Artist

UT

Adriano Tomassini (guitar, vocals, keyboards)
Franco Tallarita (bass, acoustic guitar, flute)
Maurizio Tomassini (drums, acoustic guitar)

This band from Rome has been always considered a melodic pop group, but their first album, Homo, has some (very) light prog influences and is regarded by many foreign collectors as a good pop/prog album. Ut were formed by a nucleus of musicians that had already played together in La Rosa dei Venti, releasing some singles between 1972 and 1974.

A concept album on mankind evolution (as many others at the time), Homo features the typical falsetto voice of many commercial pop groups and orchestral arrangements in tracks like Afrodite and the title track Homo, also released as a single, and the only interesting moments for prog fans will probably be the instrumentals Mars and Trasmigrazione. The group was a trio on this album, with keyboardist Giancarlo Granieri (who was in La Rosa dei Venti along with the other three) mentioned as guest in the liner notes, but later became a quartet with Enzo Vinci on keyboards.

A second album, La strada era bella, was released in 1976, but oddly enough it contained almost the whole first album and just two new songs, La strada era bella and the English-sung Camelot.The line-up had become by now a five-piece, adding Toti Vitale as second guitarist.

Bassist Franco Tallarita had previously played with jazz-rock group Kaleidon. 
Along with guitarist Tomassini he composed a little known 12-track instrumental album called Ispirazioni e circostanze released by the same Erre label around 1975, a sort of mix between a soundtrack and a library album, and another similar album was made on his own a year later, called Alta tensione.
Tallarita and Tomassini were also mentioned as composers on singles by The Ghosts of Nottingham and Air On Fly, mystery groups that maybe were simply Ut under false names.

Both the Ut albums are not particularly rare or expensive in Italy. Rather rare instead are the Ispirazioni e circostanze and Alta tensione albums. No counterfeits exist nor foreign issues of these albums.
The Tallarita & Tomassini LP had a single flipback cover and oddily it doesn't mention any artists' names on the cover, with Tallarita and Tomassini mentioned as separate composers for each of the two sides.
The 1976 album Alta Tensione appeared on the AA (Abramo Allione edizioni musicali) label, again in a single cover and with the name of Tallarita only credited as composer on the back cover. 
Homo and La strada era bella contain seven identical songs and only differ for the starting track of the first, Incarnazione, and two unreleased tracks on the second, La strada era bella and Camelot.

Almost everything in Ut's production has been released on the Erre label, distributed by CGD-Messaggerie Musicali. 
An album called Homo/La strada era bella, including 8 tracks from both Italian albums and with the black cover of the second, has been issued in France on CBS in 1977 (CBS 81980). A single was taken from that album, including the same two tracks, Homo and La strada era bella, (CBS 5133).

La Rosa dei Venti issued four singles: Capitan Cook/Nel 3000 dopo Cristo (Erre ZRR 50229 - 1972), Al confine della notte/Al confine della notte (instrumental) (CAM ‎AMP 112 - 1973), Piccola lady/Amo (Erre RR 3052 - 1973) and Why are you running fast/The flag (Erre RR 3066 - 1974). The single Piccola lady/Amo was re-released in 1976 under the name Mars and Venus (Erre RR 13008). La Rosa dei Venti included the same musicians that played in Ut, along with guitarist Jimmy Tamborrelli.
Under the name Air On Fly a single was issued in 1976 (Erre RRN 13004) containing Lucia and Moonchild, both tracks were later released on a single by Ut in 1978.

Thanks to Rockground (www.rockground.it), Giacomo Beatrici and Ubaldo (Franco) Cibei for pictures and information.