The prog-rock album released by a Pope
It took them 50 years, but the Catholic Church finally decided to ease up on the whole rock and roll heresy.
Such musical liberalising is largely down to Pope Francis I. Originally, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, before being proclaimed Bishop of Rome in 2013, Francis was the first Holy Father to break from papal tradition and express an interest in popular music, formerly dismissed as a celebration of the profane and obstructing music’s proper function as ritualistic worship.
Francis was one to shake things up, however. Alongside challenging the conservative culture of the Church, the late Pontiff was reputedly spotted in Rome’s Stereo Sound music store with a vinyl under his arm, and in his previous days as a cardinal, he would often visit the Via della Minerva record shop to peruse his beloved classical releases.
According to Cardinal and Pontifical Council for Culture President Gianfranco Ravasi, Francis also counted modern and contemporary albums in his vast music collection, including fellow Argentinian Astor Piazzolla’s tango LPs, cabaret works from Édith Piaf, Elvis Presley’s gospel cuts, singer-songwriter efforts from Leonard Cohen and Van Morrison, and even Brian Eno’s Apollo: Atmospheres ambient milestone.
Yet, Ravasi never let slip on any prog rock in the former pope’s heavy rotations. Nonetheless, Francis gave an official thumbs up to the Believe Digital label to collate the various speeches he’d made around the world across 2013-’14 and set them to a progressive score with the help of Tony Pagliuca.
Pagliuca came from a top prog pedigree, playing organ and electric piano for Italy’s Le Orme. One of the few Italian acts to break through in North America and across the rest of Europe, Le Orme would score a minor hit with Ad gloriam, later to tour with Van der Graaf Generator’s Peter Hammill and play a winning slot at London’s Marquee Club after the acclaimed success of 1973’s Felona e Sorona.
Lending his keyboard chops and wide multi-instrumental dexterity to the Catholic rock project, Wake Up! Music Album with His Words and Prayers was finally dropped in 2015, delivering 11 slices of new age gloss packed by stirring chamber heft and earnest vocal choirs not a million miles from Vangelis at his most grandiloquent. The only real ‘rock’ number is ‘Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!’, the semi-lead single and features Francis talking in English for its South Korean address speech source.
Caked in the kind of backing muzak you’d hear in a yoga retreat, it’s hard to imagine anyone beyond the most religiously frenzied gleaning any sincere, musical transport from such prog plod. But Pagliuca has to work with what he’s given; attempting to flesh out papal speeches into something resembling a pop score is no mean feat.
No one was expecting Francis’ foray into pop to storm the Billboard 200 and enjoy regular radio spins, but Wake Up! Music Album with His Words and Prayers did manage to nab a fairly respectable 50 on the Top Christian Albums chart, and 20 in Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums rankings.
