Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six from Milan, Italy was one of the original bands in the RIO movement and appeared in the famous on March 12th 1978 in the New London Theatre in London. However, as opposed to the other bands appearing with them, they did not start out their musical career as a RIO sounding band. Stormy Six began its life in the mid 60's as a folk group with psych influences and left wing tendencies, composing protest songs. This has been the case in their first 3 albums, Le idee di oggi per la musica di domain(1969), L'unità (1972) and Guarda giù dalla pianura (1974). In their 4th album, Un biglietto del tram from 1975 the complexity and experimentalism start to show. It was to be only in their 6th album, L'apprendista from 1977 that the RIO sound would reach its climax. The following Macchina Maccheronica from 1980 is even a more complex and continues in the pathway of its predecessor. Both these albums are what won this band a place in the RIO genre. With the next final studio album, Al Volo from 1982 they introduced an electronic and poppish sound in their music. Their last output was when they reunited for a concert and released it as a live CD in 1993 called Un concert. For RIO fans, the recommended albums are the two L'apprendista and Macchina Maccheronica and to a lesser extent, Un biglietto del tram.

~ progarchives

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six were formed in Milan in the mid sixties and began their career as a "beat" band. Later their music turned to folk and West Coast and finally to progressive rock. In 1975 Stormy Six released their fourth album, "Un biglietto del tram", on the independent label L'Orchestra that they contributed to found. The line up featured Franco Fabbri (guitar, vocals), Umberto Fiori (guitar, vocals), Carlo De Martini (sax, violin), Tommaso Leddi (violin, mandolin, balalajka, guitar), Luca Piscicelli (bass, vocals) and Antonio Zanuso (drums). The overall sound on this album is acoustic and well refined featuring an original blend of folk, classical and progressive rock influences. In the early seventies the band got involved in politics and kept tight links with the left-wing protest movements and lyrics on this work reflect the commitment of the band. "Un biglietto del tram" is, in fact, a concept album based on some events of the last period of World War II and celebrates the Italian Resistance movement against the Nazi-Fascists.

The opener "Stalingrado" (Stalingrad) is an epic track about the battle of Stalingrad that was fought between 17th July 1942 and 2nd February 1943 and marked a turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies (this battle is also the subject of a good film directed by Joseph Vilsmaier in 1993). Old waltzes and Cossack dances clash while lyrics describe hunger, debris, bombardments and roads paved with blood while the city resists like iron. Hope rises as the news of the Nazi-Fascist defeat spreads out and some workers celebrate the victory drinking a toast… "On its frozen way the swastika knows it / From now on it will find Stalingrad in every city…".

"La fabbrica" (The factory) is a lively track about the strikes that started on 5th March 1943, after the news of Stalingrad victory reached Northern Italy. While the Italian "betrayed" troops are dying in the mud in Russia along Don river, in some Italian factories blue collar workers begin their fight against the regime… "As in Stalingrad the Nazis crumbled / At the red Breda factory on strike the Fascists rushed away…".

Next comes the ironic, almost caustic "Arrivano gli americani" (The Americans are coming). It describes the arrivals of the American troops… "Statues sweat blood, they talk inside the churches / They announce a big miracle from the hereafter… The Americans are coming as Garibaldi's troops from Mars…". There was a strong anti-Americanism feeling in the left wings movements during the seventies (and in the extreme right wing as well) and here Americans are depicted in words and music almost as looney tunes characters, as bringers of consumerism and capitalism, as "Chocolate Kings" giving away "bars of freedom" as if they were bars of chocolate…

"8 settembre" (September, 8) is sad and dark. After a delicate acoustic intro, lyrics describe a man walking along the rail-road singing a song to sooth his tension. He has thrown away his uniform and now he tries to go home. All is lost, the Italian army melted and the country is broken. The north is under the control of the Germans, from the south the allies are coming and the king has fled. It's 8th September 1943, a gloomy day for Italy that marks the beginning of a bloody civil war between Fascists and Anti-Fascists. "In a village the Death has come wearing the uniform… In the square a smothered scream rises / They were killed like dogs with a sign hanging on their neck: Partisans!".

