Artist

FRANCESCO BUCCHERI

A composer from Bologna whose only vinyl LP is particularly sought after by Italian obscurities collectors, as it only had a very limited private pressing. He had previously formed a group called Ex Aequo, with which he played for four years.
Though the original album was credited on the label to "Complesso F.B.M.R." from the initials of the four musicians involved, all the tracks were composed by Buccheri himself and the CD reissue only carries his name. 

The full line-up included Francesco Buccheri on keyboards, guitars and vocals, keyboardists Roberto Mingozzi and Danilo Forni (also on violin), and drummer Marco Raimondi. 
As it's easy to guess the LP is based on keyboards and much closer to late 70's krautrock than to the typical sound of most prog albums from Italy, the drums with a 4/4 rhythm often giving the music a commercial feeling. The initial 20-minute long Journey suite is rather fragmented and can be boring at first listen, and the overall sound can be compared with Sangiuliano's Take off. 

Unreleased works by Buccheri have been included on the CD reissue of the album (1983 solo keyboards recordings) and on a separate CD called Hand made, but these can be only interesting to completists.

Francesco Buccheri has kept recording his music, releasing four interesting self-produced CD's from 1995 to 2005, the last of which is The call.

Journey is terribly rare, having only been released in a private pressing. It was housed in a single cover and with an inner.
No counterfeit exists, nor foreign issues.
The CD reissue by Mellow includes seven tracks from an unreleased second album from 1983, called with little imagination Second journey. The second CD release by Mellow, Hand made, contains other unreleased recordings from the years 1984, 1985 and 1989.

All the privately pressed CD's by Francesco Buccheri were sold through his website.

Journey - original LP cover and label
Annalia - 7" single