Artist

BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO

1971-72:
Francesco Di Giacomo (vocals)
Marcello Todaro (guitar)
Gianni Nocenzi (keyboards)
Vittorio Nocenzi (keyboards)
Renato D'Angelo (bass)
Pierluigi Calderoni (drums)

from 1973:
Todaro replaced by:
Rodolfo Maltese (guitar, trumpet, French horn)

Formed in 1969 by brothers Gianni and Vittorio Nocenzi, both keyboard wizards, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso has been a unique example of long professionalism and beautiful musicianship, showing in the 2000's the same enthusiasm they had many years before. Early line-ups comprised former Chetro & Co. guitarist Gianfranco Coletta (later replaced by Claudio Falco), bassist Fabrizio Falco and drummer Franco Pontecorvi (replaced by Mario Achilli). Some of these musicians had previously played with Gianni Nocenzi in Crash.

Some of their early recordings before a stable lineup appeared on an RCA cassette compilation in 1970 and were reissued in 1989 as a three-track 12" and on the Donna Plautilla LP. But their real beginnings are with the entrance in 1971 of new members Di Giacomo, D'Angelo and Calderoni, all of them coming from the same band, Le Esperienze, and guitarist Marcello Todaro from Fiori di Campo. 

The first album, simply called Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, housed in a large money box shaped cover, is still one of the most representative examples of the Italian prog, with classical influences based on the twin keyboards interplay and the original voice of Francesco Di Giacomo. R.I.P. and Il Giardino del mago are among their best tracks ever, and Traccia has always been a live classic. Their live activity was constant and they supported the likes of Curved Air and Rory Gallagher when touring Italy, developing a large and dedicated following.

Darwin!, that followed just a few months later, was a concept album based on the mankind evolution (a recurring theme in many prog albums of the time) and keeps the same high level of their first album, with nice tracks like the long L'evoluzione and La conquista della posizione eretta.

Third album and another milestone in their production, Io sono nato libero, had a shaped gatefold cover with a lyric booklet stapled in. Non mi rompete and La città sottile, both from this album were also released as a single, and all these albums entered the top 10 charts being highly successful at the time. Right after the recordings for the third LP the original guitarist Marcello Todaro (later with Crystals) was replaced by Rodolfo Maltese from Homo Sapiens, that also had a collaboration role on the album.

In 1975 a project that Banco had been involved in since the autumn of the previous year was shelved. A show based on the life of Saint Francis was to be represented in Assisi, directed by Vincenzo Gamna and with dancers and a choir along with guests such as Elio D'Anna (Osanna and Uno), Shawn Phillips, Angelo Branduardi, Morris Pert and Stomu Yamash'ta. The music was to be released on a double album, but only some of the instrumental tracks were recorded, and the show was finally represented in a much simpler form without the prog-inspired soundtrack.

In the same year a new album was released, Banco, with English-sung versions of some of their best tracks and just an unreleased gem, L'albero del pane (one of the tracks composed for the Saint Francis project). Banco del Mutuo Soccorso was trying, just like PFM in the same years, to break the foreign markets, and an English language album seemed a good move. The album appeared on ELP's Manticore label, still distributed in Italy by Ricordi, and gave the band the chance to play in the UK and Germany (in this case supporting Gentle Giant) but these dates didn't give the success that the group hoped.

Coming back to Italy they released in the beginning of 1976 Garofano rosso, a completely instrumental album, soundtrack to the film of the same title, and though the voice of Francesco Di Giacomo was missing, yet the record kept the distinctive Banco sound, like in the long Suggestioni di un ritorno in campagna.
Another album came out in the same year, Come in un'ultima cena, based on the biblical theme of the Last Supper, the last one with stronger classical influences and some very good tracks like Il ragno and Quando la buona gente dice. This album was also released abroad with the English title As in a last supper.

The subsequent album was another highly ambitious work, ...di terra, all instrumental and played with an orchestra, a good album though not representative of Banco's style.

At the end of the 70's the band had a line-up change, with bass player Renato D'Angelo being replaced by Gianni Colaiacomo, but after Canto di primavera the band entered a low-level period with the live Capolinea (the first with the shortened new name Banco), Urgentissimo and the following ones all having a strong commercial feeling that's distant from their first works. Five of the band members (the Nocenzi brothers, Colaiacomo, Maltese and Calderoni) also helped Angelo Branduardi in his 1978-79 Italian and european tour and are featured in his 1980 Concerto 3-LP box set.

