Various – Caleidoscope

The underwater-related records Mare Romantico and Caleidoscope are siblings, like their bubbly sounding cousins Ittiologia and Biologia Marina, that come from the same family (similar – if not same – composers, same equipment, same studio, same vibe,…). Major difference between them is that Caleidoscope and Mare Romantico are rare. As rare as hen's teeth to be precise. While Ittiologia and Biologia Marina have surfaced more than 10 years ago (there’s evidence for at least 20 official sales of each on ebay and discogs and possibly even more under the counter), the other two are quite new to the scene and have basically never appeared for official sale. Till this day Amedeo Tommasi claims that only 50 copies of each of the records from the infamous Nature/Science series were made and only god seems to know how many of Caleidoscope and Mare Romantico left the pressing plant. Either some boxes of these will pop up at some point, or they looked not appealing enough for collectors and junk dealers in the 80s and 90s, so most of them were simply scrapped. The other theory is an extremely low pressing number. Pick your favourite idea and ask yourself the next big question: What is the real purpose of these records, with one responsible person but many faux labels and publishers with different addresses? I would not even dare to mention my delicate theory in public, but it is not as important as the fact, that some of these beauties (literally) have survived and surfaced in the 21st century.

To me both of them sound equally good and luckily at least one of them was discovered and reissued by Sonor Music Editions, which people should be really thankful for. It happened just before these would have faded into total obscurity.

I think these records are the ultimate crown jewels in the underwater library music category (if there is ever such a stupid thing like that!). They were created and recorded almost half a century ago, in Amedeo Tommasi’s cellar and to me, this is exactly how they sound! The touching DIY vibes just hit the right spot with mellowness and sound equally amateurish as charming. You can literally dive into your living room when this record is up and eyes are closed. It is amazing what equipment and set-up they had at that time and how they were able to come up with these hypnotic sounds, without even knowing it. These electronic loungy and jazzy vibes are simply brilliant. Mare Romantico is the wetter one of these two, but Caleidoscope sounds almost as delightful. Really love those covers and especially the Caleidoscope is quite funny as it shows a sea of boobs literally. Speaking of the cover art of these records, it should be noted where these come from. They were crafted straight from Antonio Zancanaro, a famous Italian painter. If Tono ever knew about his paintings being used for these records is another mystery we will never solve. Another noteworthy fact is the unusually long run time of about 50 minutes of each record.

Library records like these hide many mysteries and bring up even more questions. It is interesting and pleasing to see (at least for Mare Romantico) how many people were able to score a physical copy, according to discogs stats & ratings. One can argue about taste but one thing is damn sure. When it comes to record collecting, it does not get much more obscure than these two beauties…