Little is known about this obsure band from Italy. It wouldn't surprise me if the even the biggest ISP collector isn't aware of this quintet. Through my search in the internet it was almost impossible for me to find a trace of the band's biography. ''Dietro la finestra'' is considerded the best album of HOPO,but their debut ''Senti'' ,released in 1982, is also a very strong album with undenieable elements from the classic italian prog period of the 70's. The CD release of ''Senti'' contains 12 tracks,that means the six tracks of the original release along with six more tracks recorded live in Florence by the same time. The first eponymous track of the album is a rhythmical pop/prog song of high quality not very far away from the poppier sound of the early 70's italian bands. First epic of the album is ''Per strada'',an excellent track in the vein of PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI and BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO with nice flutes,excellent work on the digital keyboards,mostly Hackett-ish guitars and a superb guitar ending theme very close to CAMEL's Andy Latimer style. ''Nascondino...'' is a beautiful acoustic guitar piece of music. ''Rana'' is another short prog piece of music with nice guitars close to CAMEL and weird water effects. ''Crema'' is a strong song- oriented track with second-era GENESIS solos,a rhythmical yet complex middle part and stunning vocal performance by Paolo Tovolli. ''Singolarita'' is influenced again by the british prog scene but after the middle section it transforms in a dark sounding track with great organ,strong drum work and alternating guitars between darkness and romanticism,a sound very close to BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO. Among the live tracks is ''Mister rock'',an unreleased track of the band with little progressive interest as it is an average rhythmical rock song and nothing more.The rest of the tracks come from ''Senti''. The band does perform very strong with little changes on the tracks comparing to the studio versions but the sound of this live recording is just above average. HOPO's ''Senti'' is an excellent album IMO and it is one of the best examples of how the ISP sound would become through the years to come. Strong influences from the biggest italian bands of the 70's combined with a more modern technology such as digital keyboards,''Senti'' just heads in the future. A very good addition to any prog rock collection. Review by "apps79" (Rate Your Music).
RATING: 8.5 / 10 **MARVELLOUS**
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