From: Mark Fonda <>
Alphataurus is another of those quintessential Italian bands that only
produced a couple of albums and then disbanded due to lack of exposure
(sales)... they were on the Magma label along with New Trolls and performed
at some of the early outdoor music festivals. Their debut self-titled album
from 1973 (if my Italian is any good) is a concept album stemming from their
band name (the star constellation) and is apocalyptic in the style of ELP's
Tarkus. All the lyrics and liner notes are in Italian. This CD (by Vinyl
Magic) is a triple fold-out cardboard slip case whose cover has a painting of
a dove dropping bombs on a surrealistic medieval castle landscape... not
exactly Roger Dean quality. The quality and intensity of the music are
nowhere near that of ELP and there are more lyrics, but it is nonetheless
well done and the keyboards of Pietro Pellegrini are very good. He plays
minimoog and I believe there are mellotron passages of strings and horns
although I can't interpret the notes well enough to be sure.
The second album 'Dietro L'Uragano' (1973) was never completed except for the
instrumental side. Mellow Records issued it for the first time in 1993.
Keyboard aficionados... this is the album you need to get!! It is a
classy production starting with the cover which is a strikingly realistic
color painting of some (almost) naked women riding two-headed flying dragons
off to battle(?). There are virtually no liner notes which just say it was
digitally remastered by Pietro Pellegrini in 1992. Now for the good stuff...
loads of pure minimoog, hammond and mellotron backed by tight percussion and
bass guitar... could be the 'lost ELP album' if you didn't know better. There
are some vocals snuck in on the last track but otherwise it's 33 minutes of
pure keyboard dramatics. It is a bit more pensive or laid back than ELP,
but there is no mistaking the influence. I won't say that Pellegrini is a
match for Emerson, Wakeman or Fritz but the album is very rewarding for those
who like good clean vintage keyboards.
Jerry Lucky describes Alphataurus as "Classical Italian progressive rock with
a heavier almost bluesy feel. Similar to Baletto Di Bronzo only a bit more
symphonic like Banco or PFM."