Customer Reviews

Uomo Di Pezza

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
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This is the second record by the *progressive* Le Orme, and it is with this release that I consider them to have developed into the great band we all know and love.

Uomo Di Pezza is a hundred times better than Collage in almost every way imaginable - the compositions, the production, and the playing. That said, I feel constrained to point out that even though the songwriting took a huge leap forward here, Uomo Di Pezza is still at least a step behind their two masterpieces, Felona E Sonora and Contrapuntti.

The opening cut, Una Dolcezza Nuova, is a real treasure, with a stunningly gorgeous piano figure that gets right into your head and stays there for days. Ditto for Aspettando L'Alba, with an absolutely haunting minor-key riff played on acoustic guitar and what sounds like a celeste. These are my favorite songs on the disc and make it absolutely indispensable, in my opinion.

Alienazione is an excellent ELP-ish instrumental monster jam, and quite good for what it is - an opportunity for the band to stretch out a bit. I didn't find any of the other pieces all that compelling, though there are no bad tunes.

All things considered, this isn't a bad starting point if you haven't heard Le Orme yet. I might suggest Felona E Sonora as the best introduction, but you won't go wrong with this one.

This album has haunted me since I first purchased it on vinyl in 1977. I finally found it on CD at a reasonable price, and still enjoy it as thoroughly as I did 20-odd years ago.
If you've never heard Le Orme (translate: "The Footprint"), they are something like a combination of ELP (instrumentation lineup) and early Genesis (in lyrical and melodical content). I bought an English/Italian dictionary to translate the song lyrics back in the '70s, and the lyrics are fascinating. In the title track, Uomo di Pezza (which translates loosely as "Cartoon Character"), the band portrays a figure whose solitary existence has been reduced to a world of dreams and hallucinations. In the closing lyric, the singer begs his creator "Please don't let me wake up like this!". In the song, La Puerta Chiussa ("The Closed Door"), the lyrics are about opening hidden portals in the listener's mind. At one point, the lyric (again, loosely translated) come across with the words "Why do you not open it? Perhaps it is Him." Most intriguing!!

Uomo di Pezza is Le Orme's fourth album and their second venture in to prog rock (their first two were psychedelic pop not unlike From Genesis to Revelation). While Collage, their first prog album received only a mixed reaction, it's with Uomo di Pezza that people regard as the album that gave the band the classic sound. I have not heard Collage so I can't comment there. Anyway, Uomo di Pezza is a real grower, excellent production, stuffed with great numbers like "La Porta Chiusa", "Figure di Cartone" and "Aspettando L'alba". The instrumental "Alienazione" really took me by surprise. Most of it is on the ELP side, with heavy Hammond organ that makes me think of "Knife Edge" or the Italian prog band L'Uovo di Colombo. It's almost as if Le Orme wanted to be a heavy progressive rock band. But what really surprised me was a passage that used fuzz organ that sounded exactly like what Soft Machine's Mike Ratledge or Khan, Hatfield & the North, and National Health's Dave Stewart used, giving the unusual moment that Le Orme almost sounded like a Canterbury band! But most of the rest of the album is one the mellower side that makes up a great deal what they did on this album. Although I prefer their following album, Felona e Sorona, this is still a great album to add to your collection.

This is the first of Le Orme's strongest recording period. It was here that their sound truly matured. Production, songwriting and performances reached a new level here. Where Collage hinted at such a development it is realised to great effect on this recording. For the first time their deft marriage of melodicism and compositional/instrumental skill are combined to creat truly unique and impressive progressive music. This sound would mature further on their next two recordings Felona e Sorona and Contrappunti. All three are highly recommended...Simon

ITALY WAS ALWAYS THE FIRST EUROPEAN COUNTRY IN RECOGNIZING AND ACCLAIMING THE VALUES OF BRAND NEW BANDS OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK ( I'M TALKING ABOUT THE 70'S AND ABOUT GENESIS, YES, ELP, AND SO ON ...), AND HERE WE HAVE THE REASON (OR ONE OF THEM): LE ORME .... A POWERFUL SYMPHONIC ROCK TRIO WITH ALL THE THINGS PUT IN THE RIGHT PLACE: BEAUTIFUL MELODIES, INTRICATE TEMPO ARRANGEMENTS, UNEXPECTED BREAKS, VIRTUOSO PLAYING AT THE RIGHT TIMES AND WEIRD PASSAGES OF MUSIC TOO IN BETWEEN THE SONGS ...

