Put your belts on, dear listeners, for one of the most crazy and multi-faceted records that the Italian music scene has recently given birth to. Baba Yoga is, in fact, practically impossible to categorize, if not with a long list of the music genres it contains: from country-blues to progressive rock, from folk to songwriting, from popular ballads to oriental music, from funk to neo-prog, with occasional additions of electronic music, all of this and even more can be found in 53 minutes of “L’uomo progressivo”.
Behind the Baba Yoga monicker – an intentional misspelling of the 1973 movie title “Baba Yaga”, based on the adventures of Guido Crepax’s comic book character Valentina – hide the two authors Gianfranco Salvatore, who in particular collaborated with jazzman Steve Lacy in the ’80s and ’90s, and Danilo Cherni, Antonello Venditti’s keyboard player for the last 30 years and, recently, also part of the Goblin Rebirth line-up. While music is here an excellent pout-pourri of genres, the Italian lyrics are ironic, desecrating, surreal, but also provocative and reflective. On the visual aspect, the artwork of the album is fulfilled with verious beautiful paintings by contemporary artist Vincenzo Faraldo.
To record this album, the two main authors have invited a long series of guests, many of whom come from the Italian progressive rock scene of the ’70s – Vittorio Nocenzi (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso), Luciano Regoli ( Return Receipt), Peppe Servillo (Avion Travel), Fabio Pignatelli (Goblin), Alvaro Fella (Jumbo), Lino Vairetti (Osanna), Derek Wilson (historical drummer of many artists of the prog scene since the early ’70s) – for an unusual, daring and unique result.
CD papersleeve edition.
Tracklist:
1.Ouverture
2.L’uomo progressivo
3.Flatus vocis
4.Contro i sapienti
5.Ciacatun (Fai l’amore)
6.Il diavolone
7.Dio
8.Come un cavaliere antico
9.Sette doni
10.Scommetto
11.Shangri-La
12.Le cose nell’aria