AA VV L’Ottava Vita – Tributo a Claudio Rocchi

Claudio Rocchi is one of the fundamental Italian artists of the psychedelic and progressive scene of the 70s. He immediately showed off on Stormy Six ‘s debut album ” Le idee di Oggi per la musica di futuro ” (1969) playing bass. A character of great charisma, singer-songwriter and musician as well as radio host, he embodied the libertarian and psychedelic spirit of that period in Italy . His first albums are all essential manifestos to understand the depth of this artist. The debut ” Viaggio ” (1970) is an excellent album but it is with the subsequent ” Volo Magico n. 1 ” (1971) that Rocchi releases his undisputed masterpiece. The album presents on the first side a long psychedelic and hypnotic suite: the words are beautiful, in the name of a libertarian and transcendent “vision” of reality. This is great music and a still valid example of the folk and psychedelic creative ferment of the 70s together with the first Alan Sorrenti and Juri Camisasca . This suite probably influenced Alan Sorrenti for his masterpiece ” Aria “. “La realidad non exist”, on the second side”, is another song that symbolizes Rocchi’s thought. Among others, Alberto Camerini on guitar participates in the album. The following ” La norma del cielo – Volo Magico n. 2 ” (1972) and ” Essenza ” (1973) confirm the artist’s great moment of inspiration. But it is with ” The honey of the planets, the islands, the bees ” (1974) that he releases another memorable album. In his records you can breathe an otherworldly spatial atmosphere which is still something unrepeatable today . Rocchi then continues his career with great commitment, always publishing works worthy of note. Unfortunately Claudio Rocchi died in 2013 leaving a great void in Italian music. Fortunately his spiritual legacy has not been lost as demonstrated by the tribute just released for the meritorious Area Pirata of Pisa.

The album is entitled ” L’Ottava Vita – Tribute to Claudio Rocchi ” and was conceived by Cristina Scanu , Pino Molinari , Lodovico Ellena and Alfonso Totaro . The musicians involved pay homage to Rocchi by reintroducing some of his most inspired compositions. Lodovico Ellenahe is the mastermind of the psychedelic Effervescent Elephants , an important group of the Italian neo-psychedelic scene of the 1980s and a great admirer of Rocchi . It is no coincidence that he managed to collaborate with the Milanese musician on the album ” Claudio Rocchi & Effervescent Elephants ” (2001). All the artists involved tried their hand at interpreting songs from his repertoire. The first song is an unreleased song by Rocchi or “The glory of Krishna”. Then there are the Effervescent Elephants with their interpretation of “There are doors”. For the occasion, No Strange also participated in the project , another group that was part of the cream of the aforementioned neopsychedelic scene with the metaphysical “Sotto i portici di marmo”. The presence of the great Jenny Sorrenti is truly touching , here performing “La tua prima luna”, one of her most significant songs. The album is completed by “Lascia Gesù” edited by I bambini “Gialli” della Scuola dell’Infanzia E. De Amicis (the arrangement is by Alberto Ezzu of No Strange ), the inevitable “La reality non exist” by Carlot-ta , “this morning” by Pino Molinari and “Gliocchi nel cielo” by Electric Green .

With ” The Eighth Life – tribute to Claudio Rocchi ” a great favor was done for culture . It is a record that has a particular symbolic value and which contributes to making a mythical character like Claudio Rocchi still alive .

Claudio Rocchi was a key figure in the progressive and psychedelic scene of the 70s, in fact he played bass on Stormy Six’s first album. Claudio, author of many albums such as Volo Magico N°1 which will remain in history for their beauty, the libertarian and never banal lyrics, sink into the flesh of raw reality, virtual and real. Claudio left us in 2013 but he did not go unnoticed, the work of Area Pirata confirms it, this album is a tribute by many artists to what he was. Ludovico Ellena and Effervescent Elephant, No Strange, Jenny Sorrenti etc… a record made of memory, to listen to with great attention, take some time and do it, it’s worth it!

