Nova ~ Italy ~ England

Blink (1975)

You all know this fine Italian-English fusion combo, made up of members of Osanna, Cervello, etc...  As for the music, it never quite hits the excellent level for me, which the following two do manage to obtain (as noted below). Perhaps a bit too jazzy saxy for my liking, but for certain there's room for the LP to remain here.

Ownership: 1975 Arista UK (LP). Acquired in 2014.

2/6/14; 10/23/21 (review)

Wings of Love (1977)

Nova's 3rd album Wings of Love sees the band heading further out in commercial waters. It would be easy to slag off Wings of Love on that fact alone, except this is a wonderful serious fusion album, with a couple of well-written radio styled jazz pop tunes mixed within. In other words, Nova is still more Mahavishnu Orchestra than George Benson. And besides how many Italian-UK combos have a song about the TV show Gunsmoke? A diamond in the rough if there ever was one.

Ownership: 2006 Arista Japan (CD). Acquired in 2016.

9/15/16 (review); 4/22/26

Vimana (1976)

Vimana is the second album from the fusion supergroup Nova. The lineup is a mix of Brand X from the UK and various members from the Italian prog scene, most notably guitarist Corrado Rustici (Cervello) and reeds player Elio D'Anna (Osanna - who includes Corrado's brother Danilo). This being 1976, the music is definitely high powered fusion, with hot technical playing, but also a good grasp at melodic songwriting. Brand X and Return to Forever are the obvious guideposts here. This is a good one for fusion fans.

Ownership: 1976 Arista UK (LP). Acquired in 2019.

First copy: 2005 Arista Japan (CD). Papersleeve.
Acquired in 2016.

1/22/16 (review)

1/22/16 (new entry)