History Mo.Do.

A minor band from Bergamo, founded in 1978 from the ashes of Dalton by drummer Locatelli, that only released an album in 1980.

La scimmia sulla schiena del re is a short eight-track album with the usual classical influences and some Gentle Giant-inspired sounds and rhythm changes. Half of the tracks are instrumental with the opening Preludio in D one of the best cuts.

Mo.Do. formed in 1978 and released their sole album, La Scimmia Sulla Schiena del Re, in 1980. This album stands as a bit of an anomaly for 1980, wearing its PFM inspiration on its sleeve as it does, but with state-of-the-1980s synthesizers and some Mark Knopfler-style guitar in a couple of places.

The band is at their best playing a slow and melancholic pieces, as evidenced by "Tramonto," my favourite track on the album. It begins with a light-classic inspired opening, which is essentially a reprise of the first track, and leads into a vocal section that is half-way between PFM and Celeste, and a guitar solo with absolutely no distortion on the guitar. The whole piece is very mellow and beautifully melodic, capturing the spirit of the best softer progressive rock from the seventies.

What struck me about the music is that melodies have everything in common with groups like PFM, BANCO, QVL. The band seemed to want to continue the legacy of Italian progressive rock without repeating it (although a section here and there might remind you of some of the classic bands). Each track features rather long instrumental sections driven by electric guitar, and keyboards(which include piano, Moog Opus 3, and Moog synth). Their drummer also plays in the typical energetic Italian prog-drummer style.

Don't let the release date fool you (1980), this is not a prog/disco album. It's actually a well crafted early to mid ' 70s style progressive mini masterpiece. Coming in at just over 33 mins, the ending comes pretty quick. I think if it had come out a few years earlier, it would be right up there with the likes of Banco, PFM, New Trolls etc.

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