(Prog Rock, Jazz Rock) Arti E Mestieri - First Live In Japan - 2006, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Prolusion. While clearly realizing that ARTI E MESTIERI (AEM from now on) is one of the most renowned progressive bands to come out of Italy, I must confess it is difficult for me to find out which of their numerous outings are studio albums, and which are live releases, since my prior exposure to AEM stops after their first two LPs, "Tilt" (1974) and "Giro di Valzer per Domani" (1975). Nevertheless I would continue their list of studio recordings as follows: "Quinto Stato" (1979), "Acquario" (1983) and "Murales" (2000). As for this arrival, "First Live in Japan", it was recorded at the Citta Club in Kawasaki during the band's 2005 Japanese tour.

Analysis. The first five and the next seven tracks here form the Tilt and the Giro Di Valzer Per Domani suites respectively, being performed in the same order they are presented on the group's first two LPs, each of which is internationally regarded as a classic. For those who still aren't familiar with Arti E Mestieri, their sound is usually energetically saturated, powered by Furio Chirico whose drumming is simply fantastic and is very often furious indeed (as if serving to justify the musician's first name), stylistically varying not too much, from orthodox Jazz Rock to a blend of jazz-fusion and symphonic structures, though this particular set contains two pieces which don't completely blend with any of the idioms. Some of the band's newer creations, Kawasaki and Marilyn both stand out for their classical-like acoustic piano patterns, the former featuring no other instruments besides the piano, while on the latter the piano leads interact with (intense) drum solos and (mellow, yet distinctly jazzy) saxophone trills, creating a picture that is pleasingly contrasting on all levels. The short Nova Lune Dopo features only vocalizations, vibes and bass. Another brief cut, Corrosione, has a full-band sound, which though is both smooth and delicate throughout. The four tunes featuring lyrical content, namely Strips, Aria Pesant, Alba Mediterranea and Glory, are all among the very best symphonic jazz-fusion creations with vocals I've ever heard, the first three fitting well the album's predominant style, which I will come to shortly. Though involving only vocals, acoustic guitar, violin, Mellotron and (occasional) percussion, Glory has a good deal in common with UK, mainly due to the strong resemblance between Iano Nicolo's vocals and John Wetton's. The rest of the material includes eleven instrumentals and can be divided into two categories. Gravita 9,81, Arcensiel and 2000 each represent a confluence of Jazz-Fusion and Symphonic Progressive with a really perfect balance between improvisational and structured melodic passages. If I were prompted to find any reference points, I would say it's like The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever and Brand X jamming with Kansas and UK, the violin work being now reminiscent of Jean-Luc Ponty, now of Kansas's Robbie Steinhard in approach. Positivo / Negativo is similar, but the piece's symphonic component is directly linked with Adriatic folk music. Nove Lune Prima and Mescali / Mescalero follow each other, both abounding in vocalizations and generally coming across as one monolithic composition. That being said, traditional sympho-prog lovers will find no shelter from avalanche-like improvisations which are the core of each of the remaining four tracks, In Cammino, Valzer Per Domani, Miraflori and Dimensione Terra, even though there is no lack of unison moves either. The band very rarely slows down, but when they do, the results are equally fascinating.

Conclusion. Like most of the progressive rock units born during the heyday of the genre, AEM have always had their own voice, rooted in the free spirit of the era. This release is simply a brilliant collection of live numbers, eighteen musical messages from a really huge band, most of which are delivered off the reel, with genuine passion and fire. Jazz-Fusion lovers shouldn't miss this CD, unless they own most the band's significant releases, including at least one of their previous live albums.

01 - Gravita 9,81.flac
02 - Strips.flac
03 - Corrosione.flac
04 - Positivo , Negativo.flac
05 - In Camino.flac
06 - Valzer Per Domani.flac
07 - Mirafiori.flac
08 - Nove Lune Prima.flac
09 - Mescal , Mescalero.flac
10 - Nove Lune dopo.flac
11 - Aria Pesante.flac
12 - Dimensione Terra.flac
13 - Kawasaki.flac
14 - Glory.flac
15 - Marilyn.flac
16 - Arcenciel.flac
17 - Alba Mediterranea.flac
18 - 2000.flac
Arti E Mestieri - First Live In Japan.m3u
Artwork
First Live In Japan.cue
First Live In Japan.log
tau.log
Artwork\1.jpg
Artwork\2.jpg
Artwork\3.jpg
Artwork\4.jpg
Artwork\back.jpg
Artwork\cd.jpg
Artwork\f - ins5.jpg
Artwork\ins 1-4.jpg
Artwork\ins.2-3.jpg
Artwork\poster 2.jpg
Artwork\poster1.jpg
Artwork\sleeve.jpg
Artwork\small.jpg

