Neri, Giorgio C.: Logos

Psychedelic space rock is alive and well thanks to the debut release of Giorgio C. Neri's new album entitled Logos. Immediately upon playing this cd the 70s psych influence was especially prevalent. To these ears, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind must have been huge influences as well as other artists from that bygone era such as Yes and ELP. This is clear in the symphonic touches spread throughout the cd, although I would say these styles take a backseat seat to the space-rock vibe. This is mainly instrumental music with only a couple of tracks containing vocals. Although mainly instrumental this is apparently a concept album about Neri's own spiritual journey. I wish I could understand the lyrics to better relate this to you, but alas, I am not well versed in the Italian language.

Neri plays all of the instruments himself except for drums and percussion played by Roberto Maragliano. Neri is a talented multi-instrumentalist as the musicianship displayed on this album is very solid. The music is not overly complicated but neither is it supposed to be. The synths and guitars really have a retro feel at times harkening back to the music of my youth. Acoustic guitars and piano are also used to good effect to lighten the mood. Touches of flute can also be found to add some colour to the proceedings. The style, at times, remind me of Ian Anderson. What I really like about this album is the emotion the music conveys which can sometimes be lost with instrumental music. Not so here. Often with one-man bands, the music does not feel cohesive and smooth. This is definitely not the case with this release and feels like a total band effort. The songs often flow together rather nicely with the shorter mellower pieces bridging the gaps between some of the longer songs.

The album opens with a short instrumental piece, ambient in nature, with sound effects emulating a cityscape followed by swirling synths, mellow keys and subtle percussion. The sound of a crying baby ends the song which is immediately followed by the hard rocking space rock jam "Id & Trad". Here the Pink Floyd influence rears its head with a definite nod to Meddle era Floyd in particular "One of These Days". Excellent droning guitar and synth riffs make this one a real treat even though it is a little repetitive. The brevity of the song never allows it to wear out its welcome. "Alleanza" is another up-tempo number with a great synth riff that just wants to stick in your head. Another strong point are the numerous melodies found throughout the disc making this pretty digestible stuff. One of the nicest piano melodies occurs in the short instrumental "Addio" and leads directly to "Le Braccia E Le Ali" an excellent melodic song with nice acoustic guitar and piano, strong drum fills, and a pretty good guitar solo. The song stops and starts abruptly creating different moods and atmospheres really conveying an emotive quality. The strong flute work is also worthy of mention.

There is a fair amount of variety on display. Many songs have quieter ambient-like parts mixed in with harder sections which I find very refreshing. The softer sections really mix well with the harder edged space rock workouts. I should point out there is not a lot of excessive noodling going on here. This is not a prog metal, play it as fast as you can affair, just well executed space/prog rock with a flair for the 70s. If that seems like it might float your boat, give this one a spin. Highly recommended.

Track Listing:
1. Intro (2:25)
2. Id & Trad (4:38)
3. Alleanza (4:03)
4. Seconda Navigazione (1:33)
5. Addio (1:00)
6. Le Braccia E Le Ali (6:04)
7. Guerra (1:23)
8. Godinus 7 (a) (4:31)
9. Godinus 7 (b) (6:19)
10. Tuona Il Cannone (7:02)
11. Per Tutti E Per Nessuno (1:14)
12. L'Ultima Danza (9:17)
13. Sipario (3:05)

Added: February 5th 2009
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's MySpace Page
Hits: 2514
Language: english

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