Canto di Primavera (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, 1979)

A plain, beautiful song by BMS I Always listen to with pleasure. Vaguely Medieval and full of grace, this "Canto di Primavera" (Springsong in English) is really like a Spring fresh and vital breeze, spreading a gentle light all around. Francesco Di Giacomo sings it with his poetic and almost magic voice and the band draws a classically inspired mood, reminiscent of gypsies and ballad singers.

This song, taken from BMS' 9th studio album, was also released

as a 7" single, featuring this tender cover photo.

The short instrumental interludes increase the bucolic atmosphere and confirm if necessary how vast the musical culture of the band was. It seems to me this "Canto di Primavera" is kind of the swan song of an era: all was going to change for the band, but not before a last, nostalgic look to their melodic and progressive roots.

Red (King Crimson, 1974)

When it comes to a guitar driven progressive track, "Red" is my first choice. Not only this song is a thick, coherent, enthralling piece of music, but it also surprises me every time I listen to it. The abrupt change of time after the harsh intro, for instance, is simply stunning to me, as it is the bass guitar line supporting Robert Fripp's excellent riffs. This is the way a "hard prog" should be: intense and inticated, black and red.

For their seventh studio work, KC were a wonderful trio.

It never occured to me, in so many years and listenings, to stop this instrumental pearl before its natural end. I don't think it never will, as I enjoy each moment of "Red", from its guitar effects to its higly creative drumming (a certain Bill Bruford is responsible for that), from the sudden intro to the hidden bass cello droning around. In short, I adore "Red". And maybe I'm not the only one.

Escalator Shrine (Riverside, 2013)

Riverside are more than a promising band: they're one of the most innovative and mature acts among the 21st Century prog acts. This "Escalator Shrine", a 12 minutes song from the album "Shrine of New Generation Slaves" is a perfect example of their modern and evocative music. A deep sung theme, a series of instrumental embroideries, a slightly acid atmosphere are but three of the main features of the track. I'll also remember here a Gilmour-like electric guitar, a pulsing instrumental section mixing "The Wall" and ELP, a variated and rich drumming and - last but not least - plenty of keyboard progressions and thick guitar riffs.

This is Riverside's fifth studio album, one of their best ones, IMHO.

The distorted guitars are also there, but they're employed with measure and even discretion. And how wonderful is the second instrumental section with its piercing guitar and the Hammond effect introducing the second sung theme, even better than the opening one. A real shrine of musical ideas, all perfectly in tune with the cold and almost psychedelic mood of the song. Congratulation, my Polish friends!

Las Moiras (Láquesis, 2013)

If you feel like going back to symphonic rock roots, back to the good old prog days, this Argentinian band fits you very well. They play the way we used to like with a more eclectic approach and create both bombastic walls of sound and gentle acoustic interludes. More than this: they dare to put down in music the Ancient Greek myth of "Las Moiras" (yes, the Fates) in a beautiful, unpredictable, progressive suite. This is divided into four movements: "Láquesis", "Cloto", "Átropos" and "Requiem", retracing the Fates' job and their fatal output.

Hope to listen more by this Argentinian fivesome... 

They were brave, those guys from Rosario, as the theme isn't new in the progressive world, but they face challenging comparisons with all the fire of their enthusiasm and with their excellent skills both in writing and playing. I like all the sections of this epic, especially the energetic intro and the atmospheric passages. I'm happy to know there are still musicians into symphonic rock out there and I'm glad to see how original they can be, despite all the music that's flown along the river Prog.

Naü Ektila (Magma, 1970)

Magma did almost everything when it comes to creative and eclectic prog and I'm not saying I like the whole lot. For sure, this is my favourite track from their debut album. It has many faces, this song, based on pastoral, sweet sounds and including free jazz, rock'n'roll, improvisation-like jams, creative percussions and so on.

This challenging double LP set up Magma's long story.

It's a strange and puzzling trip through different moods and landscapes along a delicate flute and 12 string guitars fil rouge not so far from early King Crimson. But, of course, all the other elements in the track are totally unpredictable. Still, when they surface they're never unpleasant and the listener tends to accept them the way a child grabs a new toy before coming back to his favourite one. Curiosity and imagination, these are the key words.

I Can't Look Away (Trevor Rabin, 1989)

Mostly famous for being a member of Yes between 1981 and 1995, Trevor Rabin has a long and brilliant career both as a solo artist and as a producer, and he also wrote many successful original soundtracks major films, like "Armageddon" or "American Outlaws". But he's responsible for many good prog rock songs too, such as this "I Can't Look Away", taken from the album "Can't Look Away".

This was Trevor Rabin's fourth studio album.

As you can easily imagine, it's a guitar driven, mostly instrumental epic, well balancing majestic solos and delicate interludes. Rabin managed to merge some '80s electronic devices and a classic prog rock texture, not so far from Hackett's and Howe's solo projects from the same era. But the thing I especially like here (and also elsewhere in Rabin's albums) is the emotional side of the track, full of passion and intimate sadness. Trevor's technical skills do the rest, of course.

Nights in White Satin (The Moody Blues, 1967)

Do The Moody Blues really belong to the prog rock movement? For sure, they anticipated many of the fundamental features of the genre, as their "Night in White Satin" hit easily proves: a well arranged fusion of classical music and pop rock, instrumental interludes (in the album version, at least), mood changes and, of course, the inclusion in a concept album, the band's second one, titled "Days of Future Passed". The concept was about the different times of a day, so that "Nights in White Satin" represents - of course - the night and closes the album.

This song was released as a single in 1967, 1972 and 1979,

always charting, and had of course many different cover arts.

The orchestra plays a central role in the long version of the song and it does so without any sharp contrast with the band: each moment has its own space and role, even the spoken comment during the final part of the song, a section that also had an originally unlisted title of its own, "Late Lament". The famous and beautiful sung melody fills the first part of the track and goes through different arrangements, so that each verse of this airy ballad seems to add something new and different. Prog or not, this band (and this track) strongy contributed to the building of a new musical era.