Il Balletto di Bronzo was yet another long line of Italian prog bands out there. In 1970, the band released their debut called Sirio 2222. It's said to be in the psychedelic hard rock vein, like Hendrix, and is not usually highly regarded in prog circles (on the other hand, if you like that type of stuff, you'd probably like it, I don't know, I hadn't heard that particular album).
Two years later, with some changes in their lineup and a change in sound to the progressive sound, the band released YS, which many regarded as one of the greatest prog albums of all times, although I wouldn't go that far. The album is simply divided in to several parts, beginning with "Introduzione" and ending with "Epilogo" with songs like "Primo Incontro", "Secondo Incontro" and "Terzo Incontro" squash in between. The album starts off with some female-like vocals (no one is credited to doing those voices, although keyboardist Gianni Leone handles the regular vocals). The Hammond organ kicks in with male vocals from Gianni Leone, and after a couple minutes, all hell breaks loose. The music simply becomes very mindblowingly intense with some killer Hammond organ work that puts ELP in the back seat.
Guitarist Lino Ajello sounds like he's having trouble keeping up with the keyboards. I tell you, this is some really insane stuff, some people will end up questioning your sanity for listening to such an album. Some synthesizer and Mellotron are used on the album as well, the insanity is pretty much the same throughout until the last few minutes of the album.
Now to the part where I don't regard this as the best album the Italian scene has to offer: I find the last several minutes of the album rather tedious and repetitive, it's almost as if all that intense jamming exhausted the band by the end (that's why I gave it a three and a half star rating, else I'd give it a five without hesitation). Regardless, most of this album is simply unbelievable.
This album has been reissued a number of times, like Si-Wan in Korea and Polydor in Italy. The copy I have is the Italian CD copy with "La Tua Casa Comoda" as a bonus cut. This cut was originally released only a single in 1973 and was more sophisticated than on YS. Regardless it was a great piece and too bad Il Balletto di Bronzo didn't followup YS with a full album. Anyway, if you don't buy in to the hype, you still get yourself an excellent Italian prog album.
By the way, if you enjoy YS, you're bound to enjoy:
- Museo Rosenbach: Zarathustra (1973)
- Cervello: Melos (1973)
- Osanna: Palepoli (1973)
- J.e.t.: Fede Speranza Carità (1972)
- Jumbo: Vietato ai Minori di 18 Anni? (1973)
- Biglietto per L'Inferno: Biglietto per L'Inferno (1974)
