JACULA - TARDO REDE IN MAGIAM VERSUS - 1972

This is one weird album indeed. Even more weird when you consider some of the musicians involved. For example you got keyboardist Charles Tiring. He was not your typical twenty-something like you usually expect in prog rock bands. At the time this album came out, he was said to be 68 years old (not likely alive these days) and married to an 18 year old, which meant that didn't exactly endear himself to the rest of the band (he left after this album and they became Antonius REX). The rest of the musicians included Anthony Bartoccetti on guitar, bass and vocals, Doris Norton (known as Fiamma Dello Spirito on this album) on vocals, violin, and flute, and someone named Franz Parthenzy conducting the medium.

What's also weirder was they were exploring the occult, performing under séances. While other prog rock bands simply used keyboards like the Hammond organ, Charles Tiring went totally hog wild on the pipe organ, although he used the occasional Moog for sound effects, and harpsichord and piano on occasions. There are times that it's really difficult to call this prog rock, because it's not rock, and pipe organ is sometimes the only instrument used.

The album opens up with "U.F.D.E.M." which is often regarded as the album's high point. Here you get pipe organ and harpsichord, with Doris Norton singing in Italian, sounding a bit like an Italian Anna Meek (of CATAPILLA fame). "Praesentia Domini" is largely pipe organ, but near the end comes some chanting in Latin, obviously a séance. "Jacula Valzer" is a nice, pleasant jazzy piece with that atmosphere of a bad early '70s horror film. This one features some nice flute and piano. "Long Black Magic Night" is another worth mentioning. Violin and flute dominates, and Doris Norton chants in English, and comes to demonstrate just how lousy her English is. This song even more just screams "bad horror film". Listening to this, you can just imagine the cobwebs, vampires, and a pipe organ. The last piece, "In Old Castle" is the most pointless piece, as it's all pipe organ and nothing else.

"Tardo Pede In Magiam Versus" is a truly like or hate it album. Some just call this a bunch of Satanic nonsense, others call it spooky and Gothic. I can be certain GOBLIN had heard their share of JACULA and Antonius REX in their lifetime, especially since GOBLIN was best known for scoring gory Dario Argento horror flicks (luckily GOBLIN went for a more conventional prog/fusion direction, with normal instrumentations, even though they sometimes used pipe organ). The original LP of "Tardo..." isn't easy to come buy, but Mellow Records reissued it on CD, if you can find a copy for cheap, get it, for a curiosity, but I bet you that you'll probably be waiting for Halloween to play this. Weird album indeed that might scare a few people away.
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