In 2014, 38 years after the release of Maxophone’s song “Al mancato compleanno di una farfalla” (“At the missed birthday of a butterfly”), the ‘butterfly’ came back in a 20-minute prog suite included in Humana Prog’s “Fiori Frutti Farfalle”; that song lyrics were written by Paolo Farina, who wrote and arranged the full record as well. This new project of his started with the discovery of an old audiotape recorded in ’73 with some of his fellow musicians and friends containing a 16-minute demo track piece that was subsequently reworked and rearranged.
The recording of the suite “Fiori Frutti Farfalle” was attended by many musicians from Milan and Apulia, and included a special appearance by Sergio Lattuada, keyboard player and composer from the old and new Maxophone line-up. The second part of the album features six additional (all written by Farina between ’72 and ’73 and unreleased until 2014) that were recorded in the summer of 2013 in Apulia. The closing song “La ballata degli amici perduti” also features a string quartet.
Musically it is a wonderful and pastoral prog album, dreamy, elegant, and directly linked to the Italian tradition of the seventies, reminding names like Celeste, Locanda delle Fate, Pierrot Lunaire or Claudio Rocchi. Today, at the dawn of 2020, this little gem finally sees the light once again on its most suitable shape, a 180gr. black vinyl with a gatefold sleeve that makes the beautiful artwork illustrated by Matteo Guarnaccia shine all over!
Side A:
1.Fiori, frutti, farfalle
Side B:
2.Bianco, rosso, verde
3.Cerca in te
4.Mamma pubblicità
5.Nel prato più verde
6.Ti chiedo scusa
7.La ballata degli amici perduti