FLEA — Topi O Uomini (review)

Album · 1972 · Proto-Metal

4/5 · 2024-09-09
siLLy puPPy

The second stage of the triumvirate band evolution of the Flea On The Honey / FLEA / Etna saga found this Sicily turned Rome band from a 60s hangover heavy psych with prog dabbling band into a full-fledged progressive rock behemoth that once shortened its name to merely FLEA delivered a major evolutionary step in its development with its 1972 release TOPI O UOMINI which translates into English as “Mice Or Men.” In the matter of a year’s time FLEA had honed its chops considerably with an incessant flow of live performances including the Rome Villa Pamphili festival. With the release of TOPI O UOMINI, the band had undergone a number of changes by not only shortening its name but by abandoning the English language in favor of the more en vogue Italian prog feature of singing in the mother tongue. Likewise Antonio Marangolo who delivered frail and clunky lyrics on the “Flea On The Honey” debut sounded much more confident and polished as a vocalist in his native tongue after a year.

Despite all the changes, the basic style of a heavy psychedelic rock sound with a dominant guitar presence is still prevalent with an underpinning of jazz along with a few Mediterranean folk styles imported from the cousins’ native Sicily. Still present is the predominant use of heavy guitar grunge with influences from Cream, Steppenwolf, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Blue Cheer however the second half of the album with shorter tracks showcases a lighter side of the band’s persona with a more romantic slowed down more classic Italian prog sound however pretty much limited to the track “Sono Un Pesce” which serves as the ballad of the album with a strong Mediterranean jazz flavor and a rather bizarre chaotic ending. It’s one of the few moments where you can hear the acoustic guitar and presence of piano. The rest of the album pretty much follows other harder edged Italian heavy psych acts that incorporated their heavier style into the world of prog similar to early Italian bands like Procession, Il Rovescio della Medaglia or Garybaldi.

The album opens with the side swallowing A-side title track that features a suite of over 20 minutes in playing time. Starting with some intricate cymbal action and a rather subdued rhythm guitar, the track quickly picks up steam into a heavy psych explosiveness with Cream-like drumming and a powerful vocal performance of Antonio Marangolo. Clearly FLEA had gotten itself free from the “Honey” and was ready for primetime. The amazing thing about this sprawling track is that it never loses steam and keeps up the heavy drive for much of the track while dishing out a veritable assault of progressive rock workouts with time signature changes although there are a few moments of contrast with slower passages but despite these moments the guitars remain fully distorted and amplified and the hard rock ethos never strays far. The middle section could almost pass as modern stoner rock with its grungy effect and sort of slacker rock looseness however the band always maintains control and showcases its virtuosity once it picks up steam again. Perhaps the heaviest 20 minute track of the entire Italian prog scene!

The second side is just as hard hitting with “Amazzone A Piedi” mainlining the heavy psychedelic prog attack with an even faster tempo as well as cranking out even more proggy time signatures with a jazzy compositional song structure that prognosticates the band’s leap into the world of jazz fusion once it morphs into its third Etna phase of existence. The shortest track on board, this opener for the second side of the vinyl also showcases the band’s most sophisticated virtuosic playing with incessantly fast tempos coupled with unfathomably complex prog workouts all in the same musical context as the Hendrix inspired heavy bluesy psych rock that the title track delivered with gusto. The first downtime for some breathing room doesn’t arrive until the penultimate track “Sono Un Pesce” offers a bit of a ballad with a more traditional Italian prog sound of acoustic arpeggiated guitars, a more operatic vocal performance and a wider spectrum of tones and timbres from the piano, mandolin and harmonium.

The closing “L’Angelo Timido” begins with a short vocal harmony but quickly jumps into a Led Zeppelin inspired guitar frenzy only progressing through some seriously proggy twists and turns and provides a glimpse into an alternative universe where Led Zeppelin actually went prog! This heavy hitting closer ends with a bang leaving TOPI O UOMINI as one of the heaviest Italian prog albums of the entire 1970s. After coming from the previous album “Flea On The Honey” it’s almost hard to believe this is the same band as the musicianship had evolved severalfold in both the performance as well as the compositional camps. A noticeably jazzier infusion of musical ideas stuffed into the world of heavy psych making this a powerhouse of progressive heavy psych that was unlike anything else on the Italian prog scene even when compared to the other proto-metal leaning bands of the same timeline. After TOPI O UOMINI bassist Elio Volpini would leave the band to join L’Uovo di Colombo however the band would continue by replacing him with Fabio Pignatelli who after a very short stint would himself leave the band to form Cherry Five and then Goblin. After the sole L’Uovo di Colombo album was released Volpini would rejoin the band which would rebrand itself once again as Etna and jump into the world of jazz fusion. This is an excellent heavy prog album and an admirable second coming of this shapeshifting cast of musicians.