Monday 29 July 2013

Il tempo, una donna, la città (Pooh, 1975)

There's a never endig debate about Pooh in Italy: are they or have they ever been a prog band or are they just an easy listening group (maybe the most successful one in their country)? Well, as usual I'm not specially into musical controversies and I better like to listen to music instead of quarrelling about it. So, please, listen to this and give me your advice. Anyway, if this wonderful group and orchestra rhapsody isn't prog or prog related, I don't know how else I could label it. When it comes to the form, this 10 minute track, taken from an album called "Un po' del nostro tempo migliore" ("A Bit of Our Best Time"), is composed of a succession of six short ballads plus an orchestral finale. You'll also find some instrumental guitar driven bridges.

            
            
           
                    Some of the old fashioned pictures illustrating the album booklet.
 
As usual with this band, the strongest points are the sung melodies and Dodi Battaglia's electric and acoustic guitar performances. But in this case, there's something more: the surprising and pleasant transitions from each ballad to the following one and a mysterious aura supported by the somehow arcane lyrics about a woman (or the ghost of a woman) hiding herself from life after the tragic loss of her lover and finally delivering his body (or its supernatural shape) to the narrator. The title "Il tempo, una donna, la città" ("Time, A Woman, The Town") includes the three main elements of the story. Well now, my friends, it's up to you: what do you think of this song?

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