"Nuvole a Vinca" (Clouds in Vinca) is another beautiful and melancholic track about a Nazi- Fascists massacre of helpless civilians suspected to support the partisans. In Vinca, a village in the Alpi Apuane mountains, in Tuscany, on 24th August 1944, Nazi troops and Fascists brigades killed 174 inhabitants, most of them were just women and children. Lyrics describe a breathtaking landscape, in the sky there are black and white clouds, old peasants are able to look at them and predict the weather… Then a black cloud comes up the bends of the mountain and it brings nothing but pain… "They do the shooting, damned butchers! / What a good aim, they never miss the target!".

The evocative "Dante di Nanni" is a kind of haunting ghost dance. Dante Di Nanni was a partisan who died as a hero, fighting as a lion against the Nazi-Fascists who surrounded the house where he was sheltered. But his ghost is still walking around in the city, untamed… "I met him one morning on the subway / He was bleeding hard and smiling… Thirty years have passed since the day he was killed / It took hundred men to have him… And they can't feel safe yet / Because they know he's still strolling around, Dante Di Nanni". "Gianfranco Mattei" is tense and proud and features strong classical influences. Gianfranco Mattei was an university professor who contributed to the partisans attacks by making bombing devices. He was arrested by the Nazi-Fascists thanks to a spy and committed suicide in his cell to avoid revealing the names of his companions under the pressure of tortures… "Gianfranco Mattei, your science went too far / Gianfranco Mattei, you will never go back on your teaching post… Gianfranco Mattei, your tribune is always there / Gianfranco Mattei, your lesson won't get lost".

"La sepoltura dei morti" (The burial of the dead) is a melancholic ballad dealing with fading memories… "April is really cruel / Lilac flowers blossom upon the dead / Winter has buried their souvenir leaving nothing but pity / And now a life is just a yellowed face, just a photograph / Death doesn't worth even the price of the newspaper / That you read and then throw away…".

Last track "Un biglietto del tram" (A tram ticket) is a kind of ghastly waltz where some ghosts of victims of the Nazi-Fascists still asking for justice seem to move through the indifference of busy people. One of them makes you a present, a tram ticket to go back in Piazzale Loreto, a place full of dark memories. In 1944 the Nazi-Fascists killed there fifteen partisans and exposed their corpses on the square. In 1945 in Piazzale Loreto were exposed the corpses of Benito Mussolini, his lover Claretta Petacci and other members of the National Fascist Party…

On the whole an excellent album and an interesting way to explore obscure memories coming out from recent Italian history. In my opinion this is the best Stormy Six's album. At the end of the 70's the band had prolific collaboration with foreign artists and Stormy Six were one of the five founder members of the RIO-Rock In Opposition international movement, that gave them the opportunity to play all over Europe and their music became more experimental but in recent reunions they went back to their roots and "Un biglietto del tram" still represents the band at their best

by andrea, progarchives

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Finally the beginning of RIO. The Stormy six have still a lot of acoustics. A mandolin in general sounds folky but in tracks like the opener "1789" (the year of the French revolution) it sounds grotesque. The final fade-out is a pity, but the track is very interesting. Then the piano comes to "Carmine". This piece of piano and violin sounds like classic contemporary. Who could have imagined a change of this kind in the band's music? Not that I dislike the previous efforts, but this is totally different and came actually unexpected.

The story of this album is quite unusual. It's the reprint of two different albums one of them unreleased, but the mood of the two albums is so similar that it's not easy to vcatch if you don't look at the track list.

The first two tracks are two previously unreleased, extraneous to both the albums.

Starting from the third track until track 16 we have a suite inspired by the Shalkespeare's tragedy "Titus Andronicus". It's pure avant-garde, with the same violinist that once was playing country/bluegrass that's now making classic contemporary. The use of mandolin, contrabass and acoustic guitar makes it even more avant-garde. It's not too challenging anyway. Some parts like "Picnic" are easy enough even for those who are not familiar with this genre. Even neo-prog fans could enjoy it.

The remaining tracks are inspired to "Pinocchio" (The album title would have been "Pinocchio Bazaar"). This is more oriented to chamber music and has more melodic moments. I find it easier than the Shakespeare's thing even if on similar chords and mood.

