Le Orme (Italian: "The Footprints") is an Italian

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band formed in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy, Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popula ...

, a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'' of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. The band was one of the major groups of the

Italian progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

scene in the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

. They are one of few Italian rock bands to have success outside their own country, having played concerts across North America and Europe, and releasing an album in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

at the height of their success.

History

Beginnings (1966–1970)

Le Orme was founded in 1966 in Venice by Aldo Tagliapietra (vocals, guitar), Marino Rebeschini (drums),

Nino Smeraldi Nino or Niño may refer to: People *Nino (name) *Niño (name) *Antonin Scalia, American Supreme Court justice whose nickname was "Nino" Songs * "Niño" (Belanova song), 2005 * "Niño" (Ed Maverick song), 2021 *"Nino", a song from the album '' G ...

(lead guitar) and

Claudio Galieti Claudio is an Italian and Spanish first name. In Portuguese, it is accented Cláudio. In Catalan and Occitan, it is Claudi, while in Romanian it is Claudiu. Origin and history Claudius was the name of an eminent Roman gens, the most importan ...

(bass guitar). Originally intending to name themselves Le Ombre, a literal translation of

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the bac ...

, they ultimately decided on the similar-sounding Le Orme. The band's early work evoked a feel somewhere between

beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

, similar to what was coming out of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

at the time. One of their first major performances was on 2 June 1966, when they and other local bands accompanied a British beat group,

The Rokes The Rokes were a pop rock band formed in 1963 in Italy by English expatriates. Their most successful songs included "Piangi con me", the original version of " Let's Live for Today", a US hit when covered by The Grass Roots; and "Che colpa abbi ...

, at the Teatre Corso in

Mestre Mestre () is a borough of the comune of Venice on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the Municipalità di Mestre-Carpenedo, one ...

. In 1967, the day after recording their first single, "Fiori e Colori", for

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

's CAR Juke Box label (having been rejected by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

), Rebeschini left for the military. He was quickly replaced by Michi Dei Rossi of the dissolved Hopopi. The following year, their second single, "Senti l'estate che torna", was chosen to participate in

Un disco per l'estate Un disco per l'estate (translation "A Record for the Summer") was an Italian Summer festival held from 1964 to 2003. It was organized and sponsored by the Italian record industry association, AFI, and by RAI, except for the editions between 1995 ...

, a televised music competition organised by the Italian Phonographic Association and

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

. It was at this time that Tony Pagliuca (formerly of Hopopi and ) joined the group on keyboards. Later in the same year, the band began recording its first album, '' Ad gloriam'', to be released in 1969. The title track was sampled by Irish DJ David Holmes for his 2000 album '' Bow Down to the Exit Sign'', under the name "69 Police". It was then re-used in the ''

Ocean's Eleven ''Ocean's Eleven'' is a 2001 heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ted Griffin. A remake of the 1960 film of the same name, it serves as the first installment in the ''Ocean's'' franchise. The film features an ense ...

'' soundtrack, where it features prominently in the final scene. Soon Galieti left for the military as well, leaving Tagliapietra to cover on bass guitar. Not long after, Smeraldi left as well, leaving the trio that would be at the core of the band for its most successful era. An evolution in their sound towards more richness and complexity can already be heard in a non-album single the band would publish in 1970, "Il Profumo delle Viole / I Ricordi Più Belli".

Mainstream success (1970–1977)

In the spring of 1971 Le Orme recorded their second studio album, ''

Collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

''. Thanks to its promotion through the

radio program Per voi giovani, the album was quickly successful, earning a top 10 placing in the Italian charts. This was followed up with '' Uomo di pezza'' in 1972, which topped the Italian charts. ''Uomo di pezza'' also generated a hit single, "Gioco di bimba", and the band toured Italy in December 1972 with

Peter Hammill Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer-songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and ...

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...

