AA. VV.
Freedom Of Choice

He drove me nuts for weeks, the other half of the two-headed (crazy and ungovernable) project united under the prestigious name Margahead, insisting, insisting, and insisting again without shame: «So, DeMa, are we going to write a few lines? You promised to do your part some time ago...».

Swearing to the heavens, saints, and madonnas as much as I could, I am therefore forced to emerge from the warm slumber I had plunged into, leaving free rein to the beast Genital Grinder.

I had to quickly and urgently (you can't imagine how much) set up the review of «Freedom Of Choice», a disc that made its appearance in the fall of 1992, precisely those marvelous nineties that we lived, me and the other one, in the first row from a musical standpoint: ten years that managed to gift a myriad of bands and genres that I still remember with absolute pleasure.

But I have digressed too much already, it's time to dive headfirst into «Freedom of Choice».

The subtitle «Yesterday’s New Wave Hits As Performed By Today’s Stars» says it all, or a lot, in other words, the radio hits of the eighties reinterpreted by the groups that were all the rage at the dawn of the nineties.

The album is produced by the newly born German label City Slang for a noble cause, and indeed the proceeds from sales are intended for associations in the United States that fight for women's right to free choice regarding abortion; from here comes the title of the collection, which is also a track by Devo. And if my memory serves me right, the sale price of the work was quite affordable, and someone got their hands on it back then for not even three thousand lire, finding it among the discount bins.

A sunny album, suitable for the season, for that matter: eighteen tracks are presented again, mostly in a manner faithful to the originals; to listen to by the sea, in the mountains, by the lake, at home, alone or with friends at some remote party. In short, listen to it whenever, wherever, and however you please, just make sure you listen to it, this is my mission!

Let it be known that there's a lot to smile and have fun about and certainly not to get bored with such sounds, as the two-headed (and four-horned, but let's make it two) entity Margahead attests with irrefutable certainty! With artwork that teases in approaching the album, and I won't say anything else regarding the girl's allure … and the vinyl collection behind her, saving myself in a corner kick. So much, so much healthy envy.

Ready? Go.

This is the best of the best, the one you can't afford to ignore.

It starts full throttle with the Sonic Youth who skillfully noise up «Ca Plane Pour Moi» by Plastic Bertrand: abrasive guitars in the background to those catchy choirs that filled the dance (or not) floors when dancing was an art, and it took monstrous tracks to fill the dance floor, just like «Ca Plane Pour Moi» was; a luminescent multicolored jewel, impossible not to place it first to declare every intent unequivocally.

There's no time to catch your breath because here come the Muffs with Kim Shattuck – fresh out of the partnership with Paula Pierce in the Pandoras – to color the wonderful «Rock’n’Roll Girl» with blazing guitar riffs in pure '77 style; and, unbelievably, there are people who got to know «Rock’n’Roll Girl», the Beat, Paul Collins and power pop this way. I've always said ignorance is a very bad beast, so «Freedom Of Choice» should be thanked every single day that comes to Earth just for introducing the naive to such delightful music that scrunches up ear lobes.

The third bomb arrives immediately, «How Much More» by the great Go Go's masterfully redone by Redd Kross. Guys, what a phenomenal band Redd Kross were, today we would say they played indie, but when they formed at the end of the seventies, playing indie was a terrifying and overflowing mix of garage, hard, and punk that shook the deepest guts; grappling with an astonishingly melodic song, Redd Kross cause havoc. Simply devastating, to be known and explored, no matter the cost.

And then it's the turn of the champions of the prevailing Seattle Sound: the Mudhoney render «Pump It Up» by Elvis Costello as only they can, rough and limping like that voice – what a voice – sandpaper or vitriol you decide, but the substance does not change a gram; the New Yorkers Das Damen grappling with the beautiful «The Wait», pulled out forcefully and with furious momentum from the Pretenders' debut, and it isn't missed one bit, and after all, what else could you expect from a band that collaborated in various ways with Thurston Moore, the folk from SST, Wayne Kramer, tell me if not this bone-crushing version of «The Wait»; and still Polvo, a math rock band when math rock wasn't even on the horizon and it would be reductive to call them seminal, grappling with «Mexican Radio», and I won't even tell you whose original it is, but listen to it once, ten, a hundred times and you'll derive more and more enjoyment; up to the epilogue with Superchunk who playfully savage «Girl U Want» by Devo with a punk, bit hardcore, bit power pop attitude that is both irreverent and energetic, in other words, a succinct but essential surge of pure adrenaline.

Maybe yes, not everything works perfectly, some episodes are dispensable, and I think particularly of the remake of «Five Foot One» by Iggy Pop; but if then, in the face of a couple of not-so-successful episodes, you find yourself rewarded with authentic explosions of genius like «Tainted Love» by the Finger, «Wuthering Heights» by the White Flag, and most of all and above all else a «Dreaming» by Yo La Tengo beautiful to tears … if you find yourself with all this, then it was truly worth the candle.

«Freedom Of Choice» is a beautiful album, the likes of which they don’t make anymore. Give it a listen, love yourselves.