ARBEIT MACHT FREI

I think this would be my second favorite Area album, close on par with Crac! but more consistent. While many reviewers will cite the fluttering vocals as a highlight of this band, it's a feature that I largely have to look past to enjoy the music. The political nature of this album is great from a leftist standpoint, and when the vocals are being serious they pack a punch. The rest of the band adds a fantastic and complex array of sounds that cover all the bases, and only the last two tracks feel like they didn't accomplish what they aimed to.

While I look back on this album with a great deal of respect, and it is the second most consistent album from their original lineup, future albums would have higher highs and lower lows. None of the songs on this album have a lasting wow factor like the following 4, with the exception of their fourth album which I so far cannot seem to enjoy listening to.

As such there are two different faces of Area throughout their pentalogy - highly experimental, almost noise fusion, and old fashioned italian progressive rock that stands tall among the other groups from that time and place - PFM, Banco, Le Orme, and Maxophone. While I won't venture to say that Area is the greatest of these RPI groups, as I still hold PFM and Banco as tied in that regard, it isn't because Area didn't make music as good as they did, but because they were less consistent. Their follow-up, and fourth album, in particular, leaned more heavily into the experimental side and suffered in listenability as a result, while this and their fifth album (My favorite, in spite of being rated the lowest among their classic line-up), represent their classic RPI side, with Crac! being a 50/50 blend of both.

While the rest of these mentioned 4 albums have a vibe that is either too silly, too experimental, or in my opinion the perfect balance that came on the 1978 album - Arbeit Macht Frei is Area at its most serious, and isn't casual listening. Just the perfect kind of debut for prog rock fans, and I'm one of them. Highly recommended.

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