Art Rock Show – Celeste – Echi di un Futuro Passato (Week 28)

Het is alweer 50 jaar geleden dat de band Celeste werd geboren. Hun eerste gelijknamige album (Principe di un Giorno) is een klassieker van Italiaanse progressieve rock. Na het einde van het decennium besloot de feitelijke bandleider Ciro Perrino dat het tijd was om door te gaan met andere projecten. Een nieuw tijdperk voor Celeste begon in 2018, met vijf nieuwe albums die in de jaren erna werden uitgebracht, waarvan Echi di un Futuro Passato het vijfde is.

Prog Archives review: “Two words to start: flute and mellotron. If for whatever odd reason, these two instruments are not among your favourites, please stop reading promptly. Phew, now that we got that out of the way, Celeste will always be remembered for their luminous 1976 debut album “Principe di un Giorno”, a perennial monument of classic RPI with massive doses of the two instruments in question. Echoes of a future past is the title’s translation, and it perfectly frames the music within the grooves, while the lovely cover art is as typically prog as one can hope for, a variation on the Roger Dean theme. Seven lengthy pieces should occupy your attention for the hour and 4 minutes, an aural voyage where the flute and mellotron mentioned at the start rule most authoritatively, giving enough spotlight to numerous saxophone interventions, ornate piano fluttering, and a solid rhythmic pulse. (…)

Surprisingly, the preliminary seduction is outright jazzy in its groove, the suave guitar and piano breezing along like two tanned lovers on the beach, until the warm mellotron arrives like a zephyr to thrill the skins’ senses. “Pigmenti” is a gentle lilt, with a piano, bass and drum mid section that adds a mid-afternoon pace of calm reflection. Soon after, a relaxed vocal line paves the way for a glorious mellotron chorus, where a crowning sax takes the arrangement straight into the sky above, a liquid lead guitar solo adding just the right splash of intensity to the theme. (…)

All keyboards are handled by founding member and composer Ciro Perrino, while the piano was played by Marco Canepa, who also did all the mastering and engineering. A delightfully cohesive assembly of tracks that literally flow into the next one with nary a hint of boredom or rehash, this was quite the revelation, as I perhaps need to revisit my other 2 Celeste albums Il Risveglio del Principe (2019) and Il Principe del Regno Perduto (2021). Definitely candidate for Top album from Italy in 2024.”

Naast Celeste (Echi di un Futuro Passato), Logos (Sadako E Le Mille Gru Di Carta), Birth (Born), Trespass (Morning Lights), Deluge Grander (Oceanarium) & Il Sistema (Rock & Stop).

• Thursday/Donderdag 12.00 – 24.00
• Friday/Vrijdag 12.00 – 24.00
• Saturday/Zaterdag 12.00 – 24.00