Panna Fredda ~ Italy

Uno (1971)

---2/23/07

A great hard edged progressive rock album, predating Biglietto Per L'Inferno, Capitolo 6, Cervello, and a host of others. Groundbreaking for 1971 Italy and a blueprint for what was to come.

---10/25/26

One of those albums where I asked myself "Didn't I already review this for UMR?". Apparently not. And I should have more to say than those scratch off notes from almost 20 years ago. That was written right after receiving the BTF CD that I contributed to.

Though maybe not much more to say, really. Panna Fredda could be considered a pioneer of the Italian prog rock sound, coming a full year before the boom was to arrive. At this point, the music coming out of the Boot was more entrenched in hard rock. Or even the heavy psych movement of the late 60s. We hear this from bands as diverse as Le Orme, Formula 3, Il Balletto di Bronzo, New Trolls, and Il Rovescio della Medaglia. One could hear the creativity being applied at a rapid rate, and for my lire, Panna Fredda were ahead of all of them at this early stage. It's really a pity the group didn't continue into the heyday of 1972 and '73. As they for certain would have released a Top 10 prog rock album of all-time. They broke up for the usual reasons, lack of label support, army conscription duty, and other blockers.

The CD adds six bonus tracks. Four of them come from two of their three and a half singles (all from 1970), whereas tracks 9 and 10 seems to have no provenance. Similarly the B side of their second single is missing here (the A side is from the LP). They also contributed one track to a 45 with I Pooh offering the other, which is also not included. Like many Italian prog bands, their roots were in the beat movement, which was much more commercially oriented. As such, they make great bonus cuts rather than necessary additions to the collection. There's still some fine harder edged guitar to enjoy.

Ownership:
1971 Vedette (LP). Gatefold. Acquired in 1999.

2007 BTF (CD). Papersleeve gatefold. Booklet with band photo and historical essay in Italian (English version provided by... me). Acquired in 2007.

First copy: 1989 Vinyl Magic (CD). Acquired in 1989.

1989; 9/27/99; 2/23/07; 10/25/26 (update / new entry)