An enjoyable album that can also be used as starting point for people who wants to approach the genre.

by octopus-4, progarchives

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4.5 stars. STORMY SIX were one of the first Rio-Pro bands. I'm not sure why they aren't mentioned more, especially after enjoying this remastered cd all this week. They originally started out very much as a Pop(Beat) band in the mid sixties, even opening for the ROLLING STONES on their first ever tour of Italy. When it came to recording their first record though, they had changed to a folk band singing political songs. So their first 5 albums are very much in the Folk genre. Most feel that this album "L'Apprendista" is their most progressive record, with the next one "Machinna Maccheronica" being the most Rio-ish and Avant Gard. So yes, this is a good place to start with this band. In the liner notes it says the band was listening to a lot of KING CRIMSON, HENRY COW and especially GENTLE GIANT during this period. They were in particular playing "Interview" a lot, and the GENTLE GIANT flavour comes out at different times during this recording. I have to say the sound quality is perfect, crystal clear.

"Buon Lavero!" opens with these cool, intricate sounds before vocals arrive a minute in. The tempo picks up a notch and it sounds great. It goes back to the original melody and the contrast continues. Some nice violin 3 minutes in, and check out the drumming a minute and a half after that. The drumming and violin play are definite highlights throughout this album. "L'Apprendista" is led by the violin and vocals and it sounds amazing. Actually, as the violin plays the cello also plays a different part. Nice. The vocals stop 2 1/2 minutes in and the drums come to the fore. You have to hear this ! Vocals return 5 minutes in. "Carmine" opens with vocals,acoustic guitar and violin before some xylophone arrives. Marching style drums follow with some good bass lines. Sax after 3 minutes, as the intricate and beautiful sounds continue. "Il Barbiere" opens with a collage of sounds that come and go quickly, like GENTLE GIANT does it. Vocals arrive a minute in with more of a melody as well. Violin, drums and vibraphone lead the way as the vocals have stopped. They return 6 minutes in and check out the drumming towards the end of this the longest track on here.

"Cuore" is a restrained song with violin and cello interplay, although a much fuller sound comes in after 2 1/2 minutes. "Il Labirinto" is my favourite song on here. This one sounds a little different than the others as there is more bass and bottom end,even the vocals are deeper. It's slower paced with some terrific organ followed by some tasty sax 3 minutes in. I like the way these themes are repeated later in the song. The sax goes from being very smooth to almost dissonant at one point. More fantastic drumming. Fabulous tune. "Rosso" is my least favourite song and fortunately the shortest at 3 minutes.The vocals are so serious and the violin is mournful. "L'Orchesra Dei Fischietti" takes a while to get going as different sounds come and go. It sounds like there is a party going on in the background. It finally gets going 2 minutes in. This is catchy with some sax solos followed later by some GENTLE GIANT-like vocal harmonies 5 1/2 minutes in. Violin and drums follow as the bass throbs.

A must have for Rio-Prog fans out there. Even fans of Italian music will find plenty to like on this amazing recording.

by Mellotron Storm, progarchives

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Stormy Six took an instrumental from Cliche, added to it lyrics, made some arrangements and named all the album after it. This is "Macchina Maccheronica" (Macaronic Machine). This song is a grotesque tango for the first 3 minutes, then turns into waltz then polka…almost all the popular dancing rhythms of the old Europe, like a precursor on Weird Al Yankovic.

The intro of "Le Lucciole" is enough to make ckear thatthe first track is just a joke. The album is made of something different. If you have an idea of how an experimental band has to sound, this gives exactly this idea. The first RIO festival is an old story and this album is a follow-up, more experimental than anything else previously released by this band, with a fusion between folk and classic contemporary that can remind also to Zeuhl. The lyrics are experimental, too. The clear political statements that were still present on the previous album are now hidden if not disappeared behind words that sound well with the music but not necessarily meaningful. On "Le Lucciole" the role of main instrument that's usually played by the violin is now given to the clarinet. it's only after 6 minutes that the ensemble plays more orchestral making the track less challenging. Following there's another joke. A sort of "shake" version of "Madonina". This song, written in the 30s by Giovanni D'Anzi has become the anthem of the city of Milan where Stormy Six are from. Played in this way in just 50 seconds can be irritating for some of their most traditionalists-right-winged citizens. The "Madonina" is the statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of Milan's Cathedral.

