This is not YS
BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 02/18/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"That is a plain warning for everyone out there that this 1970 debut by Il Balletto di Bronzo, originally released on RCA bears little resemblance to their 1972 followup on Polydor, YS. In fact it's essentially a totally different band from what recorded YS, only guitarist Lino Ajello was on both albums. Notice the lack of keyboardist Gianni Leone, who was then a member of an early version of Osanna (then called Citta Frontale, which that name would later be resurrected in 1975 with ex-Osanna members with the album El Tor). In fact there are no keyboards to be found.
What you have here is hard rock with psychedelic trappings. It's really not too far off from saying this is more like Le Orme's Ad Gloriam with a harder edge. It's actually quite a good album, like the aforementioned Le Orme album, it's not particularly progressive. Italy was a bit behind the times when it came for progressive rock, but of course once it hit the country (around 1971), it hit big, so that means in 1970 many of the bands were still sticking to their pop and psychedelic roots. This album gets maligned in prog circles, and it's easy to understand. You don't get those heavy and intense organ and Mellotron passages as you do YS, what you get is excellent guitar-driven hard rock and psychedelia instead, with the must being rather straightforward.
Diehard in the wool prog rock fans might not find much of interest here, but those who like hard rock and psychedelia will find much to enjoy here."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1