In 1983 one of brothers Nocenzi, Gianni, left Banco for a solo career and never rejoined the band, that kept on playing live despite a limited record production.

The 90's gave new interest in Banco's music, and the band released a good 3-LP box set (again with a moneybox shaped design, as their first album) with re-recorded versions of their first two albums in longer form.In 1997 a double live CD, Nudo, brought the group to new Italian and international tours, even in Japan. Banco were now a six-piece, with Francesco Di Giacomo, Vittorio Nocenzi and Rodolfo Maltese aided by Filippo Marcheggiani (guitar), Tiziano Ricci (bass), Maurizio Masi (drums), often joined by Alessandro Papotto (clarinet, sax, flute). This last member permanently joined the group later, also playing with Periferia del Mondo, with which he released some very interesting albums.

2002 saw the band celebrate 30 years since their first album with a great concert in Rome, with Vittorio Nocenzi's brother Gianni rejoining the band after so long, and a handful of dates, including some unplugged ones, to promote Vittorio's solo album Movimenti. The live CD No palco, released in 2003 and taken from the Rome event, with the presence of many guests including Mauro Pagani, was only partially convincing.
The small independent label Ma.Ra.Cash released an official live in 2005, Seguendo le tracce, with the full recording of a 1975 concert in Salerno, and it's a pleasure to hear Banco in perfect form in what's probably their best live album ever issued.
The 40-years of Banco, with the group still playing live, were celebrated by Sony with a box set in 2012 including a remastered version of 1972 debut album, a second album with unreelased recordings and a nice illustrated book. A year later, Darwin! was reissued in the same way.

The long career of Banco was severely hit by the sudden death of singer Francesco Di Giacomo in a road accident in February 2014. Di Giacomo was THE voice of the Italian Prog, but he also was one of the most sincere and open-minded people in the history of the whole Italian music. The long life of the group was summarized by a 3LP/2CD set entitled Un’idea che non puoi fermare (a verse taken from E mi viene da pensare), containing unreleased live recordings from 2012 and 2013 along with some lyrics of the band read by various theatre and movie actors.
Another longtime member of the band, Rodolfo Maltese, passed away in October 2015 after a long disease.
Despite the tragic events suffered, the name Banco del Mutuo Soccorso was revived in 2017 and produced in 2019 Transiberiana, a new project by Vittorio Nocenzi with a line-up including once again guitarist Filippo Marcheggiani, along with Nicola Di Già (guitar), Marco Capozi (bass), Fabio Moresco (drummer, previously with Metamorfosi) and singer Tony D'Alessio with the hard task to replace Francesco Di Giacomo. The result is a good quality album, strongly set in the progressive field.
The same group returned to record a new record in 2022 with Orlando: Le forme dell'amore, a concept album whose project started many years before and inspired by Ariosto's poem.

First three album all came originally with a custom label with the same moneybox picture as on their first album.
First album, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, was originally released in a very limited pressing with a giant moneybox-shaped cover, on the front cover a small pullout flap had black & white pictures of the band members. This is by far the rarest item on the band discography, and very difficult to find in good condition, because being oversized, in most cases it had its extremities folded or broken. A second issue in a standard size gatefold cover was released soon afterwards, and has the same catalogue number and identical label.
Original vinyl has the date 22/4/72 hand stamped on both sides, but some copies exist carrying the date 3/5/72; these have the same label but the tracks separation grooves are less evident and, according to someone, they have a lesser sound quality. This second issue is usually found with a standard, non-shaped, gatefold cover. Some vinyls are reported having an April date on side A and May date on side B, these were clearly pressed during the transition from a matrix to the new one.
Some copies have been found having a standard gatefold cover, April date on vinyl and custom label, but with a second-type Siae stamp, used since 1975. These were quite probably old 1972 copies put on sale later by Ricordi, before they released the Orizzonte reissue.

The album has been reissued on CD in March 2003 by BMG with mini-LP gatefold cover and obi, as part of their "Dei di un perduto rock" series, and later repressed in October of the same year when a second batch of those CD's came out.
The CD was announced by BMG as being also available with standard jewel case (cat.no. 74321-98785-2) but was probably never issued in this form.
Along with various other vinyl reissues with standard cover, the LP has been reissued with the same gatefold shaped cover as the original in 2009 by Sony Music, in a limited numbered pressing and once again in 2020, this time on yellow vinyl.

