CCCP - Fedeli alla linea
Canzoni Preghiere Danze Del II Millennio - Sezione Europa

It has been two years since the grand "Socialismo e Barbarie," the second album if we don't count the compilation "Compagni cittadini fratelli partigiani," the Cccp find themselves with the ideas they had already expressed two years earlier, but this time in an even more concise manner: the theme of the Middle Ages as the past but above all as the present and future.

A peculiar theme and of significant difficulty: we are in the 1980s, a bit like the Middle Ages of contemporary light and not-so-light music. It's not rhetoric. Here are the songs: the album opens with the 56 seconds of a bizarre live excerpt "Il testamento del capitano," the meaning of which perhaps approaches the fact that we are numerically at the fifth album, between EPs and official albums, "che lo ricopran di rose e fior"... practically useless track.
"Svegliami" is, however, very interesting, the masterpiece of the album, in its dreamy and epic atmosphere with Giovanni Lindo Ferretti offering a touching overview of the period, "Intