The Trip

One of many English bands coming to Italy in search of success during the beat-era, The Trip included a young Ritchie Blackmore in their first line-up, along with founder members Andersen and Gray and drummer Ian Broad, but a line-up change brought two italians in, keyboards player Joe Vescovi from Savona (later the leading figure in the band) and drummer Pino Sinnone from Turin. With a stable line-up the band had a good recording deal with RCA and released their first album in 1970, and a single taken from it. The Trip (sometimes referred to as Musica Impressionistica, from a title on back cover) can't be yet considered a prog album, rather a rock-blues LP, with five long pieces led by guitar and organ. The long opening cut Prologo, is a good introduction to the band's sound that since their early days has always mixed English and Italian-sung tracks in their production. Also in 1970 the band members acted in the film Terzo Canale - Avventura a Montecarlo, a nonsense comedy based on the story of a band trying to get to Montecarlo from Italy and playing the Rome Caracalla Pop Festival in the end. With Caronte, in 1971, the Trip's sound became much more original, with more space to Joe Vescovi's keyboards. Since the first notes of Caronte I, the opening track, it's clear that a classical influence has enriched the band's sound. The long Two Brothers is another highlight of a very important album. After the second album two members quit the band, with Billy Gray (2) releasing a solo album, and the band kept on as a trio with new drummer, the young Furio Chirico from Turin, coming from some important rock experiences with 60's groups I Ragazzi Del Sole and Martò E I Judas. Atlantide, housed in an ambitious gimmix cover, obviously sees the leading role of Joe Vescovi's keyboards, with the sound veering toward an ELP-like style. The band was now very popular in Italy, and the album's first copies contain a promotional single with a long interview and excerpts from the LP. The same line-up released the fourth and last album, this time with the short-lived Trident label. Time of change contains yet another step in the band's sound evolution, still keyboard-based but with stronger classical and jazzy influences. After Time of change drummer Chirico left to form Arti & Mestieri, the others tried to revive the band with the help of Osage Tribe's drummer Nunzio Favia, but the band split after some months. Joe Vescovi briefly joined Acqua Fragile at the end of 1974 and later both he and Favia joined Dik Dik.