A noteworthy example of the genre, Per...un mondo di cristallo came out in 1972, pretty much on the crest of the Italian progressive rock wave, which really only lasted from 1971 at earliest to 1977 at latest. Here, Raccomandata con Ricevuta di Ritorno lend credibility to the storyline of an astronaut returned to find the world destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Somehow it was possible to dress the emotions in vigorous music suggestive of real thoughts in real time. I’m teaching myself Italian just so as I will be able to pick up on what the words are saying on this one. Like many of these bands, Raccomandata Ricevuta Ritorno produced just the one LP, though its quality is indubitable. There’s such an extraordinary variety of sounds and combinations here that I’m assuming some of these guys are professionally trained musicians, which was often the case.

With Melos by Cervello, among 1973’s ubiquitous one-offs, you have a record that’s dangerously good. To tell you the truth, I don’t know a whole lot about it. It might even be occult, so I don’t listen to it too often. Like, one song’s called “Canto del Capro”, which might be about some sacrifice or something; then again it might just mean Capricorn (the sign). Certainly I don’t know what the album title means, and I don’t see why you should have to know Greek just to listen to Ita progrock, if it is Greek. One of the guys in Cervello played in a band called Osanna, a group from Naples, and I believe Cervello was in fact Neopolitan. Anyway, with this one you really feel like you’re starting to push on into Tyrrhenian breezes, away from the Mistral, or Sirocco, depending on your orientation. As you can see, one of the best things about it is the cover. That seems to be a nuclear explosion going on to the right, and if you can explain what’s happening on the left, you’re cleverer than me. All this in a half-open can of tomatoes that’s intended to look pretty tasty – maybe there’s a message here. Actually, in light of the name of the group, you actually expect the can to have brains inside. Brains – I mean like sheep’s brains, you know – look a bit like canned tomatoes, I suppose, except they’re a different color, kind of pinkish or greyish.

Prior to the edition of Ys in 1972, there was a record by Il Balletto di Bronzo from 1970, but it was in the hard rock or psychedelic category with a different line-up. As for Ys, although it “endures countless compliments” and is considered by many as “one of the defining statements of the progressive rock genre”, one has difficulty finding out what the record is all about. Actually, it concerns a man “who, shortly after discovering the secret of life, sets in motion and lives out a hypothetical and metaphorical end of the world while making three encounters on the isle of Ys” in the process of which sight, speech and hearing are successively lost. Strangely, the cover has nothing to do with all of this. Originally it was supposed to have pictures of the four band members, but the record company thought that a woman in costume might be more acceptable to the buying public. The music itself forms as a suite, with an Introduction, three Incontri, and an Epilogue. Wordless female vocals are a dramatic presence at the outset, but the lion’s share of singing is up to keyboardist Gianni Leone, who also does the composing. The structure has an opening theme developing organically in the opening key until it becomes necessary to seek beyond this material for ever more varied and episodic passages.

It will be useful to pay some attention to the New Trolls, but first we had better take a look at Ibis, which was an offshoot of the New Trolls. We’ll take a look at Sun Supreme, from 1974. I think that will be best, although they did put out another album the next year, just called Ibis, and in fact they had already put one out still earlier, except there they just used their Christian names, since they weren’t sure whether they would get to take over the New Trolls name. You see, there was this legal battle, and they’re pretty irksome things, I can attest to that. I’m not sure exactly how it turned out, but the other part of the group, which was calling itself New Trolls Atomic System, started just calling itself the New Trolls. And the part that became Ibis asked the readers of a fan magazine what name they should use, and the readers chose the name Ibis. And that’s when Sun Supreme came out. Later, the two parts got back together again and called themselves the New Trolls.