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FINISTERRE
Storybook (Moonjune Records)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
This is a live CD of a wonderful performance by the Italian Art Rock band Finisterre that took place in 1997 at the Progday Festival in New York. Not exactly a household word here in the US, Finisterre has several albums to their credit and is composed of Fabio Zuffanti on bass and vocals, Stefano Marelli on guitars and vocals, Boris Valle on keyboards, Sergio Grazia on flute and Andrea Orlando on drums. One listen will show that these guys are accomplished musicians that deserve ranking among the great Art Rock bands of the 70's. They even cover "Altaloma" by PFM (the legendary Premiatta Forneria Marconi band, also from Italy) but they also interpolate snatches of King Crimson and Genesis into their own piece "Phaedra" (not to be confused with the Tangerine Dream album).
It's a tightly exuberant, mellotron-soaked performance and certainly will be appreciated by all fans of Genesis in the early years, ELP, Yes, and the other classic art rockers. The recording does not have the stunning clarity of something like Genesis's Seconds Out but still the quality's quite good. Everything is well preserved and includes some of their halting English in between the numbers. The compositions themselves are not as spacey and depressing as Pink Floyd can be; it's more to the fusion jazz form of ensemble-art rock where virtuoso musicianship is the focus. Stefano Marelli's fluid runs on the guitar are especially pleasing as are the keyboards of Boris Valle who nails the early 70's prog-rock sound. Another plus is the flute work of Sergio Garza who had left the band after the first album but returned for this concert. The only weak point is Stefano and Fabio's singing, but then in this genre you get measured against the likes of Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Greg Lake and John Anderson, so there's a lot to live up to. Moreover they are singing in Italian and the liner notes unfortunately are missing translations. Something is lost there but all is forgiven since it's mostly instrumental and the playing is flat out inspired.
It'd be hard for an Art Rock band like Finisterre to become a household word in these days of aggressive attitude and packaged personalities, but in the tighter circles of Art Rock Fans, Finisterre is certain to be enthusiastically embraced.
[Pick this CD up at www.amazon.com.]
© 2002 - Rusty Pipes