From: "Carsten Busch"
<>
Vitale varies from new age to symphonic prog to jazz rock. "Sobre
Miedos...." is his best and actually one of the greatest Symphonic prog CD's ever!
From: Mark Fonda <>
Lito Vitale is the keyboardist for MIA (Argentina, last album in 1978). 'Sobre Miedos,
Creencias Y Supersticiones' is Vitale's 1981 solo debut. My spanish is not very good, but
I think the title translation is 'Over Dread, Faith and Superstition'. The first six
tracks are from the original solo LP release of 1981 and the final four (bonus) tracks
were recorded in 1987 with the help of three other musicians; the CD remastering was done
in 1995. Vitale plays all the instruments on the original tracks including Yamaha piano,
Polymoog, Minimoog Delta, ARP String Ensemble, Moog Modular, Rikenbaker Bass, Gibson Les
Paul Guitar, percussion and vocals. He is credited with simply 'keyboards, composition and
arrangement' on the bonus tracks with others on bass guitar, tenor/soprano sax, flute and
percussion.
As you can gather from the title, the album concept (from my crude translation of the
liner notes) is about "the supernatural world and the legends, symbols and
superstitions of mankind... whose ingredients support the necessity to channel the
insecurity of the masses by trying to explain the inexplicable". The general mood of
the album is quite sombre and low key, but not without a firm sense of direction and
composition... it is not 'ambient' by any means. It has several tracks that are powerful
symphonic, majestic mix of keyboards and percussion... others which are truly beautiful
piano melodies. Track 2 is one that I skip since it is nothing but a collection of eerie
devilish animal/voice samples that give me the creeps. Some vocals are present on a couple
of tracks but they are not prominent and are purely for mood, since they are not even
spoken words, merely tones and sounds (like Thijs van Leer of Focus used to do, but not
that flamboyant).
Anyway, this album is highly recommended for it's symphonic, classical, keyboard mixes.
Some of the passages are reminiscent of Pink Floyd's more electronic works like DSotM or
WYWH. Other sections sound like the theme from the 'Night Gallery' TV Show. The additional
instrumentation in the bonus tracks also give it a different feel... more upbeat in fact.
I guess the more I listen to this, the more I realize there is to it, but on the other
hand it is not a purely keyboard virtuoso like the others on the Top 10/20 lists...
Vitale also has two other releases: En Solitario (1991) and Pantallas (199?)
From: "Luna Negra S.C."
<>
Probably, it would be something like "ABOUT FEARS, BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS",
From: tweibrecht@juno.com (thomas m weibrecht)
close..."on fears, beliefs and superstitions"...great disc...
From: "Carsten Busch"
<>
Thanks for this review about this absolutely fantastic album. Still I prefer the original
LP (vinyl freak I am) above the CD :-)
> Vitale also has two other releases: En Solitario (1991) and Pantallas
(199?)
Actually Vitale has lots of other albums. I believe at least 10. I only have his
trio-album "Vitale Baraj Gonzales", which is completely different in
jazzrock-vein. Very good anyway. If I find some sparetime I will look up his other
records! Carsten