Cesare Buttabuoni – Debaser.it 10/2015

I confess, when I listened to the CD for the first time I immediately thought of a tribute for elderly enthusiasts who remember their past as something beautiful and alive, while the present is (would be ) now corrupt, useless… After further rounds the idea has changed, fortunately, also because if one tries to delve deeper into the figure of Claudio Rocchi first and foremost, and also of many of the musicians involved in this tribute, one comes to think of their “young present” (what is perhaps considered the golden age) as something that was truly worth fighting and living for, so much so that we continue to bear witness to it. Despite my impressions, however, it is necessary to address these songs, the spirit that surrounds them and the legacy they have left to us enthusiasts too. I wouldn’t go into too much detail about Claudio Rocchi (who spent time in Stormy Six and Aktuala, with publications for Cramps by that genius Gianni Sassi), because at least a specific article would be needed: all you need to know is that without him probably all psychedelia and the pop to come of our country would perhaps have been very little. This tribute was born from an idea of ​​some names close to him (Cristina Scanu, Pino Molinari), but it also has a substantially Turin origin: No Strange act as godfathers-ferryers between what were words and sensations in freedom, with the desire to put a true precursor in the right light. The news is that there are a couple of unpublished ones: “Pane E Arte”, for example, is a little jewel presented at the Tenco Prize in the Seventies. It is even possible to involve Jenny Sorrenti (Saint Just) or another maverick like Lodovico Ellena, as well as the choir of a Piedmontese nursery school, to underline how important it is to teach the “fundamentals”, especially to the little ones. “Gli Apostoli” seems to come from Mars and – be careful, it’s a late Rocchi – there is a trace of “Sotto I Portici Di Marmo” (reread by No Strange) in “Concerti 1973/4/5” and it is crystal clear and evocative. The young Carlot-ta, fortunately, is unable to ruin a wonderful “La Realtà Non Exist” (from Volo Magico N.1), while Sorrenti emerges from a distant space-time hole to give her elegance to “La Tua Prima Luna” (from Viaggio, the debut album of the Lombard musician). In “Esistono Porte”, however, the aesthetic spirit of those very eventful years for our country can be felt entirely, even too much, but this is inevitable.

After numerous listens I’m still wondering what mysterious astral conjunction could have been expressed by a series of artists who have given so much to our musical culture, and I’m asking myself this because I didn’t even want to hear about these things until my late adolescence. Him, Luciano Cilio, Juri Camisasca, Lino “Capra” Vaccina, Demetrio Stratos, outsiders like Alan Sorrenti, Piero Ciampi and Flavio Giurato, but there is no shortage of other visceral examples, how many beautiful souls in pain the post-war period has produced, and perhaps the “hunger “Who knows, let’s all keep this in mind.

Maurizio Inchingoli – The New Noise 14/01/2016

His work with Stormy Six and Aktuala and then a solitary life, however made with a lot of friends, musicians and inspirations: this tribute gives credit to a great artist and everything is done with the right humility…
Nobody helps you, if you feel like asking for help…
The album was conceived, wanted and created by Cristina Scanu , Pino Molinari , Lodovico Ellena and Alfonso Totaro : the latter then also took care of of the graphic project and the disc package.

The review can be carried out following two different paths: the first always having the icon of the deceased artist in front of us and at each song it is natural for us to look up… or by analyzing the individual songs in a separate and aseptic way, precisely to avoid of getting too involved in the memory. I thought for a few days about which path to take and I decided not to follow a specific one, but to let myself be carried away by emotions…

Having initially congratulated those who worked hard to create The Eighth Life in every phase, all that remains is praise the disharmony of the album: 11 fragments different from each other, both for the construction of the songs, but also for the level of the recording, the arrangement made, the effort made… and this varied block of 11 songs is opened and closed by the two unreleased songs by/with Claudio Rocchi… and this alone should convince you to buy the album! They are two minimal pearls, but with a truly interesting cultural weight…
I remember a dinner with Claudio Rocchi at Antonello Cresti ‘s house , because they were both collaborating on the Nihil Project album, coming out on my small (but feisty) UdU Ululati Records. My happiness at the invitation would certainly have led me to ask questions about the history of Stormy Six, about the thousand potentials of Aktuala or about one of the many musical projects that Rocchi had in mind: instead the evening went ahead with myself and Antonello Cresti in an attitude of devotion and with Rocchi who promptly took off his guru’s clothes, talking about the goodness of the salad he had just eaten and the universal value of poetry. He surprised us… positively!

This album is conceived in the same way: a sitar fills everything, everything and every single song, but there is nothing that is not harmonious with the previous song, because… the name divides the form and the illusion . As Claudio says in the final song … the norm of heaven is the emptiness of everything… the emptiness that fills everything with everything! It is therefore his own words that dismantle any apparent devotional attitude that could cloak the individual interpretations of his songs: for this reason the praise to the musicians involved must be strong, but simple in their writing… because reality does not exist and we are all at the center of a magical flight, even if many are not aware if they are part of the problem faced or instead are involved in its solution!

Giancarlo Passarella – MusicalNews.Com 09/29/2016