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(2cd set, jewel case)
Kaleidoscope (2cd box set) MJR010
Video Clips Album Profile Artist Profile Reviews Photos
| Disc 1: Lavori In Corso | Disc 2: Duty Free Area | |
1. Work Machine 7:17  |
9. Escher 10:52 |
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| 2. Collage 7:12 |
10. Caleidoscopio 9:39 |
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| 3. Pantera 8:52 |
11. Esperanto 8:13 |
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| 4. Pantera - La Sua Anima 3:43 |
12. Ascendente Scorpione 4:33 |
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| 5. Trip On Metró 6:38 |
13. Ragno 11:28 |
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| 6. Space Ace Man 9:49 |
14. Malia 5:30 |
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| 7. La Via 16:19 |
15. Space Ace Man (Live/Bonus) 8:48 |
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| 8. Work Machine (Live/Bonus) 6:52 |
16. Collage (Live/Bonus) 6:25 |
Alberto Bonomi hammond
organ, analog & digital synthesizers, mellotron, el. piano, flute, back
vocals
Alberto De Grandis drums, lead vocals
Silvio Minella guitar
Luca Baldassari bass guitar
with guests
Alberto Piras vocals (Esperanto)
Giorgia Gallo vocals (Malia)
Digitally remastered first two albums “Lavori In Corso” (1996) and “Duty Free Area” (1999) with three bonus tracks. Double cd box set.
COMING SOON...
First two DFA’s critically acclaimed cult albums “Lavori In Corso” (1996) and “Duty Free Area” (1999) remastered and including 3 live bonus tracks.
Liner notes by GLENN ASTARITA
(rock and jazz journalist; contributor to DownBeat Magazine, AllAboutJazz.com, EJazzNews.com, JazzReview.com and RadioDirectX)
One of the pitfalls of the progressive-rock genre is often denigrated by the facilitation of intricate complexities within viable song-forms. History dictates that prog-icons such as King Crimson, Yes, early Genesis, ELP, Jethro Tull, PFM and Gentle Giant helped set the paradigm for a movement that floundered during the ‘80s, especially after Britain’s fertile Canterbury Scene took its final course. Many prog-rockers and jazz-fusion artists have sacrificed compositional attributes for gyrating technical gymnastics, where melody and structure becomes tainted or perhaps diluted. Fast forward to the 1995 where the Verona, Italy based band “D.F.A. (Duty Free Area),” issues a demo of works accentuating a novel approach to the tried and true. With enviable technical abilities, the band merely touches upon previously applied paradigms set forth by Gentle Giant, King Crimson, National Health and other bands of note. Simply put, they helped refine and replenish the roads frequently traveled while enjoying a cult-like status along the way.
Keen ears and those in the know, assisted with the band’s natural progression, spawning DFA’s critically-acclaimed 1996 debut, Lavori In Corso, followed in 1999 by the equally exciting Duty Free Area. And while the respective band-members do not rely on recurring income to function as a unit (they have day-jobs), the music and group-initiated methodology is an artistic one at that. With less than three dozen live dates under their belt, the musicians are not pressurized into corporate record company antics and demands. D.F.A.’s guitars/keys and synth extrapolations are tightly organized within a richly harmonic mode of attack. Sure, knotty time signatures and airy, over-the-top vocals reside as a prime component. No strikingly new concepts are put across. However, it’s all about focus, camaraderie and the lack of (negative) external influences or dictums. Again, they don’t do this for economic survival. Their plight is steeped within excellence in execution and love for an art-form that has been either elevated to lofty heights or submerged to lowly depths.
Throughout this double cd set, check out keyboardist (and occasional vocalist) Alberto Bonomi’s fluid phrasings that engender multihued tonalities. He also looms as an accelerator when supporting or collaborating with guitarist Silvio Minela’s largely-soaring, jazz-fusion style lines. They combine linear themes, blazing crescendos and sweetly melodic opuses into a sound and scope that morphs red-zone activity with a sense of endearment. Meanwhile bassist Luca Baldassari and drummer/lead vocalist Alberto De Grandis kick matters into overdrive while tempering the variable flows to coincide with the soloists’ vast expressionism and artful improvisational dialogues. More importantly, the group’s compositional fortitude bears an uncanny commingling of Mahavishnu Orchestra type intensity with the softly woven sensibilities of melodic rock.
