01	Terra In Bocca I						23:38
	02	Terra In Bocca II						23:03

I Giganti - "Terra In Bocca" (1971) Yet another unknown treasure from the Italian 70's progressive rock scene. "Terra In Bocca" (to my knowledge the only album this band released) is a concept album about the Italian mafia. All the tracks float together and create an excellent, continuous 45-minute piece of Italian progressive rock the way we know and love it. The arrangements can't get better, with tons of the most beautiful Mellotron-sounds you can imagine. In fact, the Mellotron sometimes reminds me of Latte E Miele's "Passio Secundum Mattheum". The music is well structured in strong themes and melodies on most of the album, but there are also some experimental and less structured instrumental passages here. Just the way a true progressive rock album is meant to be! Vocals are great and sounds slightly folk-influenced from time to time. This album gets better each time I hear it, and any lover of Italian progressive will eat it up!







I GIGANTI:
TERRA IN BOCCA (POESIA DI UN DELITTO)
(Vinyl Magic VMO13) [1971]

Italy in the first half of the seventies was incredibly fecund when it came to progressive rock. Well over two hundred bands recorded singles and albums of what they called "Pop Italiano." Many of these bands recorded only one album, but some -- PFM, the New Trolls, Le Orme, Banco and Formula Tre (Three) among others -- had a string of releases. Thus a considerable body of music built up in Italy in only a few short years: Italy's "golden age" of progressive rock. In 1976 the political and commercial situation changed, and progressive rock virtually disappeared from the country. New and fledgling groups found themselves unable to get recording contracts and the few who did put out records did so privately, on their own. Groups like PFM, the New Trolls and Banco followed Genesis into the commercial mainstream -- probably in order to survive.

But in the late eighties the CD revolution changed all that. Japanese companies like Edison and King -- which had started releasing Italian progressive music in Japan on LP in the early eighties -- began a comprehensive program of CD releases, starting with groups like PFM. And in Italy a new label was launched to rerelease on CD the classic albums of the seventies -- Vinyl Magic. Since the late eighties Vinyl Magic has released albums by Panna Fredda, Metamorfosi, Arti + Mestieri, Biglietto per L'Inferno, Semiramis, the Trip, Dedalus, Zauber, Errata Corrige, I Dalton, Circus 2000, Odissea, Nuova Idea, Edgar Allan Poe, I Teoremi, Blocco Mentale, I Numi, and Cherry Five, among others (as well as over a dozen albums by new, nineties, Italian groups).

I Giganti's album was Vinyl Magic's thirteenth release on CD, back in 1989. The original (1971) album was described by Paolo Barotto in his encyclopedia of Italian progressive music, Il Ritorno del Pop Italiano (The Return of Italian Pop): "After having obtained some success as a beat group (disbanding in 1968), Giganti came together again in 1971 with a very avantgarde album, 'Terra In Bocca.' It deals very boldly with the Mafia problem, basing itself on incidents that seem to have really occurred. The lyrics are beautifully written by Piero Rossi and take inspiration from an interview with a man who was arrested and imprisoned. Vince Tempera's music is also very good, with conceptually a very avantgarde use of beats and pauses (f.e. the 'Introduction'). As far as the instrumental aspect is concerned, the backing up is provided by guitarist Marcello Della Casa (Latte E Miele), bass player Ares Tavolazzi, drummer Ellade Bandini and obviously keyboards player Vince Tempera. It's too bad that this interesting group never produced anything else (even at a collaborative level) because of their definitive break up." The musicians mentioned above are in addition to the group itself: Enrico Maria Papes (drums, vocals), Sergio di Martino (bass, vocals), Francesco Marsella (keyboards, vocals) and Giacoma di Martino (guitar, vocals). Vince Tempera went on to be an integral part of Il Volo, a "supergroup" that built on the musical successes of Formula Tre and released two albums (both out on one Japanese CD).

TERRA IN BOCCA is one long song-cycle suite, and although the original LP had divided this suite into nine tracks, the CD version is divided into only two tracks, the original sides of the LP. The music is very Italian, very Mediterranean, richly melodic. The arrangements, which use a Mellotron liberally, hint at times of atypical King Crimson. The lyrics are of course in Italian, and vocals are featured throughout with occasional harmonizing. This is a very rewarding album.

