THE ESSENTIAL BOX SET COLLECTION

I can't believe I'm the first to review this 2010 box set!

Progarchive collaborator's have posted a plethora of reviews on Area's four studio albums, contained inside this collection, therefore I won't dilly dally and dawdle over the four studio albums.

Instead, I will confine my comments to the two live albums ensconced in this exquisite box set. But before I go on, suffice to say, Progarchive ratings on the studio albums are accurate...

Arbeit Macht Frei - 4.31

Caution Radiation Area - 3.95

Crac ! - 4.21

Maledetti - 4.04

My husband and I are rabid followers of Rock Progressivo Italiano rock. When I was a teenager, Rock Progressivo Italiano albums didn't exactly saturate the shelves of your average American record store. Recently, hubby and I morphed into musical anthropologists, unearthing scores of Rock Progressivo Italiano classics.

On my birthday, my sweet heart gifted me, AREA's "The Essential Box Set Collection!" The musical equivalent of a box of Godiva Truffles!

Area vocalist Demetrio Stratos is simply to die for for! Unfortunately Demetrio did die on June 13, 1979, which explains the low Progarchive scores for the two Area studio albums released after 1978. I'm sure the Area fan base was devastated!

Area decided to go on without a singer. Smart decision! Stratos was irreplaceable. So the next album was instrumental. And it's a good album, if you can separate yourself from the loss of Demetrio's vocals.

Demetrio Stratos was the Frank Zappa of vocalists. Don't get me wrong, Demetrio doesn't sing like Zappa, instead Demetrio experimented and twisted his voice similar to the way Zappa turned rock, pop, and Doo Wop on it's collective ear. I salivate at the thought of Demetrio joining Zappa's band or recording an album with Captain Beefheart.

Area had more of a Jazz Fusion sound then most Rock Progressivo Italiano bands. If you like Area's Italian take on jazz fusion then I highly recommend the Perigeo album "Azimut". But I digress... Included in Area's box set are TWO LIVE animals, and they are very different albums.

First up is 1975 live album "ARE(A)ZIONE" with a progarchives score of 4.08.

My god! What a voice Stratos has. I am sadden he died so early...But, I'm not overly distressed, because the incredible sounds Area left us with are out-of-this-world-wonderful!

ARE(A)ZIONE doesn't stray far from Area's jazz fusion roots. Short story- An amazing live, prog jazz classic. I think Progarchive's most prolific music critic "Mellotron Storm" summed it up best, when he wrote so elegantly in his review of ARE(A)ZIONE-

" I can just imagine being there back in the seventies in Italy watching this very entertaining band. There's one picture in particular of a young (teen?) girl being held up, above people's shoulders by several guys. She has this huge triumphant smile on her face with her arm up in the air, while the people around her are all laughing and smiling at this sight."

Yeah, that sums it up... And as an added bonus- Two of the songs (including the title song) never appeared on an Area studio release!

Saddled with a relatively low progarchive score of 2.81, the last album in the six album box set is "Event '76" Why the low score? Because "Event '76" was an improvised live album. That's right, Area made it up, on the spot, in front of a live audience. In the Mile Davis tradition of winging it, these guys risked egos, starting from scratch, Area created a one of kind, dissonant, jazzy, spectacular, atmospherically enchanting live experience. If you are like me? You want an album for every mood you experience. Event '76 fits my cooking beef fajitas and Mexican rice for family mood. Go figure?

I rate "Event '76" a 3.2, because it makes me happy. I'm not saying "Event '76" will forever rotate through your car stereo system, but I'll wager several souls find the feeling "Event '76" evokes fits perfectly at an unique and specific time in your life!

Pros. - With the exception of the absence of Area's 1978 album - "gli dei se ne vanno, gli arrabbiati restano" , this box set is truly an essential progressive rock classic. ( I immediately purchased "gli dei se ne vanno, gli arrabbiati restano" , after listening Area's Box Set.)

- These guys created a new way to hold CD's into the package, so they never fall out. They snap shut! I'm sure several of you guys have cursed the Prog Rock Gods while you watched your precious CD's fall willy nilly to the floor. Not with this collection! These Cd's snap shut!

- Area's Box Set packaging is so nice, and you get a groovy Area post card for an affordable price! OK, Area's box set is not as visually arresting or as impressive as Steven Wilson's Deluxe Book and Box Set- Hand. Cannot. Erase. But what do want for 5 bucks per classic CD?

- If you love Italian prog or jazz fusion, And you don't have any AREA albums, then this is The Box Set for you!

You get all the Area classics at once. Thank God the surviving members of Area had good sense not to release a greatest hits album or anthology. If you feel like We do, you want your albums uncut, untarnished, and original.

