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In an attempt to break into the American market, Le Orme travelled to Los Angeles in order to record their sixth studio album, appropriately titled Smogmagica. The album also saw Tolo Martin join the band as lead guitarist, a position which had been left unfilled for the last four albums. Sporting a more rock-oriented sound, one of my favourite Whitehead album covers and the band's most succesful single in "Amico di Ieri," this album is ultimately let down by too much poor material, and the band failed to make it big in America. Smogmagica starts off reasonably promisingly. "Los Angeles" is a seven-minute song of the variety that Le Orme had been producing on their last three albums, but with a more guitar-centred approach. This is followed by the aforementioned "Amico di Ieri," its wistful qualities accentuated in a very seventies manner by Martin's harmonica. Then there's the fourth track, "Laserium Floyd," which seems to be a favourite with fans, but which I have to admit to not being quite so impressed by. This track is indeed, as the name suggests, a tribute to Pink Floyd, but while it has a nice spacy groove, there's ultimately too little depth for me to regard it as anything more than a passable album track. Unfortunately, the three tracks mentioned above form the bulk of good material on this album. There is nothing absolutely awful, but it's all pretty mediocre. Perhaps I would enjoy "Amanti di Città" more if I spoke Italian, as it seems to have a light-hearted theme, with a sped-up vocal track playing the female role. In my case though, a lack of language skills means I have to treat the voices as instruments, and I just can't treat the chipmunk sound seriously. This album is generally regarded as the worst of Le Orme's 70s albums, and I would have to concur. Tolo Marton does a reasonable job on his only album with the band, but just doesn't quite gel. The real problem, however, is the vast mass of pedestrian material on the second half. This is not an album to avoid at all costs, nor will unclean spirits flee from the smoke if you burn it, but it's the last album to pick up by this band from the seventies. Le Orme are like Jethro Tull in this way: not always brilliant, but never terrible. review by Conrad Leviston — 6-6-07 —