D.F.A., Work In Progress Live

D.F.A. Work In Progress Live

1) ESCHER 10.08

2) CALEIDOSCOPIO 9.16

3) TRIP ON METRO' 6.37

4) LA VIA 15.25

5) PANTERA 8.10

5) RAGNO 11.26

BALDASSARI Luca: Bass

BONOMI Alberto:Organ, Synthetizers and Vocals

DE GRANDIS Alberto: Drums and Vocals

MINELLA Silvio: Guitars

Everything that is good about progressive rock is somehow packed into the first track of this live NEARFest 2000 recording from 10-year old band D.F.A. (supposedly "Duty Free Area"): flanging, overdrives, space guitars, extended grooves, jazzy backbeats and otherworldly sonic paraphernalia a-plenty in the vein of Camel, Yes, Marillion and Gentle Giant. The subsequent hiatus is short lived, just long enough to get a slower lyrical track out of the way. Singing is not one of D.F.A.'s strengths, although the song does have upbeat moments more akin to Caravan and Genesis, with a return to Yes in the final few minutes. Jumpy angular Gentle Giant staccato rhythms open the third track that opens into a epileptic thrash punctuated with those Gentle Giant pin pricks. The performance continues with a pretty consistent show: big sounding, searing Howe-esque guitar solos, stratospheric keyboards, pulsating basslines and crashing cymbals, but hollow vocals (hey, Latimer got away with it!) .

It sadly seems D.F.A. haven't been able to maintain the act - their website is very out-of-date http://digilander.libero.it/dfa but their label does report a digital remastering of the first two albums "Lavori In Corso" (1996) and "Duty Free Area" (1999) to be re-released with three bonus tracks in the double cd box set "Kaleidoscope". So, if "Work In Progress Live" is the only live recording (and their first gig in the U.S.A. at that!), it makes a pretty impressive piece of history. Now there's progress!