From Italy, we have the welcome return of Paola Tagliaferro, whose lovely tribute to the music of Greg Lake I reviewed here last year. You can take a look at that by clicking on the button below

We are now treated to a brand-new album of original material, The Sound of the Spheres, or Il Suono Delle Sfere, because the first wonderful surprise on this CD is the fact that we have ten tracks with English lyrics, and then their Italian equivalent, quite a lovely touch.

Paola constructs this album with La Compagnia dell’Es; her on vocals; Pier Gonella on guitar & bass (he shared the recording and mixing duties with her); Luca Scherani on piano and keys; and Andrea Orlando on drums, with the musicians arranging the parts assigned to their instruments, so a healthy collective effort here. Tagliaferro wrote all the lyrics, except for Mars/Marte by Claudio Pozzani and Pluto/Plutone by Jose Pulido.

Before we discuss the music, a word about the rather lovely cover design, which is by Fiamma Diletta Cremonese.

It is released via Owl Records, and distributed via BTF and Black Widow – to grab a copy, take yourselves along to https://btf.it/en/label/owlrecords-en/

There is a concept here, that of an odyssey inspired by ANKH, the ancient Egyptian key symbolising eternal life, with a cosmic journey from earth and the moon, the planets of our solar system, each carrying the name of our ancient gods.

So, we kick off with Ankh, The Journey, and you are immediately hit with a wave of pastoral notes, the acoustic guitar, piano, some understated orchestral keys, and Paola’s expressive voice. As we progress, she demonstrates a nice jazz sensibility, and Gonella provides us with an expressive guitar solo. A solid start to proceedings. I have embedded below the very well-produced video of the Italian version of the track, Ankh, Il Viaggio.

Next up is Moon/Luna, and I have embedded below the English version of the song for you. I like the harmonies on this, and the care and attention the collective pay to creating such a romantic soundscape, the keys delicately impactful, and Gonella provides for a particularly strong bass melody underneath.

Sun is suitably more dramatic, given its position as our ultimate life giver, the energy translated nicely into the vocals and a fine guitar riff, bringing a flourish to the piece whose intensity builds up nicely as it progresses.

Mercury follows, that red hot ball of rock closest to our Sun. In Roman mythology, he was the God of merchants and travel/adventure, and there is a wonderful fleetness of foot to the opening notes on this, the divine character captured perfectly, Gonella & Orlando making for a fine rhythm section, and Tagliaferro putting in a ghostly turn on the vocals. Progheads will welcome the appearance of the mellotron adding to this enigmatic piece, taking on a decidedly jazzy funk in parts in the finest of Italian progressive traditions. This track is a real highlight of the year for me.

Venus was the Goddess of desire, sex, fertility, you get the picture, the divine ancestress of Caesar, and this track continues the feature I like so much of this album, in that the piece is wonderfully seductive, the keys adding to the sense of desire inherent in Paola’s voice, the bass again prominent, percussion creating a sense of the mystery you would have encountered entering the temple in ancient times.

Mars, the Bringer of War, of which we have plenty to cope with in 2025. There is again a sense of the dramatic, but Paola and her companions prove that to create this, you do not need to provide the listener with a racket. The keys are imbued with the spirit of Emerson in parts, and the guitar solo when it comes bursts out of the speaker with a drum flourish beneath it, the martial law taking control. The vocal mix on this is impressive.

Jupiter is, of course, the God among Gods, the Capo dei Capi. The voice on this is majestic, singing with authority, the music accompanying it quite experimental at times before the piano and keys restore a more recognisable traditional progressive feel to proceedings, all on a track which fans of Wakeman’s better solo output will particularly appreciate, I think.

Icy Titans are the perfect representation of the wastelands of space, far from the sun, but still full of wonder. There is a fine effect of a solar storm to accompany a gorgeous guitar solo – it must be said that Pier Gonella has contributed so much to this album and he is a real talent. The mellotron provides the vista in the background upon which Tagliaferro can paint her pictorial story. A wonderful track featuring some fine musicianship, the fretwork as we approach the closing segment dextrous and worthy of comparison with a Hackett or Howe.

Planet of Rings is our penultimate track, and we have a return to that beautiful pastoral soundscape, the mellotron note perfect, Paola’s vocals playful, the piano adding to that sense, Scherani providing for just the right level of intricacy so as not to detract from the direction of the song, and we then get another note perfect guitar solo. A lovely piece of music.

We close with Pluto, and the video of this icy half planet, the ruler of the underworld where all but the divines headed in mythology to essentially carry on as they had on earth, a not altogether uplifting thought if we are honest (Seneca’s description of it in his Pumpkinification of Claudius is fascinating). It is another well-produced video, and the track itself has a clear jazz sensibility to it, the bassline prominent, the voice almost rapping with us, the mellotron again used to very good effect in creating that mood above the main action, and as we move on, I get a sense of cathartic emotion in this song, a personal element to the close of this journey.

I really like this album. Paola Tagliaferro is a very talented vocalist, lyricist, and songwriter, and she has chosen her companions extremely wisely. Together, they have provided us with a concept album which delights, is never pompous or overblown, but rather imbued with a deep sense of accessible Italian rock music. She must be considered as an important cog in that nation’s musical wheel and I have no hesitation in recommending the album to you.