Banco del Mutuo Soccorso: Io Sono Nato Libero (1973)

One year after Banco del Mutuo Soccorso gave us the amazing Darwin!, they proceeded to give us another incredible album, Io Sono Nato Libero. Again, the semi-operatic voice of Francesco “Big” Giacomo (aka. “Mr. Chubbs) dominates, with the duo keyboards of brothers Vittorio and Gianni Nocenzi. Di Giacomo’s voice seems less operatic on this album, and the use of string synths have now appeared (actually, it’s an Eminent, an organ-like keyboard that makes a sound similar to other string synths like the ARP String Ensemble/Solina or Elka Rhapsody), as well as the usual synthesizers (I presume Moog).

Io Sono Nato Libero finds Banco in a more experimental mood, as the opening 15 minute long cut, “Canto Nomade Per Un Prigioniero Politico” demonstrates. Plus there’s a lot of use of percussion on this cut as well. “Non Mi Rompete” was also released as a single and is the only cut on this album that I considered “straightforward”. It’s basically a sentimental acoustic ballad. It’s not a bad cut. I like the use of synthesizers, as well as the way the acoustic guitars were strummed. But then the band goes back to weirdness with “La Città Sottile”. I especially love the use of spoken dialog and the strange sounding synthesizers. The whole song is by far my favorite on this album.

The next song, “Dopo… Niente È Più Lo Stesso” finds the band going through several changes and themes, just as soon as the band sticks to one thing, they go to the next. It’s an incredible piece, maybe not as strange as “La Città Sottile” but it’s still incredible. The album then closes with “Traccia II” which is largely a classically-oriented piece dominated by piano and synthesizers.

For LP collectors: the original LP was released on the Dischi Ricordi label. The label itself featured a picture of the infamous piggy bank that became the band’s trademark logo that was also used as the cover to their 1972 debut (simply entitled Banco del Mutuo Soccorso). The album came with a gimmick shaped cover (later versions of this album appeared, but with a more standard cover, I’m pretty sure). The original LP isn’t exactly easy to come by, but luckily, places like Amazon.com carries the CD reissue.

Both this album and Darwin! proves that Banco was one of the greats of Italian prog, which if you like this kind of music, these two albums are absolute musts.