Es

Es formed in 1980, with Vittorio De Scalzi on keyboards, Aldo Tagliapietra on guitar, Ricky Belloni on bass, and Giorgio Usai on drums. They came together after the progressive rock group New Trolls, though the details of that transition are a bit hazy. Their first album, 'Azzurro Superiore,' came out in 1981 and gave the band its name. The title track became a hit, with its light, drifting melody that felt both pop and something else entirely.

Through the 1980s, Es put out records like 'La Notte' in 1982, 'Equator' in 1983, and 'Macchina del Tempo' in 1986. Their sound had a polished, almost electronic sheen, but kept a rock backbone. Songs like 'Comfortevole' and 'Dissolvenza In Nero' from that period show how they could write tunes that were catchy without being simple.

In 1986, the band got tangled in a legal fight with their old label over who owned their music. It dragged on for years and slowed their recording down. After that, De Scalzi and Tagliapietra left, leaving Belloni and Usai to keep the band going with different lineups. They kept making music, but the commercial peak had passed.