In 2001 MoonJune Records released Work In Progress Live, signifying a musical statement, recorded June 17th 2000 at the beloved USA NearFest progressive-rock gala. Naturally, the recording of this performance sparked additional interest from the international prog community. Glowing enthusiastic reviews judiciously followed the album’s release. Now, MoonJune has provided a gift of sorts with the remastering (also including bonus tracks) of the unit’s first two studio efforts. Supply, demand and availability necessitate the reasoning behind this release. And while D.F.A.’s musical aura does not communicate a trendsetting revelation, it parallels science – where cerebral disciplines generally attain a fruitful coexistence with creativity and a sense of purpose. Enjoy these wonderful sounds…
With two critically-acclaimed albums - now reissued as one double-CD package with bonus live material - under their belts, DFA have proven themselves one of Italy's leading lights in the new generation of progressive rock bands that appeared in the wake of the genre's 1990s revival. With fifteen years of experience and live appearances across the globe, they are now ready to confirm their status with their highly anticipated third studio effort.
Formed in Verona during 1991 around Alberto De Grandis, drummer, occasional vocalist and main composer, and bassist Luca Baldassari, DFA was initially an instrumental keyboard-led trio, a formula that evolved over the years, first with the arrival of guitarist Silvio Minella in 1993, and two years later with the introduction of vocal parts in the compositions, following the release of a demo tape entitled Trip On Metro.
Later in 1995, Alberto Bonomi replaced the original keyboard player and DFA found its definitive shape. Bonomi was soon to become an essential creative force in the band alongside De Grandis, co-writing most of the material with him. The new quartet made its live debut in January 1996, and soon afterwards embarked on the recording of their first proper album.
Alberto Piras, the frontman of fellow Italian proggers Deus Ex Machina, had heard the demo tape, and offered to produce the album for his own label, Scolopendra. By 1996 Lavori In Corso ("works in progress") was ready, and was soon greeted by many favourable reviews. A staff writer for the respected US new music publication Exposé called the album "an absolute masterpiece of complex progressive rock". The high level of musicianship and the attention to detail in the compositions and arrangements - which drew comparisons with luminaries such as Gentle Giant, National Health, Gong, Banco or Weather Report - helped to make Lavori In Corso a natural candidate for a lot of "Best Of '97" lists among fans of the genre.
During the following months, DFA's profile as a live band increased, supporting the likes of Italian veterans Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso and Le Orme. Meanwhile, work started on new material, and by June 1999 the quartet was finally back in the studio to record the eagerly-awaited follow-up to Lavori In Corso, which saw the light of day the following October on Italian Mellow Records - its title, Duty Free Area, finally revealing what the three letters stood for. "We liked the idea of an area free from all constraints", explained Bonomi, "where we can play what we feel".
With their second work, DFA broadened their musical palette with new sounds, especially in the keyboard department (occasionally bringing to mind Ozric Tentacles), and further perfected their craftmanship, both as composers and players. Critics unanimously acclaimed Duty Free Area as a major progression from the already excellent Lavori In Corso, particularly in terms of melodic accessibility and overall coherence of the often fiendishly complex epic compositions masterminded by De Grandis and Bonomi.
Another significant improvement on Lavori In Corso was to be found in the vocals, arguably not DFA's forte. A larger percentage of the music was instrumental (showcasing the breathtaking interplay between Minella's guitar and Bonomi's keyboards), the one track sung by De Grandis (with backing by Bonomi) was ideally suited to his range, and the other two pieces with vocals used guests - Alberto Piras and female singer Giorgia Gallo. All in all, Duty Free Area could be called a success in all departments : little could be improved upon.
DFA's watershed appearance at NEARfest in June 2000 was documented on a best-selling live CD, brining together the best of both albums and proving that the band was able to "pull it off" on stage like the best of them ! Invitations to other foreign festivals and venues duly followed, in France, Mexico, Belgium and Italy. Meanwhile, DFA started work on their next album, aiming at breaking away from existing musical categories (such as progrock, jazz-rock, etc.) and further establishing the unique DFA identity. This long process is now over, and the band is about to start recording with a view to releasing the album in January 2007, following it up with festival appearances and concerts worldwide.
Artist's website:
www.myspace.com/dutyfreearea
www.dutyfreearea.it
AllAboutJazz, USA
Progressive Ears, USA
JerryLucky.com, Canada
Sea Of Tranquillity, USA
Artists & Bands, Italy
Progressive Area, France
Ragazzi, Germany
All About Jazz, USA
Progressive Ears, USA
Coming Soon...