Customer Reviews

Verita Nascoste

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When people talk Le Orme, it's real easy to speak of great things about the albums they released in the early 1970s, particularly Felona E Sorona, and with real good reason. People tend to write off a lot of what they done after Contrappunti, and when you hear Verità Nascoste, recorded and released late in 1976, it does hold some truth, but not nearly as bad as some might make it out to be. I call this period of Le Orme their globehopping period, because starting with Smogmagica in 1975, they decided to record their next few albums in different parts of the world, with Smogmagica being recorded in Los Angeles, and this one, Verità Nascoste being recorded in London. Now the big reason why the post-Contrappunti Le Orme receives criticisms from many of the fans is the band decided to go for a more direct, song-oriented approach like they do on this album. They added a permanent guitarist which caused Toni Pagliuca's keyboards to be reduced, mostly you just hear him playing Hammond organ, and some synths, but not as much of those cool electronic effects like you would hear on Felona E Sorona or Contrappunti. About Le Orme being called the Italian ELP, well you won't find anything on this album that even remotely resembles ELP at all. I don't consider Verità Nascoste essential or a classic, but if you're a Le Orme fan, get this album, because there is actually worthy material, such as "In Ottobre", "Vedi Amsterdam" and "Radiofelicità". Basically I listened to this album expecting to be disappointed, and was actually surprised. Of course if you're new to Le Orme, this might leave you a bit underwhelmed or unsatisfied, start with one of their well-deserved classics like Felona E Sorona, and if you're sold enough, then eventually come to this album.

Why reminding you of an interesting poppy turning point of their career, with this Verità nascoste" it's so important, in spite of appearing more simplistic? Perhaps because the band in 1976 was able to maintain the old spirit, like within "Contrappunti", even though by changing their way to compose the songs...well of course their approach became less proggy and more song-oriented, as the present act brought about a certain criticism all around the media in the late seventies, especially regarding of a reduced contribution by T. Pagliuca at the organ...in fact, unlike inside "Felona e Sorona" and naturally "Contrappunti", where the instrumental numbers, enriched by means of some "epic" analogic effects, seemed to be the unique and true essence of the Italian prog ensemble, here the synths were less used and the music approach completely diverse as well...instead, in spite of lacking some typical and strong elements of a certain "symphonic prog rock", which were so important in the early seventies, the output was good, thanks to their music taste (think of the opener "Insieme al Concerto", with its memorable melody after the good intro at the acoustic guitar); then thanks to the rhytmical tune "In Ottobre" (note: the sessions at the Recording Studio in London began and were completed on October, 1976 ); and the third track- the title-track- which remained a good song, being aligned with the previous two songs!
Probably their effort in creating something more mainstream (a certain commercial rock) was driven by their music producer; otherwise in the period between 1977 and 1980 the Punk music was able to destroy one decade of great British art and prog rock, as for the policital rebellion, which made a disturbing invasion also in the world of music; so Le Orme were careful, in order to avoid their typical sound in the vein of ELP, and to earn new fans...nevermind if the other tracks are not always inspiring and sometimes more simplistic, in comparison to their glorious past.

A different album from a quite remarkable band (one of the best ones in Italy- especially during their executions live on stage- and for me that's enough!!).

Non-essential but anyway important example of mainstream music, by Le Orme.

Most people - assuming they've even heard of Le Orme - tend to wax unenthusiastic about this later (1976) effort from them. It's understandable if you're coming to VERITA NASCOSTE after having heard the acknowleged classics, FELONA E SORONA and CONTRAPPUNTI first. The sound is markedly different; more urgent, electric, and uptempo than the baroque galaxy-drifting of a few years earlier. Actually, as a 'hard rock' album, it's likewise an odd listen - the bass and keyboards dominate the mix, where you'd expect that guitar front-and-center on top of the drums to emphasize the added punch. So HOW does this album rate 4 muldoons? We-e-ll...indulge me here. You have to approach this album cold, with no expectations or preconceptions of what a Le Orme album should sound like...and be prepared to give it a few listens before rendering judgment. Let it drip in through the cracks and slowly saturate your mind's ear - you'll find this is a first-rate Le Orme album, although it's also a DIFFERENT Le Orme album. The guitars aren't front and center because they're not supposed to be: their function is to add fire and flash to the overall canvas but this is still a vocal/keyboard progressive-rock opus. The direction may be a bit more modern and insistent and the vocals at first sound too pure and delicate to fit the intent of the music, but this isn't an 'aggressive' album, merely a record that happens to be aggressive in spots. Once you've grown comfortable with the new seating arrangements, you're ready to marvel at the writing and playing on hand, and to appreciate this Italian band's stubborn determination to make a mainstream-friendlier album without sacrificing the audiosyncracies that made them Le Orme in the first place. (The proof of that was it didn't crack the mainstream.) The first three tracks alone justify the price of the cd, each uniquely memorable, the third as warm and sumptuous as the first two are intense and driving. Similarly, the penultimate and final songs are rousing & scintillating prog effin' rock that burrow straight into your memory bank and hang on for dear life. The only demerits VERITA NASCOSTE rates pertain to the middle three tracks, which, in all honesty, they ain't a thing wrong wif 'em except they fall short of the quality of the others, in some cases ('Vedi Amsterdam') by mere millimeters. Without a doubt, the more you play this ol' girl, the deeper she envelops you. I love my FELONA E SORONA to death just like the rest of you, but VERITA NASCOSTE is its equal because it's not TRYING to be. (And to any newcomers: if you've never heard any Le Orme music at all, forget all the above philosophizing and just buy this cd.)

Half of this recording sounds terrific while the other half is spoiled by over-production. Le Orme sounded as if they were trying to stay relevant within the quickly changing music scene of the late seventies. It's a shame, as they were still capable of recording some outstanding progressive music. The weaker cuts are just too poppy and have little to say musically or otherwise. This one is comprable to Smogmagica, another weaker effort. Still worth the listen, just not essential...Simon