"Megafono" (Megaphone) is a grotesque and very 'avant' song. A Megaphone is an essential device for protesters, and the joke is about the fact that the way it distorces a voice makes the speaker anonymous. There's a long "eclectic" interlude made of disconnected sounds, passages between violin, clarinet, bass and drums. At minute 3:40 there's a short rock section leading to another part with vocals. If you read the definition of this subgenre on PA, this song fits perfectly there.

30 more seconds of irriverent "Madonina" then a female speaker with an Eastern Europe accent introduces what she calls "a moment of relax". "Banca" (Bank) is an instrumental crazyness "Since when you're gone my life is empty…I can't live anymore, what will be of me? I have close this feeling in the bank!".

"Pianeta" (Planet) is even more challenging. If I think to what this band was doing just five years before… The lyrics are as hermetic as the music. A very challenging album that the Madonina interludes try to make a little lighter but it's very difficult and totally non-suitable for the Italian market of 1980. The clarinet makes a great work.

"Rumba Sugli Alberi" (Rumba over the trees) is a brasses and clarinet thing with vocals. two minutes of the most "melodic" stuff that can be found on the album even including the second half when bass and drums make it very chaotic.

I'm now thinking that what I'm writing can be interpreted as "very good and artistic music" by fans of Rio and Avant, and like an "Avoid it absolutely" by fans of more melodic and strustured things like symphonic prog…..

"Enzo" is a vocal choir totally out of what we can call "song" or "melody". It's an experiment about voice, not too dissimilar from what Demetrio Stratos made in his "Concerto all'Elfo". It appears to be recorded live but the applauses may be just added, I don't know.

"Verbale" (Report, intended in legal or bureaucratic sense) is in some way reminding of the political/social period of the band, but the lyrics are very hermetic. The good is that even if one can sometimes catch a sort of melody, this track is totally unstructured and unpredictable both in terms of notes and rhythm. Who makes a great work here is the bass that keeps a jazzy profile.

Another interpratation of "Madonina" and the last "regular" track of the album: "Somario". As Macchina Maccheronica also this track is taken from Cliche'/Pinocchio suite and "Somario" is a joke between "Sommario" (summary) and "Somaro" (donkey), so it's clearly related to Pinocchio. The track is recorded live.

The last 15 seconds of "Madonina" closes the album.

A challenging listen but also rewarding for the listener. Of course it's not an album to be listened while driving by car. Take your time and the right moment to dig into the various moments. A must have for the fans of the genre also because it's the first Stormy Six album of the RIO era.

by octopus-4, progarchives

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Well. Was not expecting this! A completely new work by the Italian contribution to the original Rock In Opposition movement! Most of the original members are here: Tomasso Leddi, Carlo de Martini, Salvatore Garau, Umberto Fiori, with Giorgio Albani, Archimede de Martini and Francesco Zago. Stylistically this is probably closest to L'Apprendista/Un Biglietto del Tram.

"Benvenuti nel ghetto (Welcome to the ghetto), the new work by the cult band Stormy Six made in collaboration with the artist Moni Ovadia,is more than merely a new record. It is actually the commemoration of the events that occurred from April 19, 1943 within the Warsaw ghetto: it was the first collective rebellion act against the Nazi oppression, a strong protest that lasted about a month, before being violently suppressed by German soldiers and officers.

The work comes in a special deluxe format, consisting of an 8-page booklet with cardboard cover, all housed in a horizontal slipcase measuring 15x25cm. Inside we have a CD with 11 new songs and a DVD that, in addition to the same tracks, contains an entire filmed performance from the ones played by Stormy Six during spring 2013, for a total duration of more than an hour and a half. Between songs, Moni Ovadia reads the testimonies of those who lived seventy and more years ago about the horrors of Nazism. This work is dedicated to them.

This is a unique product in its shape and content from an essential, historic band. "Benvenuti nel ghetto", as stated by the band themselves, ideally continues what had already been expressed in the unforgettable masterpiece "Un biglietto del tram", and gives us back a group that hasn't lost yet the strength and creativity of the old days."

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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Stormy Six: Original Album Series (5CD, 2012) & Benvenuti Nel Ghetto (CD + DVD, 2013)

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