CONCERTO TEATRO UOMO

No matter what respect I have for Area and some important or historical gigs, I have a problem with this release's sound quality. While maybe not as bad as Crimson's Earthbound, and some of those bootlegged tapes released on official labels like Voiceprint (see SM's Facelift, for ex), Area's 76 concert in Milan (their hometown) is certainly anything but acceptable for a full-price legit release.

Strangely enough, after the opening track Evaporazione (from Maledetti) it seems that Area progressed through their concert visiting their albums chronologically , with three tracks from Arbeit and three more from Radiation, then revisiting Maledetti with Branderburger, before doing three tracks (only!!!) from my fave Crac album, but this time, mixed and separated with more Maledetti tracks. While this sounds rather quite good figuratively, sonically it is nothing short of a disaster. It seems that this was recorded from a 2- track cassette deck from the crowd, and somewhere where the bass was completely absent and the microphone saturating at times. Personally I don't think the tracks are that much different than their original studio versions, sometimes maybe slightly more jazz-rock, but then again the lack of real bass probably fooled a few listeners. Sorry, but this writer cannot seem to forget or forgive such bad-sounding live records, no matter how broke or historically important, so that I can give it a good rating. So beit, and let this be For Fans Only.