What can be more progressive than a conceptual album about Darwin’s theory and the evolutionism? And what to speak when it’s done with all the lyricism and beauty of the Italian language? Darwin!, the second disc recorded by Banco del Mutuo Soccorso in 1972, is a reference. Another masterpiece recorded in this magical musical year.
The starting point is the track L’evoluzione, divided in four main ideas. Firstly there is the contestation against the creationism (“Try to think a little different/ From nothing great I was made”), the emergence of the first living beings (“Great layer of lava and coral/ Moist and discolored sky/ Now Earth is breathing/ Mosses and lichens…”). The third stage covers the first animals that came out from de sea and explored the land (“The sea vomits deformed creatures/ Time will change their flabby bodies/ Into useful ways to survive”). Finally, after a wonderful and long instrumental piece the realization that we came from the monkeys (“In a fossil skull from an ancestor/ I note forms that resemble me/ Seven days is not enough to create/ Adam is dead and my genesis/ Is not from men, but primates”).
From the seed planted by L’evoluzione, the disc keeps walking through time and detailing some points of the evolutionary history. It passes by the conquest of the upright position and how it contributed to the species’ survival. Then, Danza dei grandi rettili, is an instrumental that represents the emergence of large predators.
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| Darwin and his theory which changed paradigms. |
The fourth song has and agitated and dynamic punch. It’s not a coincidence. Cento mani e cento occhi tells about the groups formation with the defense and big hunt’s purpose (“Hungry mouths, strong arms/ A hundred hands are my strength/ One hundred eyes are doing guard”). Also is discussed the use of tools and dwellings (“Throwing sharp stones with great fury/ This group became a tribe/ Men living inside stone boxes”).
Romantic and lyrical, 750.000 anni fa … L’amore? deals with the sexual desire without reproductive behalf – A peculiar characteristic of our specie.
After that, Darwin! advances until more recent history periods. It goes through the segregation of humanity into several ethnicities, languages and cultures. The closure takes place in Industrial Revolution.
The band doesn’t say explicitly, but by finishing an album about evolution in the middle of Industrial Revolution pass us a clear message: This is the end of our evolution. Now is the turn of machines and technologies.
Weakness and congenital problems that once used to kill us before we be able to pass it through future generations, can be easily managed by modern medicine. In short, we’re regressing in evolutionary terms. Each generation is weaker and vulnerable than previous one.
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| The Industrial Revolution represents the end of our evolution? |
Darwin! is fantastic. That’s why is very common to see it in Progressive top’s lists and stuffs like that. Maybe, the only barrier is the language. It’s not so common to find whose can speak in Italian. However, due the content, this detail becomes irrelevant and does any Italian class worth.
“Ed io che stupido ancora a credere; a chi mi dice che la carne è polvere.”
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FACTSHEET:
Artist: Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Year: 1972
Album: Darwin!
Genre: Progressive Rock
Country: Italy
Members: Francesco di Giacomo (vocals), Gianni Nocenzi (synthesizer and organ), Marcello Todaro (guitar), Pier Luigi Calderoni (drums), Renato d'Angelo (bass), Vittorio Nocenzi (keyboards).
TRACKS:
1 - L'evoluzione
2 - La conquista della posizione eretta
3 - Danza dei grandi rettili
4 - Cento mani e cento occhi
5 - 750,000 anni fa ... L'amore?
6 - Miserere alla storia
7 - Ed ora io domando tempo al tempo ed egli mi risponde... Non ne ho!
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