Acqua Fragile — Acqua Fragile 1973 (Italy, Progressive Rock)

This five-piece from Parma was formed in 1971 from the ashes of Gli Immortali, a group that included singer Bernardo Lanzetti, just returned back to Italy after a living in the USA, guitarist Gino Campanini and drummer Piero Canavera. These musicians were joined by keyboardist Maurizio Mori and bass player Franz Dondi (who had played with I Moschettieri, that were among the young bands supporting The Rolling Stones during their Italian tour, but just released a single in 1967, Quando il tempo dell’amore). In one of the last concerts with the old name, the five musicians were spotted by Premiata Forneria Marconi, that introduced them to their manager Franco Mamone. With the new name Acqua Fragile and the professional management of Mamone, the group was able to play with important foreign names such as Soft Machine, Alexis Korner & Snape, Tempest, Curved Air, Audience, Uriah Heep, and above all, Gentle Giant. Their first album was released in 1973 on the independent Numero Uno label, one of the very few Italian prog albums entirely sung in English. A good album with nice west-coast multivocal influences mixed with an English prog sound, especially inspired by the likes of Genesis and Gentle Giant. The LP included seven long tracks, with good instrumental parts and the nice original harsh voice of Lanzetti, not far from Family’s singer Roger Chapman distinctive tremolo technique. The choice of singing in English didn’t probably help the group in achieving a good popularity in Italy, and the album wasn’t released abroad as it was probably planned. Oddly the English lyrics weren’t included in the album cover, that only contained the Italian translation. Second album Mass media stars was from 1974 and also gained an US release, thanks to the English lyrics. Not dissimilar from their first but with a slightly better production, this contained six long cuts. At the end of 1974 keyboardist Joe Vescovi replaced Maurizio Mori after The Trip’s split. He stayed in for some months and his presence is documented in the bootleg-quality Live in Emilia CD. But the strongest hit to the group’s stability came when Bernardo Lanzetti joined PFM, replaced for a while by Roby Facini, previously with I Top 4 and Dik Dik. Acqua Fragile split in 1975. Bass player Franz Dondi and drummer Pier Emilio Canavera have played with Rocky’s Filj, and in the Beatles-inspired band, Shout!, that released 2 CD’s in the 90’s. Dondi formed in 2004 Acqua Fragile Project, with a new line up in which he was the only original member, playing the old group’s songs. They were active until 2006. After his experience with PFM, Bernardo Lanzetti embarked in a long successful solo career. In the 2000’s he has collaborated and then joined Mangala Vallis. In his live album from 2013, Vox40 (including a CD and a DVD, Ma.ra.Cash MRC 038) Lanzetti has rearranged with an orchestra part of the old Acqua Fragile repertoire and is joined in some tracks by his old cohorts Canavera and Dondi. The three original members were the nucleus of a new Acqua Fragile line-up that produced A new chant in 2017, a good record that brings to mind the sound of the group in the Seventies.