Calliope - La Terra Dei Grande Occhi

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1 La terra dei grandi occhi 8:35
2 Non ci credo piu' 5:03
3 Lunario 3:54
4 Pensieri affascinanti 8:54
5 Passi dentro al tempo 4:24
6 Avalon 4:18
7 L'anima del cielo 6:49
8 Mellotronmania 1:32

Calliope began in May of 1989.

Rinaldo Doro was playing in a folk-rock group when he ran into Beppe Crovella, one-time keyboardist of Arti & Mestieri.

He was now a producer and suggested they put together a '70-style progressive project, rivaling the great bands of the past.

So Rinaldo called in members Mario Guadagnin (guitar), Enzo Martin (bass) and Gianni Catalano (Drums).

They played some of Rinaldo's old compositions and, after a brief period of rehearsal, recorded a 4-tracks demo.

Admitting the band didn't sing all that well, Rinaldo called Massimo Berruti, a charismatic and "very mad" singer, with stage presence to burn.

So, Calliope was born.

The band's first album, "La Terra dei Grandi Occhi" (The Earth of the Big Eyes) was recorded in two days only at Synergy Studios; the effort was plagued by tecnical difficulties, including the need to drag a mellotron up and down stairs.

The fact that Mario fell very ill during the sessions complicated matters further.

The album became the 1st release for Vinyl Magic New Prog '90 subsidiary, achieving critical acclaim and good sales.

The sound is reminescent of a Roman Summer in '73, the keyboard arsenal includes: Hammond M3, Mini-Moog, Clavinet, ARP 2600 and, of course, the Mellotron 400. The best way to describe it is one word: ITALIAN.

The Band played various festivals and gigs throughout Italy over the next year.

Soon, it was time to begin work on the next project, "Citta' di Frontiera" (Cities on the borderline).

Unlike the 1st album, this 2nd effort comprised all new material, a collaborative effort between all members of Calliope.

The work sound more contemporary, but is still packed with plenty of mellotron and other vintage instruments.

The lyrics, written by lead vocalist Massimo Berruti, tend to deal with modern subjects: Prog Rock should'nt be limited to tales of fantasy and S.F. that it can handle contemporary issue as well.

Massimo endeavored to speak more directly to his audiences.
An year later, Massimo Berruti left the band.

Calliope left scenes and Rinaldo Doro wrote the music for a solo album.

He included ancient music, folk and renaissance dances in this project.The band called to play this music was: Enrico Perrucci on keyboards, the drummer Gianni Catalano, Aldo Mari on guitar, Lele Tosches on bass and beautiful voice Annalisa Gastaldo.

Special guests: Andrea Sibilio on violin and Davide Saggiorato on didjeridoo.

The new CD was released in Italy in december '95, was called "Il Madrigale del Vento" (The Wind's Madrigal) and the band, again, Calliope.

The music style is more far from rock, more symphonic and orchestrated, like the style of B.M.S. or Griphon, using the sound of ancient acoustic instruments.

In the beginning of january '96, the band returned near his original line-up: Massimo Berruti on vocals, Rinaldo Doro on keyboards, Gianni Catalano on drums, Mario Guadagnin on guitar and Francesco Lannocca on bass; remained also Enrico Perrucci on keyboards, from the "Madrigal" experience.

Unfortunately a month later Rinaldo Doro, the soul of the band, was forced to leave Calliope for personal problems (temporarily, we hope).

Moreover during the october of 96, Massimo Berruti left the band again, and was replaced by the charismatic (and precious friend) Roberto Coli.

After that, Mario Guadagnin and Gianni Catalano left the band too and, after an year and half of searching, we found Roberto Zaffaroni (the fantastic new drummer) and Diego Ferrero (bass). Surprise: Francesco Lannocca now plays guitar.

But, in a rock band, surprises never ends: so on Christmas 1988 Roberto Coli and Roberto Zaffaroni left the band.

Fortunately in march 1999 Calliope complete the band line-up again: Andrea Pallisco, the golden voice, and Flaviano Sciarpa, the drummers wizard.

Thanks to the new musicians, the band regain the energy and the pleasure to play, preparing a live show with the classic songs in 3 months only.

During july 1999 we played live 2 times: the first concert was for our friends, to get their opinions about the new line-up and new sound, the other for our friend Hiroshi Masuda, a promoter from Tokio, that wrote us he would listen to Calliope during his holiday in Italy for the Vigevano Prog-Fest.

In june 2000 Andrea get married, and leave the band (good luck Andrea !) but Massimo Berruti comes back into the band: it's not a definitive return, but allow us to continue the activity during the new singer search.

With Massimo we played a concert called 'Happy Birthday Calliope' (the 17th november 2000 in Rivoli, near Torino), with the aim to remember the more than 10 years long band activity.

In december 2000 Diego must leave the band because of a new job, but we welcome in our 'old and large family' a new great bass player: Andrea Crovagna and his many 'little pedals' (the sound processors).

An year later, after some personal problem, and some different musical experiences of Francesco, we found our new front-man: Alessandro Amato, and with this line-up we played two concerts in Turin, in May and in June 2002.

In october 2002 we ended our fourth abum, a very peculiar live CD: GENERAZIONI (generations).

Why generations?

The chice of the album title is due to the nature of the tracks: some are kept from a concert of the formers members in 1993, and some are recorded in july 2002, played by the new line-up.

All songs are from the first and the second CD, except from the 4th track "Luci ed Ombre" (Lights and Shadows") that it's new.

The same song, but revisited by the new band, is inserted in the first CD of the italiam fanzine Nobody's Land (Nobody's Land Act 1), out in february 2003.