Formed in Genova in 1965, Gleemen were an Italian psychedelic progressive rock band. After just one album, released in 1970, they changed their name to Garybaldi with the same line-up but their sound became more of a Hendrix, Cream influenced blues rock.
43 years after Gleemen's self titled debut album "Oltre...Lontano, Lontano" picks up right where they left off. The psychedelic sound on their first album has been replaced with a more bluesy rock but that's not surprising considering what Garybaldi were doing in the 70's.
Only keyboardist Lio Marchi is missing from the original lineup.
The other core members "Bambi" Fossati (guitar, vocals), Maurizio Cassinelli (drums), Angelo Traverso (bass) and Marco Zoccheddu (guitar) are all here as well as several guest musicians.
Of the 10 tracks on the album all of which are sung in Italian, half are very bluesy, the other 5 have more of a retro rock feel to them. My favorite track is "La Grande Carovana" which has some nice Hammond organ reminding me of their first album.
All in all I feel that "Oltre...Lontano, Lontano" is a fine release that is recommended to Italian prog lovers as well as fans of "Hendrix" or "Clapton" inspired Blues rock.
Let's hope we don't have to wait another 43 years for the next album.
Reviewed by John Longo on February 12th, 2014
