1979 - IL CONCERTO - OMAGGIO A DEMETRIO STRATOS

This live album was released in the "Area" catalog, but it would be better classified as "Various Artists". I'm complaining myself because I have added it to PA....

Just few weeks after Demetrio Stratos passing away, a huge number of artists of the "alternative area", those left-winged and more politically involved of that time, arranged this big "tribute event". I think that a DVD has been released but I'm not confident about the quality of the material recorded by the Italian national TV that was not famous for the ability to record live rock events.

What we find here is sometimes hardly definable "progressive". There is a mixture of folk singer-sogwriters, punk and pop-rock, but also avant artists like Cardini or even Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and what remained of Area without Stratos.

Of course this is a double CD to be described track by track.

Kaos Rock was one of the first Italian Punk Bands. I think we can speak of PRI(Punk Rock Italiano) as a separate genre as I think they were playing punk without understanding exactly what it was. "Basta Basta" (translatable as Stop, or Quit) is totally forgettable. Demential lyrics over a Sex Pistols imitation. This band and Skiantos, also present at the event started what was later called "Demential Rock". Not for prog tastes.

Area pley this "Danz(a)nello" a joke on the words "Danza(Dance)" and "Anello(Ring)". Of course it's an instrumental. It's jazzy with some Avant moments. Forget the first minute and wait for the "good" part to come. As one can expect, it one of the reasons forhaving this album.

Francesco Guccini is a singer-sogwriter who has worked as author for "I Nomadi", a band musically too pop to be included into RPI. He's more famous for his poetry than for his music. This is one of his most famous songs from his debut album released in 1966, one that he still plays live also today and is about a girl died in a car crash. The Title "Per Un'Amica" (for a friend - female) has been transcribed as "Per Un Amico" (for a friend - male) a discutible choice of the editor.

Eugenio Finardi is another singer-songwriter, more rock oriented, grown in the USA and here presenting a gospel. A good moment but of course nothing prog here.

Roberto Ciotti is a bluesman that I had the pleasure to play a jam session with so many years ago that he likely doesn't remember. He's the author of the soundtrack of a movie called "Marrakech Express" that's one of his things closer to prog that he has done. Here he plays a blues that's also on his live "Bluesman". Not a prog thing but check out his guitar playing.

"Venegoni & Co" is the band formed by "Gigi Venegoni" after leaving the RPI band "Arti e Mestieri". The band had a short life, disbanding after just one year, but unexpectedly resurrected and still releasing albums up to now. They are in the JR/F section and the track thay play explains why.

Then comes Branduardi. I'm currently reviewing all his albums. He plays one of his most beautiful songs "Il Funerale" (The Funeral), very appropriate for this event.

Carnascialia was a side project of Pasquale Minieri, Giorgio Vivaldi e Mauro Pagani (Canzoniere del Lazio and PFM members). on PA as prog-folk, I would see them more appropriate in the JR/F. Listen to this track and to the great drums solo.

Adriano Bassi and Italo Lo Vetere are a different thing. I don't know much of Adriano Bassi, while the second is a classically trained pianist formerly in the "Trio Classico Italiano". What they play has a true RIO/Avant flavor IMO, but it's their only track that I know and I don't know if this track has had any follow-up. It deserves some attention.

Antonello Venditti is another singer-songwriter, today totally converted to mainstream-pop and in my opinion rewriting always the same song in the last 25 years. The one that he sings here is a ballad. The story behind this song is too long and too few interesting to be told on this page. His piano execution is everything but perfect, too.

Skip the Skiantos. This Demential Punk band is not totally bad usually, and the guy speaking has recently written a couple of books. Unfortunately here they just declaim three short "poetries" about farting and dirty people while somebody is testing the microphones for the following artist. Few interesting even for Italian speaking people.

Gaetano Liguori is a jazz pianist and Tullio De Piscopo was drummer and percussionist in "Napoli Centrale". He also played with Alberto Radius (Formula 3) before converting to mainstream pop in the 80s. They play a jazzy "Tarantella" about the cholera epidemic which affected Naples in the 70s for some months. Suitable for JR/F if only they had released anything else. A good listen anyway.

Giancarlo Cardini is and avant-garde artist classically trained on symphonic and chamber music pianist that is often compared to John Cage, but his principal activity is writer, poet and theathre author. He has released only one album together with other artists and without a band's name entitled "Suono Segno Gesto Visione a Firenze 2". Listen to the two tracks that he plays. He may deserve a place on PA.

Back to singer-songwriters. Roberto Vecchioni, as well as Guccini and Venditti belongs to those Italian artists that were poorly skilled as instrumentists. Like Guccini he puts a lot of attention to the lyrics even if he's famous also for the soundtrack of the cartoon "Barbapapa"! He has teached Latin and Literature in the secondary school for a lifetime (now he's retired). His song could be considered remotely prog-related.

I won't tell you what "Banco del Mutuo Soccorso" is, of course. "E Mi Viene Da Pensare" is a good song in their classic style. They are currently in the top 20 PA ratings list with two albums.

