Area
Are(a)zione

THE REVIEW

It was a gloomy day. Even though I didn't feel like it, I had to go. Not keeping one's commitments is a typically bourgeois value. This time they were going to discuss an important topic at the social center. They were debating whether it was necessary or not to organize a demonstration against the fascist murderers who had killed one of ours some time before. I was in favor. We had to make our voices heard; those damn Nazis couldn't go unpunished. It was 4 PM.

Soon, Fabio was supposed to arrive at my house, and we would go to the meeting together. And indeed, shortly after, the doorbell rang. He entered and immediately told me that everything had been postponed to the next day. But my eyes had fixed on a 33 RPM record he was holding. I asked him what it was, and he said: “This is something you will envy for the rest of your life. Ladies and gentlemen – he said, posing as a street vendor to a rather small crowd -here is a pearl of inestimable value, retrieved at the cost of my life after enormous adventures. Turn your eyes to me: admire ARE(A)ZIONE by the Area”.
He showed the vinyl cover. I was speechless for a few seconds, then I found the strength to exclaim: ”Holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did you get it?” You must know that the only store in my town was owned by a man, also known as “Barbero the Smelly,” who had a reputation as an idiot because he took (and still takes) only 4 copies of every LP. So imagine the crowd outside the shop when news spread about the release of the first live “made in Area”.

The few lucky ones who got it flaunted it for months. At that time, the Area were legendary; almost like Che Guevara and Mao. They were the most politicized and experimental group in the entire Italian music scene. And moreover, they didn't give concerts sparingly. Anyway, back to me and Fabio. He replied: ”Let's say 10,000 lire fell on the Smelly's counter”. The fact remains that, after reminding him that corruption is a typically bourgeois value, we went to listen to it. Applause comes out from the record player, and immediately Luglio Agosto Settembre (Nero) starts. And Demetrio sings those verses that, by now, had been written on every wall of the occupied universities: "Playing with the world by tearing it to pieces. Children whom the sun has already aged”.
The song is faster than the studio version. Then Demetrio starts to talk to the audience, explaining the meaning of the next song (the story of an artist named Apple who, in 1920, hijacks a German ship to a Russian revolutionary port): The Apple of Odessa. One must remember when listening to the Area that all their lyrics are extremely cryptic. Otherwise, hearing the story of an apple that crosses the sea with a leaf, one might say they should have smoked less.

Chills ran down my spine when, after some kind of instrumental introduction/improvisation, the music stopped, and the sound of someone eating an apple was heard. Follows the usual demetrian introduction (how did I come up with that word) and the wonderful Cometa Rossa (text and melody of Greek inspiration). Too many masterpieces so far to hope to still be lucid and not intoxicated by such beauty. I needed something more challenging to recover.
And, as usual, Demetrio understood me and slipped in the instrumental unreleased track Area(a)zione. The song features many improvisations that, however, do not seem, at least in my opinion, excessively self-congratulatory. And then comes the best moment of the whole album: the International. Damn, I get chills every time I hear it. But they certainly couldn't just perform a generational anthem without a blow. And indeed, the song contains experiments with a vaguely psychedelic flair. As they play, it seems that a collective orgasm has seized the audience (and the Area themselves). After the International ends, the audience bursts into applause (you can hear them shouting “well done, well done..”). The mini LP is over.

Many things have changed since the '70s. People have died, dreams have shattered against harsh reality, many have sought refuge from their inner fragility in drugs. Some of those activists have turned into important journalists or switched to the opposite side (politically speaking). The political scene itself has changed completely.

Everything has changed, but the Area have remained.