THE VOYAGE CONTINUES: The Alphataurus story - from 1971 to the third studio album, 2084: Viaggio nel nulla
- garethsprogblog
- 53 minutes ago
- 6 min read
While the names Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Le Orme will chime with the vast majority of Prog readers, the progressivo italiano sub-genre is infamous for a litany of single-album bands, almost all of which like Il Paese dei Balocchi, Murple or Cervello, produced spectacular music which is well-worth seeking out.
Up until 2012, Milan-based Alphataurus was one of the bands in that sole album category. Their eponymous 1973 release is now regarded as a classic of the genre and original copies can sell for up to €2000. According to keyboard player Pietro Pellegrini it’s because of its rarity value; the LP didn’t sell too well and Ricordi, the distributors, recycled the left-over stock. Fortunately for prog fans the AMS label has reissued the album in its original triple gatefold format with its iconic artwork by Adriano Marangoni that depicts the topics covered by the songs, instantly recognisable by the front panel showing a dove bearing an olive branch dropping a payload of bombs.
Taking its name from the anglicised form of the Bayer designation of Aldebaran, the first star in the Taurus constellation, the band was founded in 1971 and consisted of Pellegrini, Guido Wassermann on guitars, Alfonso Oliva on bass, Giorgio Santandrea on drums and Michele Bavaro on vocals, all of whom were between the ages of 18 and 20. They began by playing covers of music by UK prog and hard rock acts ELP, Genesis, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep before starting to write their own material. A potential breakthrough for Alphataurus came when they were told there was a possibility of being the opening act for ELP during their 1972 European tour promoting Trilogy, at the Palazzo dello Sport in Genoa on June 15 and on June 25 at the Stadio Comunale in Bologna. They even organised their own 20kW Semprini sound system but subsequently found that contracts had been pre-arranged with other groups, and it was the J Geils Band that opened at the Genoa concert; happily their disappointment was ameliorated by being allowed to watch the concert close-up, underneath Emerson’s stage position and Pellegrini fondly recalls speaking to Emerson as he warmed-up on the grand piano before the performance.
New Trolls frontman Vittorio De Scalzi saw Alphataurus perform at the Palermo Pop Festival in 1972 and asked the band if they’d like to make a record. He created the Magma record label for the project, produced the album, suggested that a triple gatefold sleeve would best convey the cover illustration, and wrote the lyrics under the pseudonym ‘Funky’. Consisting of three long-form tracks Peccato d'orgoglio (Sin of Pride), La mente vola (The Mind Flies) and Ombra muta (Silent Shadow) plus two short pieces Dopo l‘uragano (After the Hurricane) and Chroma (Chromium), the latter an instrumental composition added in the studio when it was realised that releasing an album only containing the four pieces already recorded would be like short-changing the record buyer, the music is intelligently written and confidently performed heavy prog where keyboards and guitar have equal standing with nicely balanced dynamics and Bavaro’s sumptuous voice.
Following the release of the album, they played other concerts, including the First Avant-Garde Festival in Palermo but Bavaro had to return to his home in Bari, putting the group’s future in doubt. Meanwhile, the band recorded some material without vocals for a proposed second album but the physical distance between members eventually led to the band splitting up in 1974. Pellegrini worked as an A&R man for Ricordi, continued to arrange and compose and became the first person to introduce the Fairlight to Italy, selling between 25 and 30 machines for around 50 million lire each (around £21,000 at 1982 prices.) This new material was eventually remastered by Pellegrini and released by Mellow Records under the title Dietro l’uragano (Behind the Hurricane) in 1992 and some would be reused for 2012’s comeback album AttosecondO, a play on the word for ‘Act II’ but also 1 x 10-18 seconds).
Alphataurus had reconvened in 2009 with a new line-up of Pellegrini, Wassermann, Santandrea, Fabio Rigamonti (bass), Andrea Guizzetti (keyboards) and were joined by Claudio Falcone (vocals) in 2010 when the band was invited to play at the Progvention 2010 in Mezzago (33km north east of Milan) along with two other legendary prog acts, Locanda delle Fate and Garybaldi, a performance subsequently released on CD by AMS Records in 2012 as Live In Bloom shortly before AttosecondO came out.