The album is closed by Area with their interpretation of "L'Internazionale" (The International) that's the anthem of the Socialist International founded by Lenin at the end of the XIX century and still the most famous communist anthem. It can be intended as the couterpart of Jimi Hendrix's American Anthem in Woodstock, but it's mainly a jazzy/avant track.

If this double CD was a single including only the prog things it would have deserved five stars. As a live recording has an unexpected good quality for Italy and for 1979 and is able to transmit the "live sensation". With all the non-interesting or also skippable material giving it a correct rating is quite hard. I don't know if buying single tracks for downloading is an available option. If yes you can use this review to save your money and avoid losing time with poor things.

About the rating, the songs go from 1 to 5 stars so I think that sticking on three is a good compromise.

41 years ago today (June 14) this concert took place to raise funds to pay for the medical bills of Demetrio Stratos, the lead singer of the seminal Italian band Area. 60,000 fans and hundreds of artists gathered in the Civic Arena in MIlan for the fundraising concert only to be greeted with the news that Stratos had passed away the day before in New York during treatment. Needless to say, this put a different spin on the day.

A couple of misconceptions need to be dispelled for the average listener. First, this isn't an Area album, there are only two songs by the band on here. For those expecting a 'greatest hits' of Italian prog, it isn't really that either, as there are precious few moments of genuine RPI here-even Banco's appearance is a subdued vocal and piano tune. A better description would be like listening to the Woodstock album: a wide variety of artists (heavy on the singer/songwriter vein much like Woodstock) and a spread of disparate styles playing on a summer day in a large outdoor venue gathering to vibe together (though the vibe had switched from hope to sorrow rather quickly).

The album opens with the Italian punk band Kaos Rock from the Cramps label (home to Area and Arti e Mestieri) bringing an energetic pop punk energy with Basto Basto. From there we get Area performing Danz(a)nello-a spirited fusion jam in the spirit of early 80's Weather Report . Three singer/songwriters follow: Francesco Guccini, a famed folk artist in the vein of Fabrizio deAndre who'd been perfoming since the mid 60's sings Per un Amico (for a friend) in Italian, one of the more heartfelt moments on the album. Eugenio Finardi does an English lyric song, Hold On, very much in line with Richie Haven's work at Woodstock. He was close friends with Stratos and was also on the Cramps label, again in a deAndre vein. Roberto Ciotti rounds out the end of side one's solo acoustic singer performances with the English vocals of Shake it. He also was a blues/jazz Cramps labelmate.

Side two will give solace to RPI fans with Venegoni & Co. giving us a high energy instrumental -Coesioni (this band derived from Arti e Mestieri, also Cramps label artists). Synth, swirling dervish guitars, stuttering bass and drums deliver perhaps the most satisfying jazzy RPI song on the album. Angelo Branduardi, another singer songwriter is up next with the Italian sung Il Funerale. He is known for mining early Italian music (and mildly known in the UK for an English release with lyrics by Peter Sinfield of King Crimson fame). Gentle and beautiful. Next up is Carnascialia doing a song from Mauro Pagani's first solo album, the instrumental Europa Minor. This song featured Area as the backing band on its original release and is a nice nod to the theme for the day. This is another of the highlights for RPI fans, as it stretches out a bit with an excellent sax solo that gives the listener a glimpse into sitting in a field of thousands, just grooving on the music. A high energy drum solo finishes the song up. Side two comes to an end with Adriano Bassi and Italo Lo Venerie performing some instrumental virtuoso piano in the vein of Keith Jarrett.

Side three opens with Antonello Venditti's Bomba o Non Bomba, with solo piano accompaniment. Like many of the singers here, he follows in the socially conscious mode of operation. (he had worked with Vince Tempera in the early 70's, the guy who put together I Giganti's Terra del Bocca album and Il Volo). Three unaccompanied poems by Skiantos come next, mostly as a distraction while the stage gets reset for the next band. Side three ends with Gaetano Liguori e Tullio De Piscopo performing a tarantella that gets the crowd audibly moving. Jazzy but recognizable as RPI for most. Another great 'hey let's enjoy the sun and the music' type of jazz festival song. (here I need to point out that the track listings on the LP are incorrect, and that the last song on side three actually opens side four)

Side four begins with two songs from Giancarlo Cardini, his 'Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos'. Tinkling piano reminiscent of John Cage gives us a tribute to the avant-garde experiments Stratos leaned towards in the latter part of the 70's on Metrodora and Area's Event 76 album. His solo voice performance following the piano is also right up Stratos' alley. Roberto Vecchioni follows with another singer songwriter performance that is one of the better ones in the day's events. Banco delivers a solemn piano and vocal song quite unlike what we are familiar with from them. The event ends with one of the most lugubrious versions of Area's traditional finale, L'Internazionale. This version seems on the verge of falling apart at every corner as the band seems to challenge each other to go as slowly as possible to wring emotions out that didn't seem possible. A fitting end to the album for sure.

All in all a moving tribute to one giant of a man. Demetrio Stratos left an indelible stamp on Italian music of the 70's. While I'd say the casual RPI fan might be confused by so much folk music here, the hard core Area fan will resonate with the massive variety on display in tribute to one of Italy's greatest musicians. For them, this might be absolutely essential stuff. Maestro Della Voce, indeed.

3 stars