After a year of intense activity live immortalized excellent " Are (A) tion," the area that had become the only group truly representative of counterculture, celebrated with " Damned" (1976) a further phase of its complex evolution. After the provocations of Arbeit and Caution and the apparent relaxation of Crac, looms in the minds of the quintet Milan celebrate the post-industrial chaos .
We are in 1976 and is an air of crisis full, and not only that which arose because economic through the devaluation of the lira el'austerity but especially the one concerning the world of work that needed to face up against a heavy offensive manor time to clear at least 15 years of workers' struggles . Also add the struggles for housing, women, armed struggle , and you will have much to think about a system in transition from one phase "post-war matrix pre-industrial" to " post-Fordist "anticipate that the service sector.
a profound transition that would also partially modified one of the most important group in the history of Italian Prog.
Iin June the movement will be stalled and opportunities to perform live will be less and less in line with a radical change of the audience. The Area then decide to dedicate most of the 76 individual studies which resulted in both the solo albums of Stratos, and Fariselli Tofani, both in number of trips initiation. Demetrius in Greece, and Giulio Ares in the Basque country and in Italy where the orchestra will play for a short period of Mingardi, gaining the decision of wanting to concentrate more on jazz than on experimentation.
The opportunities for collective exhibitions there from Paris to Lisbon, but just before entering the studio, and Capiozzo Tavolazzi decided that for them, the way of area was no longer the only practicable. Fortunately, the decision is not precluded them from working on the new album, but apart from that, it was already clear for some time that the group would be more open to experiences expanded
and what actually took shape in fall through the recruitment of the saxophonist Steve Lacy and percussionist Paul Lytton con cui Tofani, Stratos e Fariselli avevano già tenuto un concerto alla Statale di Milano.
In buona sostanza, “ Maledetti ”, uscito alla fine del 1976 passerà alla storia per essere stato uno degli albums più eclettici degli Area , pur senza rinunciare a una forte poetica sociale che, se ci pensiamo, suona ancora oggi incredibilmente moderna.
Concettualmente si immagina che un cervello elettronico al plasma contenente tutta la memoria dell’umanità , vada in tilt a causa della forte confusione Social ( Diforisma urban ) and dispel all traces: classical to modern era ( Evaporation "," Brandenburg Massacre ").
At this point, either Area propose three solutions:
1) entrust the power to elderly who, with their historical memory, could not only lead the company, but the riapplicane content in a revolutionary way (" gerontocracy )
2) Empowering Women to that since they were always put aside, could solve the chaos with new rules. ( Scum, "the book by ultra-feminist Valerie Solana s the attentarice of Andy Warhol )
3) Recreate the story with the freedom of imagination, giving the empower children ( Giro, ride, round )
If most of the album is entrusted to the narrative the main theme (including in it the dissolution of classical culture) , precisely because they have not defined any solution to its conclusion (" Chaos II") is entrusted to the celebration of the freedom of choice through use related sensations. Technically, each musician extracted in the case of notes corresponding to different sensations and the sudden consecutively for about ninety seconds, release and occasionally referring back to the rest of the group. All to argue that "even in the deconstruction, there is room for awareness" idea flavor "situationist " which not only reiterated the immense creativity of the group, but also his extraordinary ability to read the socio-political events.
Musically the disc suffers from strong injection Jazz extent by other people, including Walter Calloni, Hugh Bullen , brothers and Arze Eugenio Colombo, but without giving a real moments of Prog Mediterranean or conscious vanguard.
At times the "digressions " individual prevail (eg " Scum ") and many considered the album dispersive, but the great intellectual rigor requires us to consider the album" Damn "as a unique and irreplaceable piece of the history of Italian Prog.
AREA - Discography 1973 - 1978:
1973: Arbeit Macht Frei
1974: CAUTION
1975: CRAC
1975: ARE (A) TION
1976: DAMN
1978: THE GODS MUST BE IT, THE ANGRY BEAR
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