Week of February 25, 2007
Personnel:
Alessio Feltri - hammond organ, electric piano, synthesizers
Riccardo Zegna - keyboards
Graziano Zippo - vocals
Gabriele Siri - bass
Flavio Scogna - drums, percussion
Michele Carlone - piano, lead vocals
Mario Alessi - bass
Alessandro Della Rocca - guitars
Album:
Corte Dei Miracoli – 1976, Grog GRL 04
CD - 1990, Seven Seas KICP 2003, Japan
CD - 1994, Vinyl Magic VM040
CD: Dimensione Onirica (archive material from 1973-74) - 1992, Mellow MMP 104
CD: Live At Lux - Mellow MMP 138
CD: Progressive Voyage (Various Artists) - Mellow MMP 164 contains more archive
material
This interesting group failed to secure a recording contract at the right time
in 1973-74, although demo tapes from this early period have recently been issued
on CD. Their leader was the keyboard player Alessio Feltri, who composed all
five tracks on “Dimensione Onirica” (1976), released on Vittorio De
Scalzi's Grog-label. Vaguely modelled on
Banco's symphonic rock,
Corte Dei Miracoli also had a twin keyboard line-up (synthesizers,
electric piano and organ being used in that priority), but with the vocalist
being far easier on the ear than
Banco's operatic
Francesco Di Giacomo. Graziano Zippo can be compared to a softer Peter
Hammill. Their complex, jazzy, punctuated rhythms featured a lot of
hand-beaten percussion instruments. Along with Celeste and
Locanda Delle Fate,
this is one of the best albums to be released in Italy after 1975.
Taken from Scented Gardens of the Mind - A guide to the Golden Era of Progressive Rock (1968-1980) in more than 20 European Countries, by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-12-2