Sfogatevi Bestie

Label: Ultima Spiaggia ?– ZLUS 55185 Format: Vinyl, LP 
Country: Italy Released: 1976 Genre: Jazz, Rock Style: Fusion, Prog Rock A1 Sono Pronto A2 Caccia Alla Volpe A3 Entreneuse B1 Sfogatevi Bestie B2 Assurdo, P. 1 B3 Metronomo 138 B4 Assurdo, P. 2

An artist from Milan, whose early instrumental albums on the "Ultima Spiaggia" label are very interesting, a mix of jazz-rock with some Zappa humour. He was helped by fine musicians from Milano: Belloni, Finardi, Radius, etc.... who play in selections like "Botte da orbi"The last album from 1980 was more in a commercial electropop direction.In the same greate style as his next one "Botte da orbi", but this one have a little bit more prog feeling. The style is very hard to describe; jazz, fusion, funk, rock, and prog, all mixed together with a lot of humour and intelligence. Almost no singing at all.
Excellent and indispensable work, highly recommendable to all collectors of Italian Progressive Rock.
Born on April 29, 1951, Roberto Colombo is a keyboard player, artistic producer and arranger and has worked with bands such as Le Orme, PFM, Finisterre and many other prominent Italian musicians.
He's often considered one of the underrated gems in Italy. His solo albums from the 70's have a lot of Frank Zappa influences. In 1976 his first solo album, "Sfogatevi Bestie," was relesead. This album includes collaborations from notable musicians such as Walter Calloni (PFM), Ricky Belloni (Nuova Idea, New Trolls), Paulo Donnarumma (together with Eugenio Finardi former member of Pacco, and even today an esteemed session man), and Claudio Fasoli (Perigeo). It´s a good quality piece of work, well received by the press and still regarded as one of the most wanted items by numerous record collectors. This is a great example of vital experimental progressive jazzrock, with hints of Spiral Staircase by Supersister. A flawlessly produced album, way ahead of its time.1977 saw the release of "Botte da Orbi." This work verges on progressive and jazz-rock, but is marked by light-hearted ironic tones. He gathers together an all-star band of more than thirty musicians, featuring essentially the cream of the Italian music scene: from Mauro Pagani (PFM) to Walter Calloni (PFM), Ronnie Jackson to Lucio Violin Fabbri (PFM), Stefano Cerri (considered one of the best bass player of those days) to Tullio De Piscopo (another legendary drummer who have been playing with New Trolls on Tempi Dispari), and Ivan Cattaneo (a songwriter who was backed on one album by PFM). It´s a dynamic and clever intuitive record with rock solid technique. 1980's "Astrolimpix" is a record attributed to Roberto Colombo and Mark Harris, of less interest to prog fans, being more commercial. He has recently in 2008 recorded an album with his wife Antonella Ruggero entitled "Pomodoro Genetico," a techno pop album also of very little interest of prog fans.Aside from his solo albums, Colombo has had played with many progressive artists. He played keyboards on PFM's album "Passpartú," on Battiato's "L'Era del Cinghiale Bianco," and on Mauro Pagani's first album. He participated on a long tour with PFM as backing band to Fabrizio De André, from which came the first and most famous live record of the late singer songwriter.
As a producer, he has worked with artists of the likes from Le Orme, to Miguel Bosé, et. al., and has also produced some albums for Italian band Finisterre. Colombo is the musical director of the "Liberamusic" music label, which will renew, among its products, the works of guitarists Maurizio Colonna and Frank Gambale, that of the percussionist Ivan Ciccarelli, as well as Antonella Ruggiero's music.