ENSEMBLE HAVADIA-81-82, CD, 2006 (RECORDED: 1981-1982), ITALY

Combining the first LP and follow up EP from this peculiar and rather late in the game Italian folkloric art prog unit, the material from their eponymous debut co-mingles the magisterial prog neoclassicism of St. Just and Opus Avantra, the whimsical bippity-boop of early 70's French psych/proggers Komintern and the delicately askew acoustic configurations of Quebec's Conventum with sound effects and narrative interventions to mostly winning ends, while the work on "Specchi", their aborted second album (finally released as an EP) would take these preoccupations to an even more enjoyable set of conclusions, reformatting the suite like structures into song form bursts that tap a vein of perky eccentricity reminiscent of their fellow travellers on the early 80's Italian scene in La Pattona.

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