Renato Anselmi in For His Friends from 1976, and MERRY XMAS

I mentioned this record earlier when I discussed him and his role in the one-off Swiss Emphasis project.  (Not cheap at all, but I had to hear it, apologies to my wife for missing another chance at buying a new pair of shoes.)  Coming shortly after that one, the next year in fact, it's to be expected that it would be similar.  Very professionally played light fusion with easy listening components or arrangements, on a keyboards driven instrumental basis.  Songwriting is moderately strong.  For example, a very lovely track called Quiet Fire:





All compositions by Anselmi except for b2 by the well loved Bruno Spoerri, and b4.  And that one is really gorgeous too, if you have a taste for this style of easy listening / fusion:





Surely I do.

More and even rarer from Renato Anselmi: 1988 Flower Library Album Antiche Civilta (i.e. civilizations)

A truly lost and shockingly progressive album from the famous unknown artist we presented second last post, Renato Anselmi (from Swiss Emphasis).  In places this reminds me most of Third Ear Band's masterpiece MacBeth, which I hope everyone is well familiar with (as well as the bloody 1972 movie by rapist Roman Polanski of which it's the OST), though the acoustic ethnic component is less in evidence here.  Despite this the blurb on the back actually says "A selection of music as played in the Roman [side a] and Greek Empires [side b]" which is a bit misleading since the advanced composition in parts could only have been accomplished by a very drunk and circused-up Roman, to my mind, exampli gratia, listen to the Hitchcockian Psycho opening to the Ides of March:





Another sample, videlicet the first track, gives you a sense of why the doom-laden dark music reminds me so much of the sonotractus to MacBeth:





Altogether a great and worthy addition to our library music libraries, and you can thank me for pulling this one off ebayus.com and allowing everyone a chance to hear more wonderful music from this maligned and neglected genre, at a cost that is not prohibitive, thankfully.

Sadly all compositions are quite brief, on the order of 2 minutes, so that with 14 we are left with barely a half an hour of music... too bad!

There's absolutely no doubt we can look forward to more music from this ne plus ultra musician in the future, & thanks Renato-- bitte Mr. Anselmi...

As well some more great library to come very shortly! Ergo everyone get excited...

A fabulous Swiss easy fusion rarity in Renato Anselmi's Know What I Mean? from 1981

From a Japanese record store, briefly:

European Rare Groove Recording Solo album by Renato Anselni, a Swiss Jazz pianist famous for his participation in Emphasis. Although this work can be heard with a clear sound of smooth jazz type overall, Hello Mr. Acuvis which feels good funky rhythm section to scat melody is also recorded! feat. Curt Treier, Peter Jacques, etc.

Notice the artist's name was misspelled by google translate... so when were you saying those robots will be replacing all of our jobs?  Emphasis, in turn, is over-enthusiastically described in discogs thusly:

"Emphasis" was a Swiss fusion project featuring Pierre Cavalli (guitar, bass), Renato Anselmi (piano, synthesizer), Fernando Vicencio (flute, sax), drummer Nick Liebman and Curt Treier on percussion. Their only selftitled album from 1974 saw two original releases on the Swiss Pick label and in the UK on Jaycee and is darn tough to find: 12 tracks in all offer masterfully played European Jazz Rock, a combination of electronic Fusion and latinesque conga percussion.

Actually, I thought it was hugely disappointing, save one or 2 tracks, like Gargantua, but anyways...

Moving on to Mr. Renato, this his second release after the hard to find To His Friends (from 1976) reminds me a lot, with the piano plus orchestral sounds, of the wonderful library composer Oscar Rocchi's Ladies I ripped and posted and have hugely enjoyed in the years since I bought it, which I guess makes sense, given the beauty and the sexuality of those wonderful females.
Or you could stick more to facts and say this album is similar to the earlier Emphasis work, but lighter and more libraryish.  A big difference from Rocchi is the lack of that typically Italian melancholy delicatesse.

Consider waking up Saturday Morning, in particular:






But it's clear the most amazing track has the Chris Hinze Bamboo-like magical female vocal opener, which is the aforementioned closer, B5's Hello, Mr. Acuvis:






Wow, right?  Nice stuff... should've been a hit in its time...
You can be sure we will be hearing more from this artist in the near future.

As well, it's so pleasant to have the privilege of a near mint record to listen to-- and to celebrate I'll give you guys a freshly ripped brand new lossless to enjoy.

Still looking for his first album To His Friends, from 1976, anyone have it please contact me so we can make a deal...  whether mp3 or lossless or vinyl, doesn't matter.