Two different issues exist of the original Darwin gatefold cover: the most common of the two has, in the inner, a picture of the band members holding a giant plate full of watches' parts. Another version exists with a similar picture, the band members still have their hands up, but without the plate; this is much rarer and it was probably the first to be issued.
The custom design label also exists in two versions with different text layout: one with the titles written in lowercase was probably the first to be printed because all the copies seen have the smaller first type Siae stamp; another one with uppercase titles often has the larger second type Siae stamp that was used since 1975.
There are copies of Darwin with the original cover and an uppercase titles custom label that don't have the printed inner sleeve: these may be copies sold after 1975 using the remaining gatefold covers and vinyls coupled with standard white inners.

Io sono nato libero has a dome shaped cover with a booklet stapled in. As in the case of Darwin there are two different label variations, both with the same custom design used on the previous albums. Even in this case the lowercase titles version seems to be the oldest of the two, with the uppercase titles variation often having a larger Siae stamp.

The recordings for the Saint Francis show and album were never completed and only some instrumental tracks have appeared in bootleg form on tapes and CD.

Garofano rosso has a single cover that, only in the very first issue, had an orange peel texture. Later copies were printed on standard smooth cardboard.

Come in un'ultima cena contains a brown-on-white booklet.

The album  ...di terra was chosen as soundtrack for the Renato Greco ballet Malgré tout, represented in 1981. A special edition of that record, containing the vinyl reissue (Ricordi/Orizzonte ORL 8479) in a different cover with the title of the show, was sold in the theatre.

Donna Plautilla was issued in 1989 by the Raro! magazine and sold by mail or through selected shops. 2500 copies were released, the first 500 on transparent vinyl. Original copies are still easily found in both versions. The recordings come from the late 60's, around the same time as the tracks Padre Francesco, Vedo il telefono and La mia libertà, issued in 1970 on the cassette-only compilation Sound '70 (RCA LPK 21105) and later re-released on the 12" single Banco del Mutuo Soccorso produced by RCA/Contempo in 1989.

Da qui messere si domina la valle is a hard plastic moneybox-shaped box, with the LP version having the same giant size as the very first album. It was released as 3-LP,  2-CD or 2 cassettes set, all containing a small CD-sized booklet. The albums contain 90's re-recordings of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Darwin! that have also been released as two separate CD's. The box set was released in a limited issue of between 5000 and 10000 copies, each copy having a small numbered sticker on the back of the box.

All the albums have been reissued many times, most of the Ricordi and Manticore releases were also repressed in the budget Orizzonte series from early 80's onwards, original Orizzonte releases had orange/black labels, then a pale green label with black R logo, later issues had a dark blue design with rainbow coloured logo.

In 2012 and 2013 Sony Music produced two box sets to celebrate the first two albums by Banco: 40 anni, issued in 2012 as a 2-LP or 2-CD set, contains the first album along with a second record including new unreleased live and studio recordings. Darwin!, issued in 2013 as a triple vinyl or double CD, contains the original second album and a live version recorded in 2012, along with an unreleased studio track sung by Franco Battiato. Both the sets include a picture book.
The 2CD / 3LP set Un’idea che non puoi fermare was issued in 2014 to commemorate Francesco Di Giacomo and contains some lyrics of the group declaimed by movie and theatre actors. The 3 LP version was also issued in a limited edition on clear vinyl, only sold by Amazon.

Banco and the English-sung version of Come in un'ultima cena (renamed As in a last supper with English lyrics by Angelo Branduardi) have been issued in many european countries and USA, mostly on Manticore. In the UK Banco has been reissued on CD by Manticore/Esoteric (MANTCD 1009) in 2010 and on vinyl by Cherry Red (CRP 117) in 2012, while As in a last supper had a CD reissue by Manticore/Esoteric (MANTCD 1010) in 2010.
... di terra has been issued in Germany on Musiza/Ariola (200 247-320), like Buone notizie (CBS 85415).
Japanese issues exist of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (King/Seven Seas GXH2022), Io sono nato libero (King/Seven Seas GXF2054, with single cover), Darwin (King/Seven Seas GXH 2015), Come in un'ultima cena (King K28P717) and Banco (Warner-Pioneer P-8578M).
A new vinyl reissue of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, with the original moneybox-shaped gatefold cover, was released in 2007 by BMG/Sony Japan (BVJ 34001) in limited edition. The same label had already reissued this album on CD with the shaped cover in 2003 (BVCM-37421).
Come in un'ultima cena was also issued in Korea (EMI/Virgin VKPL 0058) with gatefold cover and booklet.