(VdGG being on hiatus at the time). It was with their next album however, ''

Felona e Sorona ''Felona e Sorona'' is an album by the Italian progressive rock band Le Orme. It was released in 1973. Named one of the "finest examples of Italian progressive rock", it is a concept album pivoting on the story of two planets which revolve one a ...

'', considered to be one of the "finest examples of Italian progressive rock", that Le Orme truly gained prominence beyond their home country. At the request of

Tony Stratton Smith Tony Stratton Smith (born Anthony Mills Smith; 11 August 1933 – 19 March 1987) was an English rock music manager, and entrepreneur. He founded the London-based record label Charisma Records in 1969 and managed rock groups such as the Nice, V ...

, Le Orme recorded an English version of ''Felona e Sorona'' for

Charisma Records Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton Smith. He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van d ...

, with translation provided by Peter Hammill. The band toured the United Kingdom in support of the album, including dates at the

Marquee Club The Marquee Club was a music venue in London, England, that opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was a small and relatively cheap club, in the heart of London's West End of London, West End. It was the location of the first ...

and the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

. In January 1974, Le Orme recorded their first live album, '' In concerto'' at the Teatro Brancaccio in Rome. Later in the year a further studio album, '' Contrappunti'', followed. It also was successful, charting in the top ten, but failed to reach the lofty heights achieved by ''Felona e Sorona''. In 1975 Neil Kempfer-Stocker's Cosmos imprint issued ''Beyond Leng'', a largely instrumental compilation to introduce the band to a wider American audience. The band then headed to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to record their next album. At the same time, they hired a guitarist, Tolo Marton, bringing the group to four members. The resulting '' Smogmagica'', boasting a cover by

Paul Whitehead Paul Whitehead is a British painter and graphic artist known for his surrealistic album covers for artists on the Charisma Records label in the 1970s, such as Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator. __TOC__ Life and work England: Liberty Recor ...

, was significantly more commercially oriented than their previous work, and was largely viewed as a disappointment by fans. Marton left soon after the album was completed, and Germano Serafin was recruited in his stead. The following album, however, '' Verita nascoste'', was a return to form and would prove to be a high point as the band would soon suffer from the downturn in progressive rock's popularity.

Changes in direction (1977–1982)

Following the release of their eight studio album, '' Storia o leggenda'', Le Orme retired from touring to focus on exploring new directions for their music. The result was 1979's '' Florian'' in which the band members traded in their electric instruments for classical ones, emerging with a sound more akin to

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

than rock. The album was critically acclaimed, winning an Italian Music Critics' Award. They followed up with '' Piccola rapsodia dell'ape'', which, although stylistically similar was not nearly as successful. Reverting to their classic trio formation, the band attempted to return to the mainstream with a straight-

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

effort, '' Venerdi''. This album was also unsuccessful, and the band split amiably following its release.

Reformation (1986–1992)

Le Orme would reform in 1986, intending to play concerts only. They were soon persuaded to enter a single, " Dimmi che cos'e", at the 37th annual

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

, where it finished seventeenth. Though concentrating their efforts on concerts, the band released another studio album, titled simply '' Orme'', in 1990. Another pop effort, the disc went largely unnoticed. In 1992, Pagliuca ended more than two decades with the band to be replaced by Michele Bon. Later the same year the band added

Francesco Sartori Francesco Sartori (born 1957) is an Italian composer and piano and trumpet player. Works Sartori composed "Con te partirò", with lyrics by Lucio Quarantotto, for Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor ...

on piano.

Return to form (1992–2009)

Encouraged by the success of their concerts and strong sales of their 1970–1980 anthology, the band returned to the recording studio. The result was 1995's '' Il fiume'', a "triumphant return" to the sound that made them famous more than twenty years before. A string of concerts, culminating in appearances at progressive rock

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, followed. Two further albums were released, '' Elementi'' in 2001 and ''

L'infinito "L'infinito" (; ) is a poem written by Giacomo Leopardi probably in the autumn of 1819. The poem is a product of Leopardi's yearning to travel beyond his restrictive home town of Recanati and experience more of the world which he had studied. It i ...

