Ys is the second studio album by Italian prog band Il Balletto Di Bronzo.
Il Balletto Di Bronzo’s debut album Sirio 2222 in 1970 was a relatively insignificant piece of psychedelic rock, but with Ys the band throws themselves into progressive rock.
Ys is a concept album about the mythical city of the same name that sank into the sea off the coast of Brittany and was said to be the most beautiful city in the world. Well my Italian skills are pretty much non-existent so I don’t know first hand how well the band uses the legend in their lyrics, but apparently at least loosely the lyrics of all the songs deal with the subject.
The music of Ys is characterised by a huge intensity. The band rolls out their fiercely energetic music at a pace that feels like it’s getting out of control. The Ys style could lazily be defined as ”King Crimson meets ELP”. Despite the above comparison, the band’s sound of heavy guitars and crackling organ is highly original and, especially in Italian prog, unmatched in intensity. In general, Italian prog is much more upbeat and light than the dark torrents of Il Balletto Di Bronzo.
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The highlight of the album is the opening track ”Introduzione”, over 11 minutes long, where the virtuosic dialogue between guitar and keyboards is at times overwhelmingly impressive. The idiosyncratic use of vocals also works well. The tense and anguished voice of lead vocalist Gianni Leone (who is also the band’s accomplished keyboard player) combined with the ethereal and slightly ghostly wordless vocals of the backing vocalists works exceptionally well. In particular, the vocal intro to the song could well be imagined to have inspired Goblin’s later spooky prog. Drummer Gianchi Stranga’s downright demonic drumming is also particularly strong on the opening track.
”Terzo incontro / Epilogo” is also a great song. Also in this song of more than 11 minutes you can hear clear influences from King Crimson and especially the fast unison parts of ”21st Century Schizoid Man”. In the second half, drummer Stranga’s bass drum work is particularly interesting, with his low syncopated tumbh-tumbh providing a great contrast to Leone’s high-pitched piano notes. At the very end, just when you think the song has faded away, the band hits a really hard roar. A great surprise ending!
The original vinyl had only four tracks, but I’ve been living with the CD version from the beginning, with the bonus track ”La tua cada comoda” which is much more upbeat in sound and style than the other material. I think it’s a very nice song and works well as the album closer, bringing a bit of lightness and much-needed contrast that the other compositions don’t offer as much. The single ”La tua cada comoda”, released after Ys, offers a tantalising taste of what Il Balletto Di Bronzo’s future direction could have been, but sadly the band broke up in 1973.
Il Balletto di Bronzo made a new studio album called Lemures in 2023, but that album has not been particularly well received.
After more than 50 years, Ys still feels like one of the strongest and most original albums of the fertile italo-prog scene of the 70s.
Best tracks: ”Introduzione” ja ”Terzo incontro / Epilogo”
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI
Tracks:
Side A
- ”Introduzione” – 11:08
- ”Primo incontro” – 7:58
Side B
- ”Secondo incontro” – 7:28
- ”Terzo incontro” – 9:00
- ”Epilogo” – 2:06
CD bonus track: ”La tua casa comoda” – 3:45
Band:
Gianni Leone: vocals, bass, piano, Mellotron, Moog, spinet, celeste, keyboards Lino Ajello: guitar Vito Manzari: bass Gianchi Stringa: drums
Label: Polydor
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