Artist

5° (Quinto) GRADO MERCALLI

1972-76
Dino Angelini (vocals)
Daniele Caldarini (guitar)
Giuliano Molteni (keyboards)
Gianfranco Meduri (bass)
Ugo Galliani (drums)

1977-79
Patrizia Mauri (vocals)
Daniele Caldarini (guitar, keyboards)
Gianfranco Meduri (bass, acoustic guitar)
Ugo Galliani (drums)

1979-81
Renato Molteni (vocals)
Umberto Volpi (guitar)
Tiziano Davi (keyboards)
Gianfranco Meduri (bass)
Ugo Galliani (drums)

1981-83
Molteni and Davi replaced by:
Mario Sanvito (vocals)
Marillo Buelli (keyboards)

This band from Lombardy has had a long activity starting from 1972 until their split in 1989 and only one of the founding members, drummer Ugo Galliani, has stayed in the group until the end.

Their beginnings were as a cover band, specialized in rock music and with songs by foreign (Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin) and Italian bands (New Trolls, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Rovescio della Medaglia). Only with a split in late 1976 and a new line-up since 1977, the group began playing original material..

During its long career, the band never managed to have a recording deal, their only posthumous CD collects tracks from the various line-ups. The most interesting tracks on the 5° Grado Mercalli - Raccolta completa CD are the first five cuts (more than 30 minutes) recorded by the late 70's-early 80's line-up, sung in Italian and with some interesting moments, like in the 12-minute long opening Il cieco.
The rest of the compilation is taken by eight English-sung songs, more in a straight hard rock direction, though with a better sound quality.

The only available recordings by 5° Grado Mercalli have been released by Giallo Records in 1998.

5° Grado Mercalli - CD cover