Le Orme: Ad Gloriam (1969)

Before Le Orme became one of the biggest prog rock bands to come out of Italy (aside from PFM), they were a psychedelic band. They released a handful of singles since 1967 before releasing their first full length LP, Ad Gloriam in 1969. If you’re familiar with their prog rock albums like Uomo di Pezza (1972), Felona e Sorona (1973), and Contrappunti (1974), listening to this early effort would be a bit of a shock. It’s about as drastically different as comparing From Genesis to Revelation to Trespass (I’m referring, of course, to Genesis).

Ad Gloriam basically sticks squarely in the psychedelic mold, no lengthy epics, nothing like “Sospesi Nell’Incredibile” (from Felona e Sorona) here. All the songs stick basically in the 3-4 minute range. The band at that time was a five piece (rather than a three piece, like their classic prog rock albums), with vocalist and guitarist Aldo Tagliapietra, keyboardist Toni Pagliuca, drummer Michi dei Rossi, bassist Claudio Galieti, and guitarist Nino Smeraldo. Even this early in their career, Aldo Tagliapietra’s voice is totally unmistakable. Sounds like Toni Pagliuca was using cheaper sounding keyboards, hard to believe he’s the same guy who’d be including strange synth sounds and effects in to their music just four years later.

Highlights on this album include the title track, “Oggi Verrà”, “Milano 1968”, “Fumo”, and “Non So Restare Solo”. There’s a couple of cuts here I really don’t care for, especially the ones with the spoken dialog and cheesy strings and horns, but this album still proves that even the Italians could produce a good psychedelic album. So if you’ve ran out of Bay Area psychedelic albums to add to your collection, then try this album. But be aware: all the singing is in Italian, so you’re getting a totally Italian take on the psychedelic scene.