'' in 2004, completing with ''Il fiume'' a trilogy around the concept of the "becoming" of the human being. Le Orme headlined NEARFest 2005, and later returned to a trio formation, playing concerts both inside and outside Italy.

Post Tagliapietra (2009–)

At the end of 2009, Aldo Tagliapietra left the band. He was replaced as lead singer by Jimmy Spitaleri of fellow Italian progressive rock band

Metamorfosi Metamorfosi (; before 1957: Koukouvaounes () is a suburb in the northern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica region. Characteristics Metamorfosi is a beautiful and quiet area in the northern suburbs of Ath ...

. In 2011 the group released '' La via della seta'', a concept album inspired by the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

, with lyrics written by Maurizio Monti, former collaborator of

Patty Pravo Nicoletta Strambelli (born 9 April 1948), known professionally as Patty Pravo, is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in p ...

, Mina and

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the United States as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian and French singer and songwriter. Early and personal life Cocciante was born on 20 February 19 ...

. With the new organic, Le Orme started a tournée, sharing the stage with

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (English: ''Bank of Mutual Relief'') is an Italian rock band. A popular progressive rock band in the 1970s, they continued making music in the 1980s and 1990s. They were still active, playing live in 2001 and 2008 at N ...

to promote the new album.

Member history

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ImageSize = width:750 height:250 PlotArea = width:700 height:200 bottom:20 left:20 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:grid1 value:rgb(0.86,0.86,0.86) id:grid2 value:gray(0.8) id:bars value:rgb(0.96,0.96,0.6) id:bg value:white id:2color value:rgb(1,1,0.6) BackgroundColors = canvas:bg Period = from:1966 till:2008 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:3 start:1966 gridcolor:grid1 BarData= barset:Bandmembers PlotData= # set defaults width:20 fontsize:m textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) color:bars barset:Bandmembers from:1966 till:2008 text:"Aldo Tagliapietra (vocals, bass guitar)" color:2color from:1966 till:1970 text:"Nino Smeraldi (guitar)" from:1966 till:1969 text:"Claudio Galieti (bass guitar)" color:2color from:1966 till:1967 text:"Marino Rebeschini (drums)" from:1967 till:2008 text:"Michi Dei Rossi (drums)" color:2color from:1968 till:1992 text:"Tony Pagliuca (keyboards)" from:1975 till:1976 text:"Tolo Marton (guitar)" color:2color from:1976 till:1980 text:"Germano Serafin (guitar)" color:2color from:1992 till:1998 text:"Francesco Sartori (piano)" from:1992 till:2008 text:"Michele Bon (keyboards)" color:2color from:1998 till:2007 text:"Andrea Bassato (piano, violin)"

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Ad gloriam'' (1969) * ''

'' (1971) * '' Uomo di pezza'' (1972) * ''

'' (1973)
Later re-recorded in English and released in the UK as ''Felona and Sorona''. * ' (1974) * ' (1975) * ' (1976) * ' (1977) * ' (1979) * ' (1980) * ' (1982), aka ''

Biancaneve ''Biancaneve'' is an Italian erotic comic book, created in 1972 by Renzo Barbieri and Rubino Ventura (pseudonym of Giuseppe Pederiali) and illustrated by Leone Frollo. The series, published by Edifumetto, was based on ''Snow White and the Se ...

'' (1994) * ' (1990) * ' (1996) * '' Amico di ieri'' (1997) * ' (2001) * ' (2004) * ' (2011) * ' (2016) * ' (2019) ;Live album * ' (1974, live) ;Compilations * ''Beyond Leng'' (1976)

References

External links

Le Orme on Prog ArchivesLe Orme on Progboard
*
2010 interview with Aldo Tagliapietra on Prog Sphere
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orme, Le 1966 establishments in Italy Italian progressive rock groups Italian rock music groups Italian symphonic rock groups Musical groups established in 1966 Musical groups from Veneto Philips Records artists