The Trip -

The Trip was an Italian symphonic/psych band that released three albums between 1970 and 1973 on RCA Italiana (The Trip, Caronte, Atlantide) and Trident (Time of Change).

Members: Arvid “Wegg” Andersen (bass, vocals), Joe Vescovi (keyboards, vocals), Billy Gray (guitar, vocals, 1966-71), Ian Broad (drums, 1966-67), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar, 1966), Pino Sinnone (drums, 1967-72), Furio Chirico (drums, 1972, 1974-present), Nunzio Favia (drums, 1974)

Background

The Trip formed in London in late 1966 as a beat group. The original lineup included Danish-born bassist and vocalist Arvid “Wegg” Andersen, guitarist William Gray, and drummer Ian Broad. They entered the local club circuit and drew interest from Italian promoters. This placed them among a clutch of English groups—The Rokes, The Primitives—who migrated to Italy during the waning beat era.

Early on, the band featured a young Ritchie Blackmore on lead guitar. After his departure to Deep Purple, The Trip underwent a key lineup reshuffle that introduced two Italian musicians: keyboardist Joe Vescovi (b. January 1949, Savona) and Turin drummer Pino Sinnone.

Vescovi, a flamboyant performer with a classically informed keyboard style, quickly became the group’s creative centerpiece. Earlier, he toured Northern Europe in the beat group The Lonely Boys and played in Toto Cutugno’s backing band, Toto e i Tati. Inspired by Nice keyboardist Keith Emerson, Vescovi employed theatrical and technical flair to an arsenal of Hammond organ and piano, which shaped The Trip’s evolving sound.

By 1969, The Trip transitioned from their Anglo-Italian beat origins into a full-fledged hard-psych act. As a stabilized four-piece—Vescovi, Andersen, Gray, and Sinnone—they signed to RCA Italiana and prepared their first album.

The Trip

The Trip released their self-titled debut album in 1970 on RCA Italiana.

The album marked a sharp transition from the beat-based roots of their prior incarnation into a denser, impressionistic sound structured around organ-driven suites and conceptual psychodrama. Delivered primarily in English, the material retains a strong connection to the late-60s lysergic aesthetic while layering in dynamic, sectional development characteristic of early-70s European progressive forms.

Joe Vescovi commands the album’s direction with surging Hammond organ lines, modal motifs, and abrupt tempo pivots. He dominates the ensemble with sustained passages and segmented flourishes. Billy Gray plays sharp, blues-based leads and choppy rhythm guitar, alternating vocal duties with bassist Arvid “Wegg” Andersen. Andersen drives the pulse with overdriven fuzz bass and delivers strained, declamatory vocals. Drummer Pino Sinnone uses tom-heavy patterns, fills, and start-stop cadences to push and break flow across movements.

All five tracks are jointly credited to Gray, Vescovi, Andersen, and Sinnone. Vescovi arranged the material while Sinnone penned the lyrics to the final track, adapting it from an earlier English version.

The opening instrumental “Prologo” begins with a dark, swirling organ solo and gradually builds into a layered structure of bolero pulse, blues guitar runs, and metric shifts. “Incubi” follows with lyrical imagery of sleep paralysis and mental disarray, alternating between slow, crawling organ phrasings and sudden jazzy interludes.

“Visioni dell’Aldilà,” inspired by the work of Hieronymus Bosch, uses apocalyptic lyrics and chromatic keyboard textures to simulate passage through a surreal netherworld. “Riflessioni” overlays gospel-inflected harmonies on a shifting base of boogie, rock, and blues, narrating existential questions about faith and mortality. The final track, “Una Pietra Colorata,” is the only song sung in Italian; it narrates the surreal perspective of a sentient stone on the seabed, later joined by a companion, over whimsical melodic lines and falsetto refrains.

