LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

• Label: Sommor Records
• Edition: First official release of previously unreleased 1973 recordings
• Audio: Remastered from the original master tapes
• Packaging: Includes an illustrated insert with liner notes and photographs
• Extras: Download card containing the complete album and four bonus tracks recorded in 1970

Moby Dick finally uncovers the long-lost album by one of the most uncompromising groups to emerge from the Italian underground hard-rock scene of the early 1970s.

Formed in Naples in 1968, Moby Dick featured guitarist Toni Di Mauro, bassist Enzo Petrone, drummer Adriano Assanti and vocalist Sandro Coppola. Unlike many Italian groups of the period, they performed in English and pursued a direct, forceful style inspired by the weight and intensity of contemporary British hard rock.

The group became known throughout the Italian live circuit for loud, unpredictable performances filled with distorted guitar, explosive rhythms and theatrical stage effects. Their music combined the blues-based power of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple with the darker, more adventurous character of the Italian psychedelic underground.

In 1973, Moby Dick travelled to London to record what they hoped would become their debut album. The sessions took place in the same studio and with the same engineer associated with Led Zeppelin, giving the band the opportunity to capture its music with the power and clarity it demanded.

Despite the strength of the recordings, the album was never released. Record-company uncertainty, changing circumstances and tensions within the group brought their momentum to an end, and Moby Dick dissolved shortly after returning to Italy.

The seven surviving tracks reveal a remarkably heavy and confident band. “Two Timing Girl” and “Free Wheelin Cat” combine sharp riffs with tough, English-language vocals, while the longer “What Time Is It,” “Groove Me” and “Sex ’n’ Roll Express” allow the musicians to stretch into extended heavy-psych and proto-metal territory.

Remastered from the original tapes and supplemented by an illustrated insert, this Sommor edition gives the abandoned 1973 album its first official vinyl release. A download card also provides four earlier recordings from 1970, documenting the formative stage of this remarkable Neapolitan group.

Track listing:

Side A
1. Two Timing Girl – 4:30
2. Free Wheelin Cat – 4:26
3. My Friend – 4:18
4. What Time Is It – 6:00

Side B
1. Provisional Baby Hip – 6:08
2. Groove Me – 6:44
3. Sex ’n’ Roll Express – 7:56