Cons- Only one con...The 36 page booklet is written in Italian! Listen people, I'm not trilingual! I don't speak three languages! Heck, I'm not even bilingual In case you didn't know, a bilingual person speak two languages.

What do you call a person who speaks only one language? That's right....American! I'm a silly American on a bargain basement budget.

"Area's International POPular Group" Essential Box Set Collection gets a 5 star rating from moi!

Essential masterpiece of progressive rock music!

"The Essential Box Set Collection" is a very special compilation album from Area which was released in 2010. This is an interesting package that includes their debut studio album "Arbeit Macht Frei", from 1973, their second studio album "Caution Radiation Area" from 1974, their third studio album "Crac!" from 1975, their fourth studio album "Maledetti" from 1976, their debut live album "Are(A)zione" from 1975 and their second live album "Event '76" from 1979.

As I've already reviewed these six albums previously on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to do it again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read all those reviews. However, in here, I'm going to write something about them in a more short way. So, of course, I'm not going to analyze them track by track, as I made before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of all those albums.

"Arbeit Macht Frei": "Arbeit Macht Frei" is a pure jazz rock/fusion album with great intensity. This will probably appeal more to fusion lovers and avant-prog fans than to the average RPI fans. It's more adventurous and challenging. It's emotional and unforgettable. It's an adventurous and intricate album that will repel some and compel others. This is one of the most important Italian prog albums of the 70's, one of the best releases of that sub-genre. "Arbeit Macht Frei" put Area at the level of their compatriots, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Le Orme.

"Caution Radiation Area": "Caution Radiation Area" is very different from "Arbeit Macht Frei". "Arbeit Macht Frei" represents Area's early sound, eith folk melodies, Canterbury Scene sound, acid psychedelic stile and avant-garde experimental jazz, all together filtered and mixed through a special Italian sensibility and taste. "Caution Radiation Area" is more experimental with electronic effects. It's the album where the experimental music was more introduced. It's darker and intends to provoke and disturb the usual listener. It's more "radioactive" and needs a caution approach.

"Crac!": "Crac!" has a great mix between jazz and RPI. It has a perfect fusion between the instrumental parts and Demetrio vocals in RPI. It has some of the best and most popular songs of the band, "L'Elefante Bianco", "La Mela Di Odessa" and "Gioia I Rivoluzione", keeping the long instrumental parts, one of the greatest features of Area. "Crac!" is one of the most influential albums in the Italian prog scene. It's a classic album in its genre and is highly recommended for those who love to check something different and fresh. This album should be part of every serious prog collection.

"Are(A)zione": "Are(a)zione" is an excellent live album. It's probably their best live album. The live versions are closer to the original versions. It's a short album with only five tracks. Still, it has two lengthy amazing tracks "Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (Nero)" from "Arbeit Macht Frei" and also the title track "Are(A)zione", which is an original track. So, "Are(A)zione" is perhaps the perfect choice for anyone to start with Area, and in some way it tells their story better than the band's studio albums, or even better than their compilations. This is an excellent addition to any prog collection.

"Maledetti": "Maledetti" is much more experimental than their previous third studio album "Crac!". Its music is chaotic with several influences like traditional Greek music, Arabian music, avant-garde music, free jazz, jazz rock/fusion, funk, Mediterranean music and classical music. Despite "Maledetti" isn't as good as "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Crac!", is better than "Caution Radiation Area". It's more balanced and it's less dark, more modern, and especially, it has two of their greatest masterpieces "Diforisma Urbano" and "Gerontocrazia". This is one of the finest and creative works from Area.

"Event '76": The radical concept of music of Area isolated the band from the developments in the music scene. It's hard to found any imitators or followers of them. It remains the courageous and difficult attempt of a radical reinterpretation of music, art and interaction. Area was far ahead of their time on the prog music, which never went down on such a thin ice. If there is one of their works that shows so clearly that radical concept, is "Event '76". It's anything but a reference for the usual proghead. But, who deal with the free forms of jazz and the contemporary music maybe is able to like it.

Conclusion: "The Essential Box Set Collection" is an excellent compilation album of Area. It includes almost all the studio albums from the band with the presence of Demetrio Stratos. The only exception is the absence of their fifth studio album "1978 ? Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano!" released in 1978. And that it was really pity, indeed. If "1978 ? Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano!" was included, we would have here the complete essential studio works from Area. But, it includes also two live albums. "Are(A)zione", is probably Area's best live album and "Event '76" is, surely, Area's most avant-garde album. So, here we have a great showcase of Area's music, which shows the different facets of Area, their most experimental and their most RPI too. So, this is an excellent package for those who don't have yet all these works. It's always a great introduction to the very own world of Area. It's highly recommended.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)