CCCP - Fedeli alla linea
Affinità - Divergenze tra il Compagno Togliatti e Noi

Some say and think that CCCP Fedeli alla Linea is the greatest Italian rock band of all time and that their first LP "Affinità-Divergenze Fra Il Compagno Togliatti e Noi Del Conseguimento Della Maggiore Età" is their highest expression and one of the greatest expressions of Italian rock (and not only rock) of all time. I am not in a position to confidently endorse and verify these theses, but that we are facing the only real band to boast and proudly defend in front of foreign giants, this I can affirm.

Back in '86, after the usual series of EPs and independent collections, the release of this first true album by the Emilian band founded and led by guitarist Massimo Zamboni and especially by the legendary frontman/lyricist/shaman Giovanni Lindo Ferretti finally arrives: a former psychiatric operator and political activist aligned with the far-left extra-parliamentary group Lotta Continua.

Sparing further historical notes, let's delve immediately into the details of this LP proposal and this music defined by the band as "philosoviet punk" and "Italian melodic music". From the very beginning, it's clear that there's actually nothing melodic at all, at least with the first eponymous track "CCCP": a pure fast-paced punk rock that starts with a bass intro before laying down granite riffs in 2 minutes and 21 and channeling all the singer's momentum with slogans and references to Soviet culture like "CCCP" "Pravda" "KGB" "SSSR", even in an ironic and critical vein "Faithful to the line even when it's not there/Faithful to the line the line isn't there".

"Curami", the second delirious track, immediately becomes one of the band's absolute anthems, with xylophone and electronic drums in addition to classic "Zambonian" riffs providing the leader with the opportunity to sing about alienation and invoke rescue, "just a therapy" the final ordeal.

"Mi Ami?" should be the pseudo-love song, but it turns out to be almost lobotomized love: "An erection, a sad erection for a bothersome coitus, for a modest coitus/ Indifferent sperm for indigestible swallows/ I await the hallucinatory extreme solution". Musically it starts with a light riff but then explodes into the usual burst of fast riffs, another great anthem of the band. "Trafitto" also starts with a slow riff introduced by an acoustic guitar, but it doesn't speed up and stays on that slowness which, however, does not detract from the song's value.

"Valium Tavor Serenase" is one of the absolute gems of the album and the band: it's a real hardcore almost in Negazione style if it weren't for the singing which is violent but not screamed and exasperated like theirs. In a mere minute and 18, Ferretti sings about the substances named as calmatives and antidepressants (remind you of someone?) probably referring to his past as a psychiatric operator, but what is truly exciting is the fantastic citation of "Romagna (Emilia) Mia". A rock group mocking the popular Italian song in this manner is absolutely fantastic and hilarious.

"Morire" is another great anthem: another slow start with an acoustic riff that at times even reminds of "To Live Is To Die" by Metallica before picking up the pace and exploding into the umpteenth great text, perhaps the most beautiful of all, singing about the alienation of 80s society: "I don't know about your good intentions because they don't concern me/There exists a defeat akin to being corroded/Which I didn't choose but is of the era I live in". "Death is unbearable for those who can't live/Death is unbearable for those who shouldn't live", however, is a great dark anthem, but the best comes with the absolute curse of 80s society: "Produce Consume Die/Bust yourself get high die/Tease your hair fill yourself with studs bore yourself shave your hair rip die(!)".

"Noia", although it doesn't return to the initial speed and aggressiveness, notably hardens compared to the last 2 with an intro reminiscent of"We Will Rock You", effectively singing about lobotomy again and perhaps revealing itself to be the least impactful text-wise of the lot, musically, however, it is once again impeccable.

The grand "Io Sto Bene" instead is the quintessential lobotomized song as it contains yet another anthem, one of the most incisive: "I don't study I don't work I don't watch TV I don't go to the cinema I don't do sports", preceded by that "I feel good I feel bad I don't know where to stay/ I feel good I feel bad I don't know what to do" which more or less will be echoed by Bluvertigo in "L'asenzio"

The last 2 are the longest songs: the over 5 minutes of "Allarme" start with Umberto Negri's bass (which is very present in all the tracks) and with unprecedented tango sounds before continuing into a great rock with lyrics culminating in that "Everything dies, the only thing that lives is you/ Everything dies, only you live" that indeed seems stolen from Mr. Smith's notebook.

We reach what is perhaps the anthem of anthems, the most famous and defining song of the band: "Emilia Paranoica" with the bass intro reminiscent of the future "Black Moon" by Emerson Lake & Palmer, proving the great influence the band will have abroad as well. The song is a worthy closure of an epochal album, a stunning piece almost 8 minutes long still in the vein of pure rock that extols an Emilia different from the clichés, a dark gloomy Emilia an ideal haven for junkies and the alienated "I wait for an ever more indefinable emotion" the symbolic phrase. In short, the long summary and definitive manifesto of the record.

Ultimately, an epochal album, I don't know if it really is the "greatest Italian rock album", but one thing is certain: it is an album that has mixed different influences in an absolutely unique and original way, punk, proto-punk, post-punk, rock, new wave, and electronic suggestions; lyrics that are both paradoxical and ironic but also cultured, intelligent, angry, paranoid, alienated, entertaining, and simply... beautiful. An album perhaps not repeated in subsequent years but certainly unrepeatable given the times today and the unrepeatability of a band like CCCP. And that's all I've said.