Search - Le Orme :: Verita Nascoste

Not as bad as I thought it would be

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 02/17/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When people talk Le Orme, it's real easy to speak of great things about the albums they released in the early 1970s, particularly Felona E Sorona, and with real good reason. People tend to write off a lot of what they done after Contrappunti, and when you hear Verità Nascoste, recorded and released late in 1976, it does hold some truth, but not nearly as bad as some might make it out to be. I call this period of Le Orme their globehopping period, because starting with Smogmagica in 1975, they decided to record their next few albums in different parts of the world, with Smogmagica being recorded in Los Angeles, and this one, Verità Nascoste being recorded in London. Now the big reason why the post-Contrappunti Le Orme receives criticisms from many of the fans is the band decided to go for a more direct, song-oriented approach like they do on this album. They added a permanent guitarist which caused Toni Pagliuca's keyboards to be reduced, mostly you just hear him playing Hammond organ, and some synths, but not as much of those cool electronic effects like you would hear on Felona E Sorona or Contrappunti. About Le Orme being called the Italian ELP, well you won't find anything on this album that even remotely resembles ELP at all. I don't consider Verità Nascoste essential or a classic, but if you're a Le Orme fan, get this album, because there is actually worthy material, such as "In Ottobre", "Vedi Amsterdam" and "Radiofelicità". Basically I listened to this album expecting to be disappointed, and was actually surprised. Of course if you're new to Le Orme, this might leave you a bit underwhelmed or unsatisfied, start with one of their well-deserved classics like Felona E Sorona, and if you're sold enough, then eventually come to this album."