Osanna & David Jackson – Prog Family

The legendary Osanna returned in 2009 with a new expanded lineup they call the ‘Prog Family’. David Jackson from Van der Graaf Generator signed on for this project and became a stable element of the band, making major contributions, as do guests Gianni Leone (Balletto di Bronzo), David Cross (King Crimson), Tim Stevens, Lello Brandi, Sophya Baccini, and many others. The addition of Jackson makes perfect sense, as Osanna were the Italian band most influenced by Van der Graaf Generator. This CD contains 70 minutes of rearranged, re-recorded versions of existing Osanna songs, mostly from their first four albums, but also one track each from Suddance and Taka Boom, one track from Città Frontale’s El Tor album, and a version of Van der Graaf Generator’s Theme One. Lino Vairetti approached the new arrangements as if they were new songs, but retained the vintage sounds such as Hammond and Mellotron, not to mention flute and sax from David Jackson. The violin of David Cross is the most noticeable and refreshing new element in what is a consummate “inside job” homage to one of the great Italian progressive bands. Lyrics mostly in Italian, some English.

Although it clearly states: Osanna & David Jackson on the front cover of this "reformation" album, the booklet details reveal that this was (as originally announced) a project called "Prog Family" directed by Lino Vairetti (the only Osanna member, except original bassist Lello Brani who guests somewhere) with Nello D'Anna (Elio D'Anna's son?) as current bassist. The odd things about this are that on one hand it sounds like some crap American AOR band doing an Osanna covers tribute, although Lino Vairetti's vocals are unmistakable (but seems he's been lacking an English dialogue coach), and then there's David Jackson who fits in well (one of the best tracks here is in fact a version of Van Der Graaf Generator's "Theme One") yet his sax work is not at all in the style of Elio D'Anna, whereas he gets the flute licks spot-on. A nice surprising addition is former King Crimson violin wiz David Cross on a few tracks. As an album, it's a mishmash of old and new that is both good and bad, and certainly not as terrible as I deemed it on first listen!