Search - Jumbo :: Vietato Ai Minori Di 18 Anni

Another great Italian prog album

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 11/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vietato Ai Minori di 18 Anni (translates as "Minors under the age of 18 prohibited"), originally released in 1973 on Philips, same label as Le Orme, is the third album from this great and diverse Italian prog album. DNA and their self-entitled debut, both released in 1972 came before this one. The one thing that succeeds the most on this album is the diversity. The music is all progressive, but if you are getting sick and tired of homogenized sounding albums, you won't have that problem here. If you're expecting a more mellow end of Italian prog, like PFM, Vietato might not be for you as some of the passages get very intense and aggressive, at times reaching the intensity of Il Balletto di Bronzo's YS. The music ranges from aggressive (the aggressive passages definately qualify as heavy progressive) to experimental to atmospheric to humorous. Jumbo was not short on instruments, and you get all sorts: vocals, guitar, bass, and drums, as usual, as well as Moog, VCS-3, electric piano, piano, Mellotron, Hammond organ, reed organ, violin, flute. "Come Vorrei Essere Uguale a Te" starts off gentle, with some cool sounding lead guitar, but in the middle is a rather aggressive horn driven passage, before settling back down with vocals and piano, but I love how this cut speeds up at the end. "Il Ritorno del Signor K" sounds like the band sounding humorous and it makes me think a little of Gentle Giant. "Gil" features Franco Battiato on VCS-3, and is a rather unique electronic piece with vocals, percussion, synthesizers, and Mellotron. It sounds like one of those cuts where I can't tell the meter they're playing in. "40 Gradi" features some really cool sounding Hammond organ, Mellotron and Gilmour-like guitar in the second half and it reminds me of Pink Floyd. "No!" is a great way to end the album with some great flute work. All the vocals are in Italian, and what I understand was the lyrics have a policial bent (unsurprisingly left-wing). Can't back that up since I can't understand Italian. The biggest warning I'll have to give you is vocalist Alvero Fella. His voice is very harsh and might throw many of you off. He sounds a lot like Banco's Francesco di Giacomo being strangled (his voice also got compared to Peter Hammill and even Joe Cocker (?)). His voice does need getting used to, so if you're expecting the mellow vocal style of PFM, you won't find it here. Jumbo's Vietato Ai Minori di 18 Anni? is a truly one of a kind Italian prog rock album, and with the exception of one cut reminding me a little of Pink Floyd, Jumbo sounds like no other prog band that I'm aware of. So if you're looking for another excellent Italian prog album, and you're not bothered by the harsh vocals, look no further than this album!"