Classic Ita-prog album - extremely versatile band who can play any style. The singer died of leukemia in the late 1970s & is one of the most amazing ever, incorporates the weirdest kinds of noises into his vocals. Not an easy listen but a total masterpiece.
1. Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (Nero) (4:27) 2. Arbeit Macht Feri (7:56) 3. Consapevolezza (6:06) 4. Le Labbra Del Tempo (6:00) 5. 240 Chilometri Da Smirne (5:10) 6. L'Abbattimento Dello Zeppelin (6:45) Total Time: 36:24 - Demetrio Statos / Vocals, Organ - Patrick Djivas / bass - Patrizio Fariselli / keyboards - Gianpaolo Tofani / guitars - Giulio Capiozzo / drums, percussion
review i found online: Listening today to ARBEIT MACHT FREI by AREA, issued in the new historic year 1973, it is more a dive into the living, breathing present rather than to dip into the past.Obviously, this does not necessarily signify a defense of the Nineties, mediocre and formless they are, contrasting with the far more complex and startling Seventies.On the contrary, it simply aims to state that not a single one of the component sections of this record sounds dated and/ or nostalgic.Firstly, THE SLEEVE: visibly Dadaist on the outside with its key-shaped puppet and a large Yale padlock, inside is a visionary photo-spread, extremely relevant today: the five AREA members are posed alongside each other between the "logo" from the Nazi concentration camps (work is freedom) and a Palestinian "kefiah" wrapped around the head of Giulio Capiozzo, between the Communist hammer and sickle and the figure of a flying angel, typical Christian emblem. Then THE MUSIC: admirable in its ability to appear as an indivisible UNICUM, a profound mixture of "composition" and "improvisation",first and great example in Italy of WORLD MUSIC blending the best in rock and jazz with a touch of "Mediterranean folk music"and some extremely advanced para-Cagean contemporary styles.AREA wished to credit themselves from the outset in the eyes of their public is fully legitimate:INTERNATIONAL POPULAR GROUP. As if to say that the "moods" of making music would have nothing to do with any remnant of nationalist feeling, any refuge of parrochial attitudes. And finally THE INTERPRETATION: AREA can't leave the extra-voice of DEMETRIO STRATOS apart, showing, here at once, all his phonic equilibria.During those years (and still nowadays), many people found his voice excessively virtuoso bearing no resemblance to the pedantic style that has always made the fortune of every "pop singer" worthy of the name.Let us repeat: they totally ignored an incontestable fact: without Demetrio's contribution, the "pop vox" would still be rooted, at least in Italy, in the classical modulations of the singer-songwriter.In reality, listening again after so many years to A.M.F., I can safely assert that I very much miss the unique quality of Stratos' voice. In the same way, as I miss his artist's honesty, the pureness of his work, the solitude of his personal way never coming to compromises with the "establishment". Thanks to him we have discovered the real meaning of pop music: not only good vibrations or feeling groovy, it also consists of seeking for one's own "IN SE" and of deliberate perception of contradiction.(Cfr.Roberto GATTI)
more info at http://www.gepr.net/arfram.html
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