The two albums had a visual link to the 1973's Alphataurus, being graced with artwork by Adriano Marangoni but in another personnel change, Santandrea had been replaced by Alessandro Rossi on drums. AttosecondO was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews and favourable comparisons with the debut album although no one could suggest the band were stuck in the 70s. Some of the music may have been conceived almost 40 years beforehand but a 21st century production and a flair for contrasting dynamics made the album sound fresh. This author managed to attend an Alphataurus performance during their subsequent tour schedule in 2014, part of the Riviera Prog Fest held in Genoa, which was one of the real highlights of the event.
Fast forward to 2024 and a much-changed band released their third official studio album 2084: Viaggio nel nulla (2084: Journey into nowhere). Prior to recording the band consisted of Pellegrini, Wassermann, Guizzetti, drummer Diego Mariani, bassist Tony Alemanno from The Trip and vocalist/guitarist/flautist Franco Giaffreda from prog metal band Evil Wings, formerly the vocalist for Italian Genesis tribute band Get ‘em Out. The music had largely been composed by Wassermann with arrangements by Pellegrini but was lacking song words for a ‘space-themed’ concept album, a suggestion from Giaffreda, tying in with the band’s moniker. Giaffreda was reluctant to write the lyrics, aware the perfectionism within the band would likely cause difficulties, so he introduced the musicians to Carlo Guidotti, the former keyboard player and co-writer with Evil Wings, believing an outside influence could reignite the creative spirit. The words for album opener Pista 6 (Runway 6) were enthusiastically welcomed by the band so Guidotti worked on the lyrics for the other tracks, completing everything in around one month. He told me that it was challenging to work within the set structure of the music, and that he was extremely careful to follow the ever-changing moods within the melody. He explained that his approach was different from that used to produce Alphataurus’ previous albums: he’d reserved much more space for vocal parts in order to fully develop the plot.
The storyline is laid out in graphic novel style, painted along with the cover by drummer Mariani, whose other job is a graphic artist, which fits the narrative presented to the listener as six tracks. Pista 6 describes the chaos of the escape from the dying earth and the trauma of farewell described by a young man looking out from a spacecraft’s porthole, which features some jazzy guitar amongst the symphonic prog. Viaggio nel nulla describes the sense of estrangement of the passengers, reveals the hierarchy on the craft and concerns the dull routine on board the spacecraft as it moves away from earth into the void. This is more song-like in structure, highly melodic with a good balance between guitar, keyboards and vocals. Flashback (Apocalisse) is a reminder of the events leading up to the planetary apocalypse, from rising temperatures and radioactivity to natural disasters and mass migration, told through historic media reports mentioning plastics found on the summit of Everest and melting permafrost. The music matches the scathing lyrics, a critique of the rich and powerful who simply cared about themselves.
Wormhole is divided into two parts, an Emerson-like organ workout as the spacecraft is drawn towards a black hole and a long calm, early-Genesis inspired section featuring Giaffreda’s flute as the craft traverses a wormhole. During this transit in Meta e metà (Aim and Domain), time disappears and the Young Man meets his soulmate, but once space-time has returned to normal he thinks the woman may have just been a dream until he recognises her as Stella, the spacecraft Captain’s daughter. E = mc2 is a gentle orchestrated piece where the Young Man and Stella are getting to know each other with an unknown future ahead.
While there are graphical references to the first album, including a triple gatefold sleeve for both physical formats displaying some of the motifs of the original, other existential threats have been added to the new cover: global heating, a volcanic eruption and a tsunami. The youthful bravado of the 1973 group membership has been replaced by a creative partnership that evenly blends old and new and has a reinvigorated dynamism. Unfortunately the guitarist and founding member Guido Wassermann died in 2023, after the recording was completed but before the album was released and guitar duties have now passed onto the extremely capable hands of Andrea Massimo (Banaau). Left purposefully in suspense, the journey is set to continue for the story's protagonists, for Alphataurus, and for fans of progressivo italiano because much of the music has already been written for the next chapter.
Alphataurus will play the 2Days Prog+1 free festival on 6th September 2025.
2084: Viaggio nel nulla is available now on AMS.
See https://alphataurus.bandcamp.com/album/2084-viaggio-nel-nulla for details