Area
AREA was one of the most important musical projects in Italy. Their first record was made in 1973 by alternative label Cramps. The sound was a mixture of electro-acoustic experimental music (similar to John Cage work), jazz-rock, mediterranean and middle-east folkmusic. The lyrics' contents of their songs (written by Gianni Sassi aka Frankestein) has a strong political and phylosophical environment.
AREA was one of the most important musical projects in Italy. Their first record was made in 1973 by alternative label Cramps. The sound was a mixture of electro-acoustic experimental music (similar to John Cage work), jazz-rock, mediterranean and middle-east folkmusic. The lyrics' contents of their songs (written by Gianni Sassi aka Frankestein) has a strong political and phylosophical environment.
Caution Radiation Area
Temporary nicer price * 500 copies, numbered edition. Clear Splatter Vinyl * Area's second album takes its cues from the most serious side of early-'70s British progressive rock, particularly Soft Machine and King Crimson. There's a high-voltage, at times furious energy to the quasi-jazz-rock fusion, with keyboards showing some influence from Miles Davis fusion records, and the guitars wheeling off lines with a busy anxiety. Despite some sinister progressions and overlays of electronic squiggles…
Crac!
Temporary nicer price 700 copies, numbered edition. Clear Splatter Vinyl * “Crac!” is Area’s third album, released in 1974 and one of the strongest in their revolutionary canon of political artfulness. The previous album had received some mixed opinions after the explosive debut; Crac! is a departure in style from both of those two records—in a way, more compact and sleek if that is possible to think of with Area. In that aspect, this is the most “accessible” version of the band, and not surpri…
Maledetti (Maudits) - Color LP
Temporary nicer price ** 500 copies, numbered edition. Clear Splatter Vinyl ** 1976 was a year of flux and change. For the recording of the fifth Area album, the core membership of Stratos, Fariselli, Tofani and Tavolazzi were present, but drummer Capiozzo only appears on about half of the album, replaced on various tracks by either Walter Calloni or Paul Lytton. Steve Lacy augments the band, as do several other studio musicians (including a string quartet). Perhaps it was the contributions of t…
L'Internazionale
* Clear Vinyl * Nice and quality reissue of shis Area's 7" was distributed in the left-winged movement/circuit, as the money from sales financed the legal costs of the trial against the Italian writer and anarchist Giovanni Marini, caught up in Italy's Strategy of Tension and unjustly convicted of the murder. The B-side, Citazione Da George L. Jackson is a strong denunciation against the inhumane conditions of prisoners and inspired by Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson, a com…
L'Abbattimento Dello Zeppelin
* Yellow Vinyl * A great Area 7", quality replica of their L'Abbattimento Dello Zeppelin first single. Kick-ass free-form music recorded in the glorious year of 1973 in Milan, Italy. Blow-out with blasting sax solos played by Victor Edouard Busnello, and a kicking Demetrio Stratos on these two extraordinary tracks
Gioia e Rivoluzione
Temporary nicer price * 500 numbered copies, 180 gr. Red vinyl, numbered edition * Gioia e Rivoluzione is the third compilation of the Jazz fusion band Area. This album concentrates exclusively on the albums released on the Cramps label. Just like the first compilation "Anto/Logicamente", this album contains "Citazione da George L. Jackson", the non-LP b-side of "L'internazionale". "L'Internazionale" appears as well, but instead of the studio version released on the single (which has only re-app…
Anto/Logicamente
* 500 numbered copies, 180 gr. Red vinyl, numbered edition * Anto/Logicamente is the first compilation of the Jazz fusion band Area and was released in 1977. As the title suggests, the track selection focuses more on the tracks that were "hidden, ignored by the critics and many others", as told on the booklet. "Anto/Logicamente" is a play on words based on "antologia" (compilation, in this case), "anto" (not) and "logicamente" (with sense). Noticeably, this album contains "Citazione da George L.…
Event '76
Wonderfully varied Free Improv, with a nice balance of different elements to keep it interesting (and not overly self-indulgent). One of those elements is Demetrio Stratos' voice, which is put to good use as a wild instrument (complete with duck quacking). It's rare for a band, that features Steve Lacy and Paul Lytton, to pull off free improv so completely convincingly when it is not within their normal milieu, but this performance is a testament to their musicianship and their listening skills.…
Radius
**Red vinyl, numbered edition** Alberto Radius first solo album - Originally released on Numero Uno label, cat. # ZSLN 55153. September, 1972.- and regarded as one of the Italian prog rarest though not particularly representative of the genre, was issued in 1972 when Formula Tre were still active, and was a sort of jam session with important Italian musicians of the time, including Franz Di Cioccio from Premiata Forneria Marconi and Area's Demetrio Stratos and Giulio Capiozzo along with Gianni D…
Are(A)zione
* High quality vinyl reissue with remastered sound. Gatefold, sticker. 45th anniversary edition.* The 4th album from the band that I consider to be possibly the finest Italian progressive rock band of the 1970's, & certainly a band in the top tier of all early 1970's progressive bands worldwide! Area combined jazz/rock/stolen ethnic music (mostly from Eastern Europe and the Middle East)/the avant garde and more. Superb playing from all (vocals/organ, guitar, electric piano/synths, bass & drums).…