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Banco del Mutuo Succorso's "Io Sono Nato Libero" is a Sound Investment: Prog Review #35

Banco: Io Sono Nato Libero

Based on my limited experience, all Italian prog bands name themselves after places of business.

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B​anco del Mutuo Succorso translates to Bank of Mutual Relief; not as whimsical as Premiata Forneria Marconi, (Award-winning Marconi Bakery) and the same can be said for the music.

PFM's bakery is full of sundry delights, while Banco's staid offerings are all money.

Io Sono Nato Libero ("I Was Born Free," 1973), starts slowly on its 15-minute opener, "Canto Nomade per un Prigionero Politico," ("Nomadic Song for a Political Prisoner") with a plaintive synth-horn that soon cedes the spotlight to a rapid yet austere piano lead that dominates the album as a whole. There's plenty of percussive accents, synthesizers, and electric guitar, and these take the track from light chamber music to full-on prog epic. Bouncy drums, slide guitar, and bloopy accents fit comfortably alongside Francesco di Giacamo's lightly operatic vocals and Gianni Nocenzi's piano melodies. At times working in sync, at times placed in juxtaposition — I suppose you'd call it counterpoint? — the classical piano and guitar work against the synths, trading traditional and modern sounds regularly.

“I Was Born Free,” so “Don’t Bother Me.”

Midway through the first track, storm effects set up a bridge that alternates between sections of aggressively struck piano chords and ELP/Yes-level synth virtuosity before doing both simultaneously, then taking a complete left turn into frenetic percussion under acoustic chords, followed by a long stretch of light classical guitar. Then there's some weird synth effects that lead right back to the beginning of the bridge. This meandering, genre-defying thing with no fixed identity could have been the soundtrack for Deleuze and Guattari's Nomadology.

After this long introduction to the controlled chaos that makes up the album, the second track presents as both relief and outlier. A pleasant acoustic guitar romp, "Non Mi Rompete" ("Don't Bother Me") is the standout track with an immediate and lingering charm.

T​he next two tracks, "La Citta Sottile" ("The Subtle Town") and "Dopo...Niente e Pio lo Stesso" ("Then...Nothing is Still the Same") tend to run together for me as I listen. The first is built on those hammering piano chords and has a dreamlike spoken word section near the end. The other has more of the dynamism of "Canto Nomade" and more of that heavy piano. This one slips in and out of driving hard rock and more proggy, classical-informed instrumentals, much like Yes's "South Side of the Sky." The album reminds us of those classical roots with the short closer, "Traccia II" ("Track II"), an instrumental piece that begins as a light chamber piece with piano and synthesized oboe that gradually builds into a triumphant and grandiose march.

O​n the one hand, I don't find much about this album that is new or different from the kinds of things similar bands were doing, especially ELP, but Banco does it with such grace and harmony, expressing a sound that seems more continental in its reference to classical music than ELP and Yes were perhaps aiming for in their work. Between Giacomo's milder voice and the band's overall sense of melody and drama, Io Sono Nato Libero is a much more accessible version of the rock/classical fusion than some of Banco's contemporaries.

A​lso, it bears repeating that "Non Mi Rompete" is really really good.

Rolling Stone Rankings

  1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

  2. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

  3. Rush - Moving Pictures

  4. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

  5. Yes – Close to the Edge

  6. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

  7. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

  8. Can - Future Days

  9. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

  10. Yes - Fragile

  11. Rush - Hemispheres

  12. ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

  13. Pink Floyd - Animals

  14. Genesis - Foxtrot

  15. King Crimson - Red

  16. Gentle Giant - Octopus

  17. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

  18. Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

  19. Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

  20. King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic

  21. Camel - Mirage

  22. Rush - 2112

  23. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

  24. Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh

  25. The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

  26. Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

  27. Supertramp - Crime of the Century

  28. Opeth - Blackwater Park

  29. Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

  30. U.K. - U.K.

  31. Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning

  32. Kansas - Leftoverture

  33. TOOL - Lateralus

  34. Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink

  35. Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero

ASK Rankings

  1. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

  2. Supertramp - Crime of the Century

  3. Genesis - Foxtrot

  4. Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink

  5. Camel - Mirage

  6. Yes – Close to the Edge

  7. Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning

  8. King Crimson - Red

  9. Gentle Giant - Octopus

  10. Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

  11. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

  12. Rush - 2112

  13. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

  14. ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

  15. U.K. - U.K

  16. Rush - Moving Pictures

  17. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

  18. Kansas - Leftoverture

  19. Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero

  20. The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

  21. Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

  22. King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic

  23. Pink Floyd - Animals

  24. TOOL - Lateralus

  25. Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

  26. Yes - Fragile

  27. Rush - Hemispheres

  28. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

  29. Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh

  30. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

  31. Can - Future Days

  32. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

  33. Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

  34. Opeth - Blackwater Park

  35. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here