did with rock groups: New Trolls CONCERTO GROSSO (1971), Osanna PRELUDIO TEMA VARIAZIONI CANZONA (1972) and Il Rovescio Della Medaglia CONTAMINAZIONE (1973), all Italian prog classics. The Osanna collaboration he was particularly fond of, and he re-used a lot of the Osanna sessions over and over, in at least four more films after Milano Calibro 9. The second New Trolls collaboration CONCERTO GROSSO Nº 2 (1976) wasn't up to the standard of the first, but has its moments. There is now also a third CONCERTO GROSSO and abridged newly re-recorded versions of the trilogy.




Different arrangements of Concerto Grosso material in the film La Vittima Designata with Tomas Milian on vocals

p.s. Of course the book version won't include the video links, but this will no doubt give a clue as to the range of music we intend to include, sewing up the 60s/70s scene and beyond. And, yes, there's a similar article on Ennio Morricone too, plus all the usual suspects of Italian prog, the Nuova Futurista and all related genres. It's still work in progress. No doubt I'll post some more tasters here too!

A condensed history of Stormy Six

When compiling information for the upcoming "A Fistful Of Spaghetti" Italian rock etc. encyclopedia, I came up this article on Stormy Six by truncating and revising the Rock In Opposition article from Audion #39 that I wrote back in 1997...

Stormy Six
Formed in Milan in 1966, the ten year history leading up to the distinctive Stormy Six sound is a strange one. Nothing is known about the original line-up, except that one Bruno Lauzi is credited as the original leader. Back in those days they covers of The Small Faces and  Credence Clearwater Revival songs. After this a shift in style occurred when new members Claudio Rocchi and Franco Fabbri joined the band.
On their 1969 debut album LE IDEE DI OGGI PER LA MUSICA DI DOMANI (The Ideas Of Today Are The Music Of Tomorrow) they'd moved away from normal pop music, to a more psychedelic mixture with folky diversions and even a weird freak-out number. This phase was short-lived however, and they changed again after Claudio Rocchi left. The second album L'UNITÀ was a folky and sedate collection of songs, whereas GUARDA GIÙ DALLA PIANURA was done as a contract filler and comprised of well-known protest songs.
After this Stormy Six started playing at the "L'Unita" festival of the Italian Communist Party and then went on to help establish l'Orchestra, and also expand their horizons. Since 1969, the nucleus of Stormy Six had revolved around Franco Fabbri (vocals, guitar, etc.), Luca Piscicelli (guitar, bass, etc.) and Antonio Zanuso (drums), together with a fourth member, expanding to a six piece with Carlo De Martini (violin, mandolin, vocals), Umberto Fiori (vocals, guitars, harmonica) and Tommaso Leddi (mandolin, violin, etc.) circa 1975. This led to a metamorphosis and a new original sound as heard in its first stage of development on UN BIGLIETTO DEL TRAM (A Ticket for the Tram), which mixed folk and progressive rock with lots of other genres, now fronted the unique singing of Umberto Fiori. A slight blip in their development style wise was the instrumental album CLICHÉ, featuring their music to two theatre productions "1789" and "Titus Andronicus". For this they sought the aid of jazz musicians: Guido Mazzon (trombone) and Tony Rusconi (drums) coming up with a magical album that's become an island unto itself.
L'APPRENDISTA (The Apprentice) could be seen as the definitive  Stormy Six, released at the time Rock In Opposition was established  (see RIO in the Clichés & terminology section). It saw a change in line-up too, with ex-Capricorno members: Salvatore Garau (drums) and Pino Martini (bass). The change isn't what you'd expect (Capricorno were a jazz-fusion band) but a complex refinement, introducing electric instruments to flesh-out the sound, and bringing in a more rock-based footing. On MACCHINA MACCHERONICA (Maccheronica Machine) Stormy Six had now become Seven. Carlo De Martini had left, and in came Georgie Born (cello) ex-Henry Cow, and Leonardo Schiavone (clarinet, tenor sax) ex-Maxophone, with Umberto now concentrating solely on lead vocals. Maccheronica is basically a made up gibberish language used in theatre, and there are a few pieces on the album that demonstrate this art. In all it's a whirlwind ride of innovation throughout.
After this AL VOLO (On The Fly) saw a move to progressive rock. Three members also collaborated with Cassiber (Chris Cutler, Heiner Goebbels and Alfred Harth) as Cassix. Then, in 1983 the band split up. There have been a number of reformations since, notably the excellent concert documented on UN CONCERTO from 1993.

Well, I think that sums it up in a nutshell!




Stormy Six CDs for sale at the Ultima Thule Discogs shop