Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Also known as	Banco
Origin	Italy
Genres	Progressive rock, Italian progressive rock, art rock
Years active	1969–present
Labels	Ricordi, Manticore, EMI, Sony
Website	bancodelmutuosoccorso.it
Members
Vittorio Nocenzi, Francesco Di Giacomo, Rodolfo Maltese, Tiziano Ricci, Maurizio Masi, Filippo Marcheggiani, Alessandro Papotto
Past members
Gianni Nocenzi, Claudio Falco, Fabrizio Falco, Franco Pontecorvi, Marcello Todaro, Renato D'Angelo, Pierluigi Calderoni, Gianni Colaiacomo, Karl Potter

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso is an Italian rock band. A popular progressive rock band in the 1970s, they continued making music in the 1980s and 1990s. They are still active, playing live in 2007 and 2008 at NEARfest.

History

Inspired by progressive rock acts from England, in particular Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, keybordists Vittorio Nocenzi and his brother Gianni founded Banco del Mutuo Soccorso in Rome, Italy. They later recorded their eponymous debut in 1972, soon to be followed by Darwin!, and in 1973 Io sono nato libero. Right from the start the most striking features of their sound was the complex texture provided by the piano, Hammmond organ and synthesizers played by the Nocenzi brothers, plus the original vocals delivered by Francesco Di Giacomo. A careful balance of electronic and acoustic instruments, plus the use of reeds (played by some of the members of the band, in addition to their usual instrument), made the sound of Banco increasingly original and innovative, with a blend of rock, jazz and classical music which did not however forsake the Italian melodic tradition.

Proving popular in Italy and becoming known abroad, the band signed with Manticore Records together with the Premiata Forneria Marconi. In 1975 Banco was released, a collection of translated songs together with new material, targeting the international market. Come in un'ultima cena was also translated as As in a Last Supper.

The late 1970s saw Banco del Mutuo Soccorso going in new directions, with a film soundtrack in 1976's Garofano rosso and recordings with an orchestra in 1978's ...di terra. They changed their name to the simplified Banco.

The 1980s saw Banco's musical direction change towards lighter pop and shorter songs, producing some hits. This is due to the limited success they had abroad with their albums with English lyrics (also due to the shutdown of Manticore in 1977), which led to the decision to exploit Di Giacomo's remarkably vocal gifts with more marketable songs. Gianni Nocenzi left the band for a solo career. Other members came and went.

In the 1990s and now back to using the longer name, they started playing their 1970s material again. They performed unplugged versions of their songs live and re-recorded their first albums. New material was also produced.

Today, the band continue to play live, although no new material has been recorded since 1997.

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Italian Chart	Notes
1972	Banco del Mutuo Soccorso	5
1972	Darwin!	4
1973	Io sono nato libero	10
1975	Banco	10	Includes English version songs
1976	Garofano rosso	9	Film soundtrack
1976	Come in un'ultima cena	8
1976	As In a Last Supper		English version of Come In Un'Ultima Cena
1978	…di terra		With Orchestra dell'Unione Musicisti di Roma
1979	Canto di Primavera	36
1979	Capolinea	28	Live album
1980	Urgentissimo	11
1981	Buone Notizie
1983	Banco	23
1985	...E Via	42
1989	Donna Plautilla		Previously unreleased pre-1972 material
1989	Non Mettere le Dita nel Naso		Under the name of Francesco Di Giacomo
1991	Darwin		Reworking of original 1972 album
1991	Da qui Messere si Domina la Valle		Reworked debut album plus Darwin
1994	Il 13
1996	Banco d'Accusa		Under the name of Francesco Di Giacomo
1997	Nudo		2CD live album with some new material
2003	No Palco		30th anniversary live album
2005	Seguendo le Tracce		Live recording from 1975

Videos

• Ciò che si vede è (1992, DVD release in 2004)
• Live 1980 (2007)

References

"Official band history". http://www.bancodelmutuosoccorso.it/STORIA/engStoria.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-20.