Alberto Radius was the primary mover and shaker behind Formula 3 and Il Volo, and Radius the album was his first solo attempt. One of the best attributes of the aforementioned two groups were the guitar breaks provided by our topic at hand, and here we get to listen to Radius let loose considerably more than with the ensembles he belonged to. Side 1 has a heavy blues and psychedelic rock streak, and reminds me quite a bit of fellow countrymen Garybaldi during this era. 'Rock 1°' is as heavy a track as you'll hear in Radius' canon. Side 2 is more interesting on the whole, a mix of Formula 3, PFM, and Area. These latter two comparisons are not coincidental, given members of both bands are participating here. For example on... err... 'Area'. This latter track representing an early foray into jazz rock for Radius. Overall a fine album, not much representing the typical Italian progressive rock movement, but still contains fine playing and some creative ideas. Worth pursuing in my estimation.
Ownership: LP: 1972 Numero Uno. Single sleeve. Online acquisition (2004). What the album cover is supposed to project, I couldn't hazard a guess. Fun with tomatoes? Inside a red painted refrigerator? Guessing the budget had run out by the time the art department was ready.
While originals of Formula 3 and Il Volo albums are relatively inexpensive to source (though not cheap either), Radius is quite rare. Most likely the album didn't sell squat in its day, and I don't think it was ever imported to the States (i.e. can't recall seeing one with a Peters Intl sticker). I lucked out in my acquisition - truly a quirk of ebay one Sunday night in 2004. Someone had five Italian prog albums listed as a Buy-it-Now for $10. Right place, right time. Two of the albums were common US presses, and one wasn't very rare at all. This was the pick of the litter (with one other).
2004; 7/12/18 (new entry)
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