[.ca] Acqua Fragile

different style italian prog:
more rock oriented -most Italian bands have jazz influence. have a japanese CD of this-fantastic sound on it. Very mellow overall. However, I disagree with other reviewer-Mass Media Stars very much the better album. Extremely tight musically, but not given to jazz style solos. If you can access to MMS ( vinyl only-italian cd release discontinued sometime ago)very much worth the effort-S/N a very enjoyable album.

The rate should be 3stars and 1/2 ,instead their importance:
Well apart from their attempt to make the italian people remind of the Gentle Giant style (they have "stolen" the refrain-chorus from G.G. in the track "Comix strips"),they have made an important imprinting of their own, without forgetting anyway the "Yes-oriented" ballads(listen to "Science Fiction suite",which was inspired by "I've seen all good people" from "YESALBUM" and also "Wonderous stories" from "GOING FOR THE ONE");but here Bernardo Lanzetti takes a lot from his personal experience too ...that is the style that He brought to PFM in the remarkable album "Chocolate Kings", as for his clear romantic taste, typical of that period (1976),helped by a delicious sound and enriched with a "waterfall" of mellotron as well. The "ACQUA FRAGILE TRADEMARK" is more visible in the excellent "Song from a picture", even if the sound is quite Yes-like and under the influence of PFM too (in the track "Going out" they are influenced by Yes once again, but without stolen any kind of stuff!!)... The final track "Three hands man" is their best and more personal too, in my opinion, (after 5 minutes and an half you find the splendid atmosphere similar to that one coming from the markets of Naple-Italy, which grows in dynamics more and more,by culminating into the organ solo- a certain mood as "tarantella" and the piano crescendo as well(such crescendo reminds us of Tony Banks by Genesis), as long as Lanzetti leads the remarkable ensemble to the end. Their chorus, Yes-like, is the right style for this song and it works well, making this album well worth checking out!! Recommended to all the people with taste!!

Solid debut effort.:
This debut by the Italian prog-outfit Acqua was released in Italy in 1976. They remained together for two albums until the vocalist, Bernardo Lanzetti, went on to front PFM. This is a strong effort. There are brief moments when one is reminded of early Genesis and early Gentle Giant but overall they have an original sound. The musicianship is competent but not of as high a caliber as one would wish (they are no PFM). The vocals, which are in english, are outstanding even if the lyrics are occassionally awkward. A couple of the cuts fall short but overall it's a satisfying listen. Worth obtaining but not essential...Simon

Not a review so much as a correction...:
...of the previous reviewer's comment that part of "Science Fiction Suite" was based on "Wondrous Stories" by Yes. I bought both this album and "Going for the One" when they were originally released, and considering that the Acqua Fragile debut came out more than a year before "Going for the One," I doubt they were influenced by "Wondrous Stories!" Perhaps it was the other way around! By the way, this is a pretty good album, if you're a mid-70's prog enthusiast.

Great Italian prog:
Acqua Fragile had only released two albums in its life time, this one, their self-entitled 1973 debut and Mass-Media Stars from 1974, in which I vastly prefer their debut (I thought Mass-Media Stars was horrible). If you enjoy the best parts of Genesis and Family, you're sure to enjoy this album. Vocalist Bernardo Lanzetti sounds like a cross between Roger Chapman and Peter Gabriel. Lanzetti sings in English, but it's real obvious that he had real problems with the language as so much he sings is quite unintelligible, but there's no deny he's got quite a powerful voice, which makes his English more tolerable than PFM trying to sing in English on Photos of Ghosts. PFM had produced the album but it doesn't sound all that much like PFM, at least the albums I've heard (I hadn't heard any of their Lanzetti-era album, since I only went as far as The World Became the World in my PFM collection so far). "Science Fiction Suite" is an acoustic piece with great vocal harmonies. "Three Hands Man" seems to be a song about a freakshow, complete with the occasional circus music. "Comic Strips" seems to be a little on the Gentle Giant side, until the part that goes "Listen, you are the writer" that sounds distinctly Genesis-like (and I can almost imagine Lanzetti wear silly costumes like Gabriel whenever I hear that one). "Morning Comes" starts off very Genesis-like but with a more Italian bent to it. "Education Story" is the one cut on this album that most resembles Family, for some reason I am reminded of some of the material on that group's 1971 album Fearless. "Song From a Picture" is a nice little acoustic ditty that also reminds me of Genesis. As a vinyl enthusiast, I am lucky to own the original LP, which was released on Numero Uno, the Italian label that also brought us PFM (as well as Il Volo and Formula 3). The original LP has a cover that folds in to a giant poster much like Beggars Opera's Pathfinder or Ramases' Space Hymns, which means, if you have the vinyl copy of Acqua Fragile's debut, hold on to it, not only because of the cool packaging, but it's also hard to come by. If you're a lover of Italian prog, or a Genesis or Family fan, then this might be for you.

• Morning Comes
• Comix Strips
• Science Fiction Suite
• Song from a Picture
• Education Story
• Going Out
• Three Hands Man