TIC & TAC

Really, after Demetrio Stratos passed away, I really thought the remaining members of Area should have simply called it a day. Instead they decided to record an album in 1980 without him. Fine, if the music wasn't play-it-safe lite fusion, which is basically what they're doing. I understand that Stratos and his wild presence is absent, but it seemed without him, they're sunk. I just simply imagined they recorded this to try to prove to everyone Area can do fine without Demetrio Stratos. They have certainly recorded their fair share of instrumentals when Stratos was still alive, and those pieces simply blew me away just like the vocal pieces. There is no getting around, in my opinion, that Arbeit Macht Frei, Caution: Radiation Area, Crac!, the live Are(A)zione, and Maledetti are completely essential to your collection. They made some of the finest prog/fusion I have ever heard! But Tic & Tac is one I can live without. How could a band who made such wonderful albums as those I just mentioned sink to playing it safe? I realize in 1980 progressive rock was out of fashion, and we all know how bad the few major acts that survived had it, even the Italians like PFM, Banco, and New Trolls had by now been recording rather conventional, commercially-inclined pop. I remember visiting a doctor's office and hearing all this lite jazz and lite fusion, and the music on Tic & Tac so much reminds me of that that someone could slip in this CD reissue at a doctor's office and no one will pay attention in the least.

Whatever you do, if you want to start with Area, try their classics with Demetrio Stratos. You won't regret it. Make this the last thing you buy, if you want everything.