format: LP
year: 1990
country: Italy
label: private
#: MI001
style: Heavy Metal, Classic Rock, Hard Rock
Side A:
Side B:
Now this is as Private Pressing as private pressings get. NO-ONE told these guys what to do or how to produce their own product and often that is what makes these kind of records so special. This approach does have its downsides though. We'll get to those in a minute...
The opening "Harley" offers no surprises. It's biker-boogie-pub-NWOBHM all the way - the HM'er brand that is, meaning it comes with a well-needed sprinkle of Motörhead on top, though more so in the vocals than the energy. They pick up speed with the following "Chi Mi Compra L'Anima" and now we're in Judas Priest-country with a lead riff more than a little influenced by "Freewheel Burning". It's still rather homey, amateur-hour stuff but maybe things will improve? Not with the sappy, much too long 'power ballad' "Cammina Joe" it won't, and when they follow with the even sappier pop-ballad "Estate Sulla Spiaggia" the warning signs start flashing red. Yeah, it's one of THOSE albums. I'm all for democracy out in the real world, but on a rock record a firm hand on the wheel by The Great Leader can help a band steer free of schizoid, career-killer icebergs, like say for instance, including every bloody genre the collective band happens to be into at the time!
They come back into the fold with the hi-energy rocker "Salvati Uomo", once again very Olde-NWOBHM in vibe. At first I suspected this to be a cover tune since it felt so familiar, but then it struck me: This is the very same AXE as featured on the "Rock & Blues Compilation" from the same year, there w/ a live version of the same tune ...and then they go full retard with a ridiculously out-of-place 60's lightweight teenybopper(!) - followed by an equally awful schmalzy ballad(!!)
What finally saves this beautiful trainwreck of an
album are the 2 final songs. Seldom have a tiny little Maiden'y guitar-noodle felt so welcomed as in the beginning of "L'Alternativa", and it is indeed a really sweet, uptempo, almost punky little hit, but the real gem we find in the closing "Strega". What we have here is nothing short of a perfect Cloven Hoof/Tyrant(UK)/early Maiden galopping Epic! Unfortunately it also leaves a bitter aftertaste of the listener wondering "What could have been?"
The album is rumored to exist in only 100-200 copies, the majority of which didn't appear on the market until the '00s, when the band reunited for a short wile, made a 2nd CDR-only album, did a few gigs where the last copies of this LP were unloaded and then disappeared again, possibly forever. Since it's a bit of a completist-only item, it still pops up for sale every once in a while and I guess the only thing that keeps it out of the €300+ price range are those 4 non-metal tracks, so there's your silver lining...