Excellent early-70's Italian progressive trio (still around today) with classical stylings, featuring keyboards to the fore and a unique dreamy/powerful style. Le Orme was one of the three major Italian groups, the other two being PFM and Banco. This band is usually considered as the Italian Emerson, Lake & Palmer and even Banco del Mutuo Soccorso by the Italian singing. Its music is based upon organ developments and soli reminding Seventies groups which works are essentially built upon keyboards parts.
The band's truly classic period begins with their third next releases. "Uomo Di Pezza" (1972) is one of Le Orme's definitive Italian progressive rock albums…

Italian Prog band Le Orme were one of the most important representatives of the genre in the early 1970s and recorded several classic albums, which are considered some of the best to come out of this country. The band shared the fate of most of the other Prog bands slowly disappearing from the scene by the end of the 1970s, when the popularity of Prog genre suffered a serious decline. They recorded and performed sporadically over the years, and by the mid 1990s, when Prog was back on the scene, the band formally reformed and recorded their comeback album "Il Fume" in 1996. But it took them another five years to come up with an album, which was a true reflection of their abilities and a formidable companion of their 1970s achievements - "Elementi". This beauty as a concept album, full of great melodies and excellent instrumental work, in the best tradition of the Italian Prog…

Collage (1971) is the real "first" Le Orme LP, after two previous albums of beat music. It is also the first album to feature the trio's progressive rock sound, albeit in an embryonic stage. As such, it is a mixed bag. On the one hand you get pompous, excessive keyboard workouts that owe a lot to the Nice ("Collage," "Sguardo Verso Il Cielo"), down to orchestral arrangements. On the other hand, you also get songs like "Era Inverno" and "Morte di un Fiore," both typical Italian prog songs (with acoustic guitar), both heralding what will become Le Orme's classic sound. "Evasione Totale" takes things deeper into experimental territory (ELP-style), with improvised passages and more arcane developments…

Following two progressive rock classics in Felona e Serona and Contrappunti, along with the excellent live recording Beyond Leng, Le Orme decided to change their successful formula. They added guitarist Tolo Marton and pursued a more pop-oriented style, which while hardly mainstream, proved to be a disappointment to their established fan base. History has not been kind to this oft-overlooked release, but to dismiss it completely would be a mistake. A thorough listen reveals some excellent moments, such as the guitar-heavy "Los Angeles" and the atmospheric pieces "Immensa Distesa" and "Laserium Floyd"…

Le Orme have created so many great prog albums that they all should be talked about more than they are. "Uomo Di Pezza" is on of their finest moments ever in the studio and offers some brilliant moments. "Uomo.." is full of PFM-like orchestral interludes with the unmistakable sound of Aldo Tagliapietra and company. Like so many other Le Orme albums this one ends far too earyl and only clicks in around 35 mins. "Uomo Di Pezza" is a very complete album and should definitely appeal to fans of the classic early 70?s Italian prog scene. The quiet moments on this release are quite magical and very spiritual in many ways fitting nicely the concept behind this progressive rock masterpiece.

Anyone with even a passing interest in Italian progressive rock is unlikely to be unaware of Aldo Tagliapietra. Born in Murano, Rome, in 1945 for over forty years (1966 - 2009 with a break 82 - 86) he fronted one of the most successful Italian prog bands, Le Orme. Originally playing guitar as well as providing his distinctive melancholic falsetto vocal style he also turned to playing bass for the classic trio line-up of keyboard driven symphonic prog band of the seventies. When Le Orme temporarily split in 1982 he took the opportunity to release his first solo album "…Nella Notte" in 1984.
In 1986 Le Orme reformed putting his solo career virtually on hold, though he released a live album "Radio Londra" in 1992 and in 2008 "Il Viaggio", an album recorded ten years previously based on his experiences in India and featuring sitar, which he'd taken up in 1994, as the main instrument…

Anyone with even a passing interest in Italian progressive rock is unlikely to be unaware of Aldo Tagliapietra. Born in Murano, Rome, in 1945 for over forty years (1966-2009 with a break 82-86) he fronted one of the most successful Italian prog bands, Le Orme. Originally playing guitar as well as providing his distinctive melancholic falsetto vocal style he also turned to playing bass for the classic trio line-up of keyboard driven symphonic prog band of the seventies. When Le Orme temporarily split in 1982 he took the opportunity to release his first solo album "…Nella Notte" in 1984.
2012 finds him putting out his work ''Nella Pietra E Nel Vento'', where Tagliapietra sings and plays bass next to guitarist Andrea De Nardi, keyboardist Matteo Ballarin, drummer Manuel Smaniotto (all members of Former Life) and keyboardist Aligi Pasqualetto.

This excellent recording is largely considered to be Le Orme's magnum opus. The trio, comprised of Aldo Tagliapietra (vocals, bass, guitar), Toni Pagliuca (organ/Mellotron, piano), and Michi Dei Rossi (drums), produced some of the best Italian progressive rock ever recorded. Influenced by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Genesis, the band forged their own unique blend of sophisticated symphonic prog rock. Tagliapietra's vocals give the music an ethereal quality, and he actually sounds quite a bit like Sting (or the other way around). Their high level of musicianship is evident on "Sospesi Nell 'Incredibile," but the focus is more on mood, song structure, and texture. The original recording contains Italian lyrics, while Van Der Graaf Generator vocalist Peter Hammill penned English lyrics for a subsequent release. Stick with the Italian version for the full effect of this prog rock classic.

Anyone with even a passing interest in Italian progressive rock is unlikely to be unaware of Aldo Tagliapietra. Born in Murano, Rome, in 1945 for over forty years (1966-2009 with a break 82-86) he fronted one of the most successful Italian prog bands, Le Orme. Originally playing guitar as well as providing his distinctive melancholic falsetto vocal style he also turned to playing bass for the classic trio line-up of keyboard driven symphonic prog band of the seventies.
When Le Orme temporarily split in 1982 he took the opportunity to release his first solo album "…Nella Notte" in 1984.