But I haven't mentioned its most intriguing aspect: There are two versions of this CD, both issued by Vinyl Magic, and both carrying the same catalog number! (Actually, there is yet another CD as well -- the first CD, issued in Japan. But since it is long out of print, we'll ignore it here.) The first version issued by Vinyl Magic in 1989 is not taken from the 1971 album. Collectors noticed this when they compared it with the Japanese CD (which was a direct transcription of the LP itself). In 1993 Vinyl Magic quietly and without notice reissued the CD, this time using the master tapes for the 1971 release. The result is that two significantly different CDs exist. What are their differences? Well, to begin with, the "correct" (1993) version is two minutes and 33 seconds longer. (The 1989 version clocks in at 44:11; the 1993 version at 46:44.) While the same musical themes appear in both versions, they do not appear in the same order, nor in the same arrangements. My best guess is that the 1989 version was a demo, cut first, perhaps to sell the album to the record company (originally RiFi, owned by Dischi Ricordi). Its arrangements are sparer, but not without depth, color and complexity. Indeed I prefer it -- but that may be simply because it's the one I became familiar with first. Oddly enough, the 1993 version has a mastering or manufacturing defect of its own: there is a two-second drop-out (2 seconds of silence) which occurs at 11:59 in the first track.

How can you tell these two versions apart? Not easily. In the record store, dealing with a sealed CD, there are only two subtle clues, both to be found on the back of the box.


1989 edition

1993 edition


The "back cover" of the jewel box shows a reproduction of the back of the original LP cover, all reduced to tiny print. On the far right side there is a vertical black stripe, within which is printed Vinyl Magic's address, telephone number, and fax number. Just to the left of this stripe, the 1993 version has the following tiny line of type, running sideways, parallel to the stripe: "Su Licenza PEER SOUND." (There may also be, to the left of this line of type, an Italian tax stamp -- a red-inked, round stamp the largest letters in which are SIAE -- which is not on the 1989 version, but this after-the-fact stamp may not appear consistently on all 1993 copies.) There is no equivilent line of type on the 1989 edition. The second clue is to be found in the telephone number printed in the black stripe: it had changed between 1989 and 1993, and the new number printed on the 1993 edition is in a somewhat different typeface than the rest of that line of type. If you are checking an open CD to determine which is which, it's much easier: the 1989 version has a wide red horizontal stripe across the middle of the CD itself. The 1993 version has no color printed on the CD. Otherwise the labels (including timing information!) are identical (only the credit, "Made in Italy by Phonocomp," is missing from the 1993 label). The jewel-box inserts are themselves identical, but the 1989 edition has an added, folded, insert: an approximately 7 x 9 "poster" showing a grainy photo of a man with two children (his daughters?), and these lines (in English, oddly): "I was in Sicily in 1936. Sun and sea as in California. Wonderful!" at the top, and, at the bottom, "No one washes his teeth, just someone drink milk: terrible!" Presumably this relates somehow to the topic of the album. This separate insert is missing from the 1993 edition, which has instead (stapled into the single-fold sheet that replicates the original LP fold-out cover) Vinyl Magic's mail-order catalog.

Either version of this album is well worth having, but I recommend getting both, if you can. The differences are intriguing and illuminating.

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I GIGANTI



Giacomo Di Martino (vocals, guitar)
Francesco Marsella (vocals, keyboards)
Sergio Di Martino (vocals, bass)
Enrico Maria Papes (vocals, drums)



Many foreign prog fans probably know I Giganti only for their much looked after Terra in bocca album, but this band from Milan formed in 1964 with the same line-up and was one of the most successful beat groups in Italy during the sixties, with two albums and around 15 singles before a short split. All the members were also good singers and the nice contrast between their different voices (including the characteristic bass tone of drummer Enrico Maria Papes) was one of the most impressive elements in their 60's production.

Terra in bocca is a very ambitious concept album about mafia, with strong and brave lyrics and complex music arrangements, that sometimes are not well combined with text. Some guests appear on it, among which Area's bass player Ares Tavolazzi and composer Vince Tempera (also from Il Volo).
A disjointed work, very hard to follow for non italian listeners, the album is rare and well regarded by many. A single was also taken from the LP with same cover design and the band released another 7" single a year later before disbanding.

Guitarist Mino (Giacomo) Di Martino formed the avantgarde group Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale in late 70's, releasing a rare album in 1978, and also collaborated with Franco Battiato and Claudio Rocchi.







LP (last production only)
Terra in bocca (poesia di un delitto) RiFi (RDZ-ST-14207) 1971 gatefold cover with poster
Akarma (AK 1023) 2000 as above - also includes a bonus track
Also reissued on CD by Vinyl Magic in 1989 (VM 013) and Akarma (AK 1023)

SINGLES (with picture sleeves)

Lungo e disteso
Pieno di sole RiFi (RFN-NP 16460) 1971 the tracks were on the album but with different titles
Sono nel sogno verde di un vegetale
Sul tuo letto di morte RiFi (RFN-NP 16487) 1972





Rare to find in its original issue (especially with the poster) Terra in bocca has recently been reissued by Akarma on vinyl, and the reissue also includes a song from their last single.

A korean issue exists on Si-Wan (SRML 2014)
The album has never been counterfeited.