Il 13 has been released in a limited and numbered vinyl pressing along with the more common CD issue.

The Nudo double CD has been released by the Mexican Sol & Deneb label as two separate CD's, called Nudo-Acustico and Nudo-Live in Tokyo 1997.
The same label has also released in 2000 a double live CD called En concierto, May 1999 - Mexico City (S&D 09/10, reissued in 2021 with different cover and in 2023 with extra DVD).

No counterfeits exist of any Banco releases.

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso (original issue) - front cover	extractable tab detail
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - inner gatefold
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - later issue front cover
Darwin! - gatefold cover	Darwin! - inner gatefold detail (2 different versions)
Darwin! - inner sleeve and custom label
Darwin! - LP label (2 versions with different lettering)
Io sono nato libero - front cover
Io sono nato libero - inner gatefold
Io sono nato libero - LP label (2 versions with different lettering)
Banco - front cover
Garofano rosso - front cover
Come in un'ultima cena - gatefold cover
Come in un'ultima cena - inner gatefold + booklet
Come in un'ultima cena - Orizzonte reissue
...di terra - front cover	...di terra - special issue for the "Malgré tout" ballet
Donna Plautilla - front cover	Banco del Mutuo Soccorso 12" - front cover
Da qui messere si domina la valle - box set + booklet
40 anni - LP/CD box set	Darwin!- LP/CD box set
Un'idea che non puoi fermare - LP/CD set
Transiberiana - LP/CD
Orlando: Le forme dell'amore - LP/CD
Non mi rompete - 7" single cover	Canto di primavera - 7" single cover
Niente - 7" single cover	Il ragno - 7" single cover
Live - CD	Nudo - CD
Seguendo le tracce - CD
Live - Papagayo Club - CD

Click on pictures to enlarge

Live in Spello - Villa Fidelia 26-Aug-2001	Live in Spello 26-Aug-2001 with Ensemble Micrologus
Acoustic tour in Castiglione del Lago (PG) 14-Jul-2002
Beat-less: Maurizio Pizzardi, Francesco Di Giacomo, Rodolfo Maltese - Castiglione della Valle (PG) 18-Jun-2005
Vittorio Nocenzi at 70's Flowers Festival, Fano (PU), 29-Set-2005
Rodolfo Maltese guesting with Mangala Vallis at Stazione Birra, Morena (Roma), 11-Nov-2005
Live in Rome, Piazza Don Bosco, 4-Apr-2006 Photos by Fabio Gaigher
Acoustic concert in Cerqueto (PG) 18-Jun-2006
Francesco Di Giacomo and Rodolfo Maltese Live "Io ti canto" concert, Foligno PG 28-Dec-2006 Photos by Pino Antonelli
Francesco Di Giacomo and Rodolfo Maltese with Riccardo Regi (Estate di S.Martino) Live "Io ti canto" concert, Foligno PG 28-Dec-2006 Photos by Pino Antonelli
Francesco Di Giacomo and Rodolfo Maltese with Patrizia Bovi (Ensemble Micrologus) Live "Io ti canto" concert, Foligno PG 28-Dec-2006 Photos by Pino Antonelli
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso at Nearfest 2008 Zoellner Arts Center, Betlehem, PA, USA, 22-Jun-2008 Photos by Charles Terenzio
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso at ProgExhibition 2010 Teatro Tendastrisce, Rome, 6-Nov-2010
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and John Wetton at ProgExhibition 2010 Teatro Tendastrisce, Rome, 6-Nov-2010
Roccavivi AQ 16-Aug-2011
Gianni Nocenzi, Rodolfo Maltese, Claudio Falco, Tiziano Ricci "40 anni di Banco" at Meeting di Primavera, Castiglione del Lago PG 22-Apr-2012
Le Radici del Rock - Viterbo 21-Jul-2012

For more information you can visit the band's official website www.bancodelmutuosoccorso.it

Thanks to Fabio Gaigher, Pino Antonelli and Charles Terenzio for some of the live pictures in this page, and to Luiz Claudio Cals Brügger, Manuel Da Achada, Lorenzo Pittan of Amarcord, John Bogazzi, Giuseppe Orlandi, Eugenio Toscani, Franco Oriolo for some pictures and information