A1. “Prologo” [Prologue] (8:09) — instrumental with bolero-to-blues transitions built on organ figures and dynamic shifts
A2. “Incubi” [Nightmares] (8:23) — restless narrative of nocturnal visions with jazzy keyboard phrasing and abrupt sectional changes

B1. “Visioni dell’aldilà” [Visions of the Afterlife] (8:50) — inspired by Bosch tableaux, with doomsday lyrics, chromatic organ, and soaring harmony vocals
B2. “Riflessioni” [Reflections] (5:46) — hybrid structure with gospel choruses and blues-rock motifs addressing time and religious doubt
B3. “Una Pietra Colorata” [A Coloured Stone] (2:26) — Italian-language closer with surreal lyrics and falsetto accents; adapted from an earlier English song

The cover art by Up & Down Studio presents a layered photo-collage with members of the band partially obscured in a haze of red, yellow, and orange. Their faces appear in double exposure, partially masked by overlaid psychedelic textures. The overall effect evokes a hazy, dreamlike mood consistent with the album’s hard-psych tone.

“Una Pietra Colorata” appeared as a May 1970 single (b/w “Incubi”). They first recorded they song in English as “Take Me” but cut an Italian version at RCA’s request for national radio suitability. In November, The Trip released “Fantasia” backed with “Travellin’ Soul,” both standalone sides.

Meanwhile, The Trip appeared in Terzo canale – Avventura a Montecarlo, a 1970 comedy about their chaotic journey from Montecarlo to Italy for the Rome Caracalla Pop Festiva.

Caronte

The Trip released their second album, Caronte, in 1971 on RCA Italiana.

The album expands on the organ-heavy psych foundation of their debut with extended suites, literary allusions, and increased instrumental complexity. Structured as a concept based on Charon—the infernal ferryman of The Divine Comedy—Caronte threads metaphorical connections between mythic damnation and the self-destructive fate of contemporary cultural icons like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

Joe Vescovi commands an array of keyboards, including Hammond organ, Mellotron, and church organ, alternating between sweeping textures and pointed classical phrasings. Guitarist William Gray plays distorted blues phrases, contrapuntal leads, and acoustic figures that interact with Vescovi’s layered keyboard voicings. Arvid “Wegg” Andersen plays forceful, fuzz-heavy bass and shares vocal duties with Vescovi. Drummer Pino Sinnone contributes militant snare patterns, syncopated accents, and polyrhythmic fills, often emphasizing structural climaxes. They group-wrote all five tracks.

“Caronte 1” opens the album with spectral guitar and organ lines that rise from subdued pulses to bombastic climaxes, framing the mythological descent. “Two Brothers,” inspired by the final scene of Easy Rider, starts with tire screeches and gunshots, then unfolds into a multipart requiem with alternating vocal segments and saturated Hammond cadences.

“Little Janie,” a Joplin tribute, softens the flow with piano-centered phrasing and Mellotron textures, casting the vocalist’s legacy in sentimental tones. “L’Ultima Ora e Ode a J. Hendrix” integrates echo-processed vocals, modal organ themes, and a closing guitar solo structured as an elegy, evoking Hendrix’s stylistic imprint within a quasi-symphonic framework. “Caronte 2” reprises the opening theme in shortened form with added rhythmic drive and keyboard ornamentation, completing the narrative cycle.

A1. “Caronte 1” (6:45) — instrumental overture with pulsing bass, gothic organ layers, and spectral guitar fragments evoking infernal descent
A2. “Two Brothers” (8:15) — depicts the final scene of Easy Rider with cinematic samples, split vocal lines, and heavy Hammond textures

B1. “Little Janie” (4:00) — elegy for Janis Joplin with subdued piano, Mellotron, and falsetto harmonies
B2. “L’Ultima Ora e Ode a J. Hendrix” [The Last Hour and Ode to Jimi Hendrix] (10:18) — extended tribute built on classical organ motifs and lyrical guitar phrasing
B3. “Caronte 2” (3:32) — reprise of the main theme with new organ overlays and sharper transitions

Sessions occurred in early 1971 under RCA supervision. Vescovi arranged the compositions.