A GUARANTEE FOR PROGRESSIVE FANS ....

I NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE SONGS (THEY SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES), BUT LISTEN CAREFULLY THREE OF THEM: "LA PORTA CHIUSA" (REPRESENTING THE PROGRESSIVE SIDE),"GIOCO DI BIMBA"(WHO SAID PROG BANDS COULDN'T MAKE SWEET SONGS ?) AND "UNA DOLCEZZA NUOVA (THE PERFECT MIX OF PROG AND POP ...)

THAT'S ALL AND I HOPE THIS REVIEW WILL OPEN A NEW GENERATION OF LE ORME FANS

The exact title is "Uomo di Pezza"; please correct, thank you.

Uomo di pezza is an album by the Italian progressive rock band Le Orme. It was released in 1972 and was one of their best selling works, which won an Italian award disco d'oro.

The title Uomo di pezza means "Rag doll man" in English. The doll character comes from the lyrics of the song Gioco di bimba.

Compared to the previous album, it shows much more classical elements: the opening of the album, for example, is a chaconne of Johann Sebastian Bach, played on piano by maestro Gian Piero Reverberi. Furthermore, Tony Pagliuca plays a synthesizer for the first time.

The lyrics of Uomo di pezza describe a helpless masculine attitude, juxtaposed to an unknown, inscrutable feminine universe.

This 1972 recording opens with a very churchy and baroque-period classical sounding blast on the Hammond organ, which then segues into some fairly intricate ensemble work. Add Aldo Tagliapletra's high pitched and haunting vocal style, incredible melodies, a little Italian folk music, a ton of analog synthesizers and mellotron, virtuosic musicianship, and you pretty much have an idea of what Le Orme sounds like on Uomo di Pezza.

The musicians on this brilliant and haunting album include Toni Pagliuca (Hammond organ, mini-moog synthesizer, acoustic piano, mellotron, celeste, and RMI electric harpsichord); Aldo Tagliapletra (bass, vocals, electric and acoustic guitars); and Michi dei Rossi (drums, bells, and persussion). The seven tracks on this album are generally pretty short by prog standards and range in length from 2'42" to 7'28". In fact, the entire album is short and only lasts for a total of 32'02".

If I were to complain about anything on this excellent album, it would be that the tracks themselves are short to the point where they are just not fully developed. This is not a huge problem for me however, and the quality of the material and the excellent performances more than compensate for the brevity. It is worth noting that Le Orme would get around the brevity problem on the 1973 follow-up album Felona e Serona by making the pieces flow together in a song-cycle suite.

This album was nicely remastered as part of the European Rock Legend Series and features the original album art and gatefold format of the original LP along with stellar sound quality. Unfortunately, the liner notes are in Japanese so I don't have the foggiest notion as to what is being said.

Le Orme, along with PFM and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso made the finest music to come out of the Italian progressive rock scene. Uomo di Pezza is very highly recommended along with Felona e Serona (1973); Contrapuntti (1974); Storia o Leggenda (1977), and Florian (1979).

This group as Premiata, banco, balleto di bronzo are the very best of 70's progresive rock , this album shows the begining of this great Band highly recomended, Le Orme Uommo di Pezza, but remember only for experts in this chart.

This group as Premiata, banco, balleto di bronzo are the very best of 70's progresive rock , this album shows the begining of this great Band highly recomended Le Orme, but remember only for experts in this chart.