EAC extraction logfile from 3. March 2007, 9:35 for CD
Arti E Mestieri / First Live In Japan

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-755A Adapter: 4 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 30
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : D:\Program Files\EAC\Exact Audio Copy\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
320 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Installed external ASPI interface

Track 1
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\01 - Gravita 9,81.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC EDAE9BA4
Copy CRC EDAE9BA4
Copy OK

Track 2
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\02 - Strips.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 46AA9451
Copy CRC 46AA9451
Copy OK

Track 3
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\03 - Corrosione.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 660458CF
Copy CRC 660458CF
Copy OK

Track 4
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\04 - Positivo , Negativo.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC C4DE242F
Copy CRC C4DE242F
Copy OK

Track 5
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\05 - In Camino.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 70B4FD1B
Copy CRC 70B4FD1B
Copy OK

Track 6
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\06 - Valzer Per Domani.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC BE099167
Copy CRC BE099167
Copy OK

Track 7
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\07 - Mirafiori.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 36A434C7
Copy CRC 36A434C7
Copy OK

Track 8
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\08 - Nove Lune Prima.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4D1CF837
Copy CRC 4D1CF837
Copy OK

Track 9
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\09 - Mescal , Mescalero.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 685B6BFE
Copy CRC 685B6BFE
Copy OK

Track 10
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\10 - Nove Lune dopo.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 8590BE84
Copy CRC 8590BE84
Copy OK

Track 11
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\11 - Aria Pesante.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC B4C27829
Copy CRC B4C27829
Copy OK

Track 12
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\12 - Dimensione Terra.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 86521FA7
Copy CRC 86521FA7
Copy OK

Track 13
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\13 - Kawasaki.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 01D2648A
Copy CRC 01D2648A
Copy OK

Track 14
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\14 - Glory.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 49B0EBA7
Copy CRC 49B0EBA7
Copy OK

Track 15
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\15 - Marilyn.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B7D8BDC6
Copy CRC B7D8BDC6
Copy OK

Track 16
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\16 - Arcenciel.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 697E933D
Copy CRC 697E933D
Copy OK

Track 17
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\17 - Alba Mediterranea.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 59607A37
Copy CRC 59607A37
Copy OK

Track 18
Filename D:\1 - Music + Stuff\18 - 2000.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 30387CC1
Copy CRC 30387CC1
Copy OK

No errors occured

End of status report

4035299077 48453596 01 - Gravita 9,81.wav
3138794944 46922444 02 - Strips.wav
1301432789 15897212 03 - Corrosione.wav
1333674815 38946812 04 - Positivo , Negativo.wav
2935034291 66039500 05 - In Camino.wav
3088264009 44671580 06 - Valzer Per Domani.wav
522544345 62346860 07 - Mirafiori.wav
3816355969 9941948 08 - Nove Lune Prima.wav
134005418 27558428 09 - Mescal , Mescalero.wav
3508701363 11734172 10 - Nove Lune dopo.wav
3629146691 44161196 11 - Aria Pesante.wav
3454486396 41016572 12 - Dimensione Terra.wav
2265904619 65510300 13 - Kawasaki.wav
1666763175 29089580 14 - Glory.wav
2656870237 57320636 15 - Marilyn.wav
1194067960 41230604 16 - Arcenciel.wav
791718813 48881660 17 - Alba Mediterranea.wav
3226990513 99388508 18 - 2000.wav

auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [01 - Gravita 9,81.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [02 - Strips.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [03 - Corrosione.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [04 - Positivo , Negativo.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [05 - In Camino.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [06 - Valzer Per Domani.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [07 - Mirafiori.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [08 - Nove Lune Prima.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [09 - Mescal , Mescalero.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [10 - Nove Lune dopo.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [11 - Aria Pesante.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [12 - Dimensione Terra.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [13 - Kawasaki.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 87%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [14 - Glory.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [15 - Marilyn.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [16 - Arcenciel.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [17 - Alba Mediterranea.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [18 - 2000.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Final Conclusion:
------------------------------------------------------------
These tracks looks like CDDA with probability 100%