The front cover reworks a Gustave Doré engraving of Charon, the mythic ferryman of the underworld from La Divina Commedia, the 1321 narrative poem by Italian philospher Dante Alighieri. Charon is shown steering his boat through turbulent waters, wrapped in a sash patterned with the Union Jack—underscoring the band’s Anglo-Italian identity. A group photo of the band appears in the lower left, overlaid with a saturated, multicolored border. The back cover presents another Doré-derived scene of writhing souls, modified with cartoonish collage elements including a UK flag, a vintage airplane, and added leaves, designed by Up & Down Studio.

In September 1971, The Trip released a non-album single: “Believe In Yourself” backed with “Little Janie,” both Vescovi/Gray numbers. Soon after, Gray and Sinnone both left the band, which continued as a trio with drummer Furio Chirico, a rising virtuoso who played beforehand in I Ragazzi del Sole and Martò e i Judas.

Atlantide

The Trip released their third album, Atlantide, in 1972 on RCA Italiana.

Recorded after thier reconstitution as a trio, the group pivoted toward a dense, keyboard-dominated sound driven by increased rhythmic precision and conceptual structure. Atlantide functions as a suite centered around the rise and fall of a mythical civilization, using English lyrics and instrumental themes to explore leadership, technological obsession, destruction, and aftermath.

Joe Vescovi leads with a full arsenal of keyboards, combining Hammond organ, piano, and Moog textures to drive all melodic development. He shares lead vocals with bassist Arvid “Wegg” Andersen, who provides harmonic counterpoint and anchors transitions with fuzz-toned pedal bass. Furio Chirico delivers rapid, fragmented bursts, tom-heavy fills, and through-composed percussive structures that accelerate and dissolve formal sections. His technical presence defines the album’s structural intensity.

The opening title track stages the rise of Atlantis with piano-led sequences and accelerative tempo changes, concluding in a subdued, exotic tonal passage. “Evoluzione” traces the emergence of life and order through rapid intercutting of synth, drums, and clipped vocals. “Leader” invokes dystopian imagery with martial rhythm and fanfare-like keyboard stabs. “Energia” unfolds with syncopated organ patterns, portraying the symbolic fall of limitless energy into authoritarian hands.

“Ora X” channels the leader’s monologue over blues-based motifs and drum accents, leading to an explosive instrumental shift that signifies collapse. “Analisi” counterposes elegiac vocals with cathedral organ and phased transitions, serving as the narrative’s mournful reckoning. “Distruzione” builds from ambient decay into a multistage instrumental passage led by Chirico’s extended solo and sectional mutations. “Il Vuoto” closes the album with a brief, void-like coda, returning the suite to silence.

A1. “Atlantide” (5:25) — piano overture and phased rhythmic themes symbolizing the mythic continent’s emergence
A2. “Evoluzione” (3:10) — depicts biological and civil evolution through Moog-bass interplay and tight vocal phrasing
A3. “Leader” (2:44) — march-driven satire of authority with clipped keyboard gestures and declarative vocals
A4. “Energia” (3:24) — instrumental depicting the seizure of energy by the regime, featuring layered riffing and chromatic builds

B1. “Ora X” (2:55) — dramatizes the dictator’s ambition before climatic upheaval, closing with fractured organ passages
B2. “Analisi” (4:07) — mournful post-catastrophe elegy with slow organ progressions and phased harmonic vocals
B3. “Distruzione” (8:15) — multi-part instrumental with phased drum solo, breakneck interplay, and thematic disintegration
B4. “Il Vuoto” [The Void] (0:49) — final ambient motif signaling extinction and aftermath

Sessions took place in Rome under RCA supervision with arrangements handled in full by Vescovi.

The gatefold artwork presents a continuous triptych-style map rendered in colored ink, combining mythical, prehistoric, and futuristic iconography. The left panel, labeled “Atlantide,” depicts a lost civilization in collapse, surrounded by erupting volcanoes, fossilized vegetation, crumbling temples, and skeletal remains. The central panel transitions into surreal imagery of modernity, with sci-fi structures, highways, and floating vehicles, contrasted by ghostlike figures and eruptive geological forms. The right panel mirrors the ancient terrain from the left panel, forming a visual continuum from primitive origins through technological climax to metaphysical void.

Time of Change

The Trip released their fourth album, Time of Change, in 1973 on Trident.

Time of Change retains their keyboard-trio format with a sound steeped in classical counterpoint, jazz improvisation, and English-language lyrics. The tone ranges from formal liturgical passages to fragmentary avant-garde textures and rapid instrumental interplay.

Joe Vescovi directs the album’s dynamic structure with an arsenal of Hammond organ, Eminent, piano, and synthesizer. Arvid “Wegg” Andersen plays pedal bass with sharp articulation and delivers secondary vocals on select numbers. Furio Chirico combines advanced polyrhythms, broken metric patterns, and extended rolls, commanding shifts in energy with high-velocity phrasing and dynamic control.

Side A conists of “Phapsodia,” a twenty-minute suite composed in rhapsodic form with multiple tonal transitions and thematic vignettes. Early passages blend ragtime-inflected piano with soft vocals, followed by rapid alternations between organ-led motifs and Moog flourishes, culminating in a fragmented closing cadence.

“Formula Nova” launches Side B as a fast-paced instrumental built on piano cycles, rising organ stabs, and rhythmic bursts. “De Sensibus” introduces bells, spoken interjections, and chromatic percussion in a ritualistic sequence with sparse instrumental commentary. “Corale” invokes church-mode solemnity through layered Hammond drones and classical vocal cadences, progressing through stately harmonic motions. “Ad Libitum” closes the album with a piano-only piece that alternates jazz phrasing, chromatic figures, and classical motifs, performed with improvisational variation.

A. “Phapsodia” (20:02) — episodic suite with shifting classical and jazz segments, rapid transitions, and structured improvisation

B1. “Formula Nova” (4:53) — instrumental tour de force with alternating piano and organ phrases over tight rhythmic bursts
B2. “De Sensibus” [About the Senses] (4:12) — percussion-focused vignette with bells, ritualistic sound textures, and echo-processed voices
B3. “Corale” (5:28) — solemn keyboard chorale with liturgical phrasing and polyphonic vocal overlays
B4. “Ad Libitum” (4:29) — solo piano closer combining classical structures with jazz voicing and metric fluidity

Sessions occurred in 1973 under Trident supervision with full arrangement and keyboard orchestration by Vescovi.

The cover features a deep blue airbrushed backdrop with fantasy birds in flight, each rendered in layered rainbow hues with photorealistic heads of the three band members. Stylized clouds and cosmic flourishes extend across the gatefold. The surrealist design blends comic abstraction with light psychedelia, evoking a weightless, transitional mood in line with the album’s title.

Trident lifted “Corale” as a single (b/w “Formula Nova”).

Postlude

After Time of Change, drummer Furio Chirico formed Arti & Mestieri. Andersen and Vescovi attempted to revive The Trip with Osage Tribe drummer Nunzio Favia, but the band dissolved within months after Andersen suffered a serious injury. Vescovi briefly joined Acqua Fragile at the end of 1974, then moved on to Dik Dik with Favia. In 2002, he resurfaced with Shout!, a Beatles-inspired project that included former Acqua Fragile bassist Franz Dondi and released a CD on Electromantic.

The classic Atlantide–era trio of Vescovi, Andersen, and Chirico reunited in 2010 and performed at the Prog Exhibition in Rome. In 2011, they played a concert in Japan, but the project came to a halt after Andersen’s death in 2012. Vescovi died in 2014. Earlier member Billy Gray had passed away in 1984.

In 2015, original drummer Pino Sinnone revived the name as The New Trip, later shortened to The Trip. This lineup has seen multiple changes and, since 2019, has included Andrea Ranfagni (vocals), Carmine Capasso (guitar), Andrea D’Avino (keyboards, later replaced by Giuseppe Sarno), and Tony Alemanno (bass). They issued Caronte: 50 Years Later in 2021 and followed with the new album Now the Time Has Come in 2023.

In parallel, Chirico launched Furio Chirico’s The Trip in early 2022, featuring Paolo Silvestri (keyboards, vocals), Giuseppe Lanari (bass, vocals), and Marco Rostagno (guitar, vocals). This group released the CD+DVD Equinox in 2022 and a full remake of Atlantide in 2025, initially issued in Japan.

Discography: