LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

GOAD -The band was born near Florence, thanks to the work of the Rossi brothers, Gianni and Maurilio: The latter, twenty years later, is sill the perfect incarnation of the essence of the band. At the end of 1983, Rossi and the group put out the album Creatures for Northcott Production, a New York label that had already put out their album of covers, Who Can It Be in the USA. The album was published by Emmegi (distributed by Polygram) in 1985. In spite of the lack of support from the label, another album was finished. Perfume is a collection of pieces written and recorded from 1985 to 1988. The album was never published. Maurilio started work on a project dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe. The recording took place in the summer of 1994. The band, aside from Rossi (vocals, keyboards and bass) was made up of the drummer Giancarlo "Bronco" Gaglioti and various guests, among whom were guitarist Marcello Becattini and the late Marcello Masi, formerly of Strana Officina. Tribute to Edgar Allan Poe was published in 1995 and distributed in the same year by Multipromo. This time the tone was very different from the other two albums: It was more atmospheric and evocative progressive rock. The relationship with Multipromo ended after the publication of the fourth album, Glimpse, released in 1998 after numerous cuts and a mix not approved by Rossi. The fifth album was called Streghe?, the soundtrack to the play of the same name. The next year, Rossi's band made the official soundtrack to the film La Scacchiera (The Chessboard) by director Massimiliano Mauceri. In 1999 Goad made Il Minosse, one of their most complex and representative works, a play written by Franco Petrone and Luca Leonello Rimbotti. In 2002 Rossi returned to work on a very ambitious project, a musical version of Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, a cornerstone of American literature. Goad published Raomen - Spoon River Anthology Songs, a double album fascinating for its respect for Masters' verses. It is sophisticated progressive rock, taking a lot from symphonic rock (early King Crimson, Genesis) and from evolved hard rock (Rush, Triumph). In 2004 they participated in the much-anticipated Tribute to King Crimson, edited by Mellow with the collaboration of other Italian labels. Goad chose Epitaph, one of the most beautiful pieces from Robert Fripp's band, whose symphonic panoply has always been a reference for Rossi and the group. The cover of Have You Heard - The Voyage by The Moody Blues is also made and would appear soon after on the tribute CD organized by Mellow Records. With great musicians like Gianfranco Dini, first French horn of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Leonardo Tini, Nicola Di Staso, former Frank Zappa band member from the RAI orchestra, the album The Wood - Dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft was recorded. Mellow Records put it out in 2006. Toward the end of 2005, the group met Black Widow Records, possibly the most "alchemical" label in Italy, if not on the whole planet. An atmosphere was established between the musicians and the company that brought them quickly to the decision that they should work on some pieces from Dark Virgin. They would take those most in keeping with the style of the label, re-arrange them, modify them, record some new ones, and face the difficult task of testing themselves with a couple of absolute masterpieces like Killer by VDGG and 21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson. Goad, with fresh enthusiasm, manage to quickly write a new work entitled In the House of the Dark Shining Dreams, for which they prepared a new graphic look. Musically, the characteristics of the group remain the same, but this time the general sound seems substantial and energetic. There are sounds and atmospheres with no tempo, alive with genial lucidity they alternate between explosions of creative sound and moments of profound gothic romanticism. A new era for GOAD.
Track listing:
INTRO 1, 56 (Canone in D by Pachbell) Yet Another Battlefield 7:33 Clapper's Beatin' Fast 6:57 Dark Virgin 5:59 Olympia 4:04 Killer 8:25 As Nothing Had Changed 6:11 Dark Virgin 2 4:23 Steep Path 5:21 It's Always The Same Thing 6:18 Springy 6:08 21st Century Schizoid Man 7:36 Genius of Europe 6:39 (incl.Wagner Intro-Sigfried Death)