Just wondering what people thought the great reunion/comeback albums were from Maxophone, Il Roverscio Della Medaglia, PFM, Banco, etc etc.
Do you know any good comebacks btw? I feel like majority of the prog bands in general couldn’t maintain the same quality over time. IMO Camel were very consistent and it’s the only band I can remember performing good even on the latest stages of their lifetime. I read somewhere that Banco released some proggy material recently. But I didn’t give it a proper spin yet, only listened two times to Transiberiana.
Sorry for the delay - had to sit down with my music library and go through it:
Good Comebacks I know of:
- Alphataurus - AttosecondO is fantastic. Their newer one is still undergoing evaluation. : )
- Banco - Nudo (1997) was great, but I believe that was a live album, so it doesn’t count (though there are several live comeback albums that are great, RDM’s comes to mind, and that whole live show with like 10 bands where Ian Anderson played with PFM)
- Celeste - Il Risveglio del Principe. It’s one of the members making new music that’s mostly pretty close to the original band. Overall def worth listening to. He’s done several in the past 5(?) years.
- Locanda Delle Fate - The Missing Fireflies. Lord, his pipes. Feels like a followup, I think is old material that wasn’t released before?
Comebacks:
- Museo Rosenbach - Barbarica. Mentioning it, own it, don’t recall it. Which is sorta damning, I assume.
Albums I didn’t know existed until checking to see what I had:
- Metamorfosi - Purgatorio.
- Osanna - Palepolitana.
- Semiramis - LA FINE NON ESISTE.
- Il Baletto Di Bronzo - Lemures.
- Il Rovescio della Medaglia - Tribal Domestic. I had their recent live album (where they, honestly, CRUSH it…), but didn’t know about this one.
OK, I listened to 3 parts of Nudo composition. Giacomo is definitely is one of the singers ever. Nudo feels a bit more modern, part 1 and 3 are my favourite. Didn’t listen to the rest, because they seems to be a replay of material from previous albums, which a listened anyway.
Il Risveglio del Principe is probably my favourite here. It’s unexpectedly good. I usually do not like such calm jazzy albums, but it has surprisingly interesting rhythms that I want to listen to it again every time. Track 1 is especially good: it transitions from part to part kinda smoothly and intuitive, instruments fit with each other well too.
The Missing Fireflies. I listened to it relatively recent to making this comment. It’s overall quite enjoyable. Would note tracks 3, 4, 5 and 7. 4 has interesting guitar play, it’s one of the melodies that seems like I listened very long ago, tho it most likely never happened. 5 is it’s live version, it sounds, like live versions in general (want to mention Il Tempio Del Clessidre live at some Brazilian event), more warm and breathtaking. 7 and 3 are a bit heavy and energetic, kinda like AttosecondO. I want to listen to their debut, since some tracks originally appeared there. Also you mentioned pipes, could you point to the track? I am not very good at recognizing instruments.
Barbarica. Museo tried to compose something stylistically similar to their Zarathustra, cover reminds of their debut too. I can’t remember it being bad, but also can’t say anything good about it rn. Some prog albums take the time to sink in, so probably I should listen to it again someday.
Listened to Vivi. Lotta. Pensa. by Biglietto. Kinda disappointing. Their debut seemed much more fun. Their debut kinda goes along with their bandcamp pfp:
But their newer album… I don’t find it interesting. Maybe I should give it another try.
There’s a lot in here. Awesome!
Nudo: yes, that album is fantastic, though I don’t know their catalog as well as I should so I’m unsure how much of it was the new stuff. That said yes he has an amazing voice. So so good.
Celeste: Yeah, for someone trying to re-create the magic 50 years later, he certainly succeeded. I like the female vocals (I believe it’s on this album), but the whole vibe is just being warm and cozy in front of a fire.
Missing Fireflies: I think half of this were compositions from the 70s. Yay! Modern production on classic pieces. And when I said pipes, I meant his voice (American colloquialism). Sorry for the confusion!
Barbarica - yeah, I’m relistening to that as well as the new Alphataurus (“2084”), Biglietto (Vivi), and Maxophone (La Fabbrica delle nuove). That last one seems really good!
And thanks for your thought on this!
Gave a couple of listens to Attosecondo. It’s quite nice and heavy. Good organ play, bass, mellotron. Compared to their debut it seems to be more energetic, but I think their debut is more elegant, so it’s hard for me to put AttosecondO above Alphataurus. I also remembered about Biglietto Per l’Inferno, because I listened Alphataurus and them in the same time. They also did a comeback, but I didn’t listen it yet. I will continue to listen albums you mentioned btw. Museo’s Zarathustra is one of my most liked albums, wonder how good are their latest ones.
Oh man, didn’t realize Biglietto had a comeback, listening to it tonight! Thanks!
And yes,I agree, Attosecondo isn’t better, but holy crud I’m amazed they got that close!
