Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Alias = Banco
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Italy
Genre = Progressive rock, Italian progressive rock
Years_active = 1969–present
Label = Ricordi, Manticore, EMI, Sony
URL = [http://www.bancodelmutuosoccorso.it/ bancodelmutuosoccorso.it]
Current_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, Vittorio Nocenzi and 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".

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 1970s also 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. 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

Videos

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

References

cite web
title=Official band history
url=http://www.bancodelmutuosoccorso.it/STORIA/engStoria.htm
accessdate=2007-10-20