In trying to fathom the Trident mystique I came to the conclusion that the surest bet for classic status among this short-lived progressive label’s handful of recordings is the one that it refused to release! The catalog number TRI 1003 was assigned to the album Uomini umili popoli liberi, recorded by Eneide late in 1972, but it was many years before the public got to hear the music. Ironically, therefore, it would remain the only Trident album never to undergo forgery. One has the impression that some high-up executive, listening over-closely at the last minute, thought he detected a fatal flaw that could not be rectified by further production, and so the printing and pressing was called off, only just in time before it became too late. Little did he know that the entire label was in trouble, compared to which his artistic criteria weren’t worth a brass razoo. Let’s face it, this is as nice and unassuming a piece of Italian progressive rock as you are likely to find. It’s the classic line-up of flute, guitar, keyboard, bass, drums. And if the music is relaxed and unambitious, the production is actually very good. Despite what that executive must have thought, there is nothing incomplete about this record.

Of those actually released by Trident, the closest to a classic is probably the first album by Opus Avantra – where the word avantra is constructed from avantgarde and traditional. Introspezione is the name of the album, and it came out in 1974. Donella Del Monaco, the singer, niece of the famous operatic tenor Mario, also wrote the lyrics. Strangely, it is not actually her you can see on the front cover at right. The CD track listing apparently differs from the original LP, and to my mind this is a clear reason for denying classic status – the legendary Biglietto Per L’Inferno album is disqualified in a similar manner, since it is said to show two or more minutes of cuts on the CD. Most of Opus Avantra’s tunes have singing, or speaking, or mumbling, usually in Italian, sometimes in French. Is this progressive rock? You would probably want to classify it more as contemporary music, art songs perhaps, with some avantgarde sections, a string quartet fairly prevalent, and sometimes ‘retro’ tunes that hark back to baroque opera. But what about when the drums and bass enter, and the flute starts to wind improvisations around the vocal line? That’s definitely Itaprog, only one cannot be sure of the classic status.

With Frutti Per Kagua by Capitolo 6 we have an album actually recorded in 1971, then released in 1972. You can certainly call this progressive rock. The compositions are not necessarily elaborate or refined, but they all have a structural complexity that one ultimately associates with conveyance of the music’s message on the one hand, and with the presentation of group and individual musical skills on the other. It is hard to say what the message of the music really is, but on the surface it has something to do with the Native Americans and the telling of their legends. One has the impression that it is somehow a far-sighted work. After several listens it is also possible to appreciate it as genuinely fine music and look with a favorable eye on possibly reserving a place for it on the Itaprog Parnassus. Only one would have to shrink then from consideration of what the first Itaprog record might be: this one certainly doesn’t enter into that debate. Nice singing, nice playing, early enough in the movement’s development to sound a little derivative, but perhaps for that very reason these are some of the better rockers among the one-shots.

Apoteosi really had an egocentric band name, but they also left a very fine one-shot eponymous album, which they brought out in 1975, and I certainly doubt if it resulted in much of an increase in liquidity for the musicians. In short it’s a dandy. Three of the five – including the girl singer – were siblings; and in some sense the music has a homespun atmosphere, but mainly in reference to the startling individuality and integrity of their compositions. For in general the production and musicianship are first-rate from start to finish. This is another record that one perhaps may not wish to listen to so very frequently. To be sure, there is no need to listen in order to establish the quality of the music: that is very evident at first acquaintance. Subsequent listens would divulge that the orientation towards classical music is unusually strong without being in the slightest way exploitative, the sound is purposely seductive without being in the least bit dishonest, and a debt to other musicians is not especially apparent. To my mind this probably should rate as one of the top ten 70s prog records world-wide. One thing it does not have is popular appeal, however, so you will want to become a serious student of Itaprog before looking into it.

While sensing a certain obligation, I will resist the temptation to review Le Orme’s Felona e Sorona of 1973, despite it being one of those famous ‘concept’ albums, with a translated edition, moreover, for an English-language issue on the Famous Charisma Label, a rare honor for any Italian band. Frankly, I like Le Orme’s Contrappunti album from 1974 better. It combines Felona e Sorona’s complex musicality with the earlier Uomo di Pezza’s biting social commentary in new and triumphant realizations of the progressive art. Presumably Felona e Sorona is more monumental in that it attempts to furnish one integrated piece of music from several episodes. But ultimately that is neither here nor there as far as the Itaprog sound is concerned, for continuity does not have to be overt. Typical of Le Orme are occasional set tunes, and don’t get too bored when these suddenly pop up: usually they talk about things like date-rape and secret abortions, if you really want to know. The main thing is that after a while of boredom you’ll find that they begin to kick it up. The woes of the planet are many, and are ever-present. But at some point you have to let yourself go and show your spirit. Like most records by Le Orme, Contrappunti does not omit this important ingredient.