L'aurora Delle Orme

Italy's Le Orme have gone through a few different phases since their late-'60s arrival on the progressive rock circuit, moving from a very basic keyboard-ladened structure in the early part of their career to a mix of jazz, folk, and classical as they approached the late '70s. L'Aurora Delle Orme, which translates roughly into "Golden Orme," is a 12-track compilation of some of their more lighter material, with integrations of classical music and folk-rock replacing the synthesizers for the most part. In the same vein as PFM, Le Orme produces melodious and spirited songs that usually clock in under five minutes and emanate a playfulness to their sound. From this album, tracks such as "Flowers and Colours" and "Summer Coming" do contain some keyboards, but the flow is very wispy and carefree, somewhat like a progressive rock version of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Le Orme's rendition of Bach's "Concerto No. 3" is a nice addition as well, fusing elements of modern rock with the rotund structure of a classical piece which should have been a lot longer. L'Aurora Delle Orme is a fine sampling of this group's unburdened music, dealing mostly with their folk and light rock formula. ~ Mike DeGagne