Detailed Reviews [Litto Nebbia - 1975/2003 - "Fuera del Cielo"]

Litto Nebbia (Argentina) - 1975/2003 - "Fuera del Cielo"
(54 min, Viajero Inmovil)

Prolusion. This CD includes all tracks from the first Litto Nebbia LP, "Fuera del Cielo", and three bonus tracks representing the very first recordings of the band done in 1972 and previously unreleased. For those interested, the review of the second album by the trio (1977) is located here. The third Litto Nebbia LP is titled "Bazar de los Milagros" (1979) and will be reissued on CD next year.

Synopsis. 1974 and 1975 were years of the reachest international Prog harvest was reaped; and the number of progressive bands that had their creative peak at the time was the largest in the history of genre. So I wasn't mistaken when I expected something special from the first Litto Nebbia album (especially since their second, "El Venderor de Promesas", has been an essential part of my listening repertoire already for quite a while). The music is remarkably original and is probably the most striking example of romanticism in Progressive. I can't remember any other album from that era, the contents of which would be as bright and completely free of dramatics as those of "Fuera del Cielo". Although unlike its follow-up, this album doesn't contain instrumental compositions, all five of the songs from the original LP are most of all notable for large-scaled instrumental arrangements, and they're filled with everything necessary to absorb the listener's attention, including that inexpressible magic, which is so typical for classic masterworks of the genre. The stylistics represents a clean, 'classically classic' Symphonic Art-Rock and remains monolithic throughout the album. On the whole, all of the songs are equally great, though the 17-minute title track looks a bit less saturated with eclectic arrangements than the others, which is most likely due to the fact that vocalizes accompany most of the instrumental parts here. Nevertheless, I am sure that many people will find this epic the culmination of the album. My favorite is the second longest track here: Sin Decir Nada Sin Despesida (4), which contains little vocals and possesses the most intensive and intricate arrangements. Surprisingly, all three of the short bonus tracks turned out to be practically as good as previous ones and even richer in sound. Apart from the instruments listed above, these feature a trumpet, trombone, and flute, none of which is credited in the CD booklet. Stylistically, these three are in many ways close to those from the LP, and only brass instruments bring here light flavors of Jazz-Fusion.

Conclusion. "Fuera del Cielo" is an amazingly strong effort, which is on par with most of the best albums released in 1975. For instance, I find it as interesting and impressive as Camel's "Snow Goose" and better than both of Kansas's albums of the same year, not to mention those of Rush. There is no doubt that the original LP would have an immediate international success if it would've been released somewhere in Europe or the USA or had a proper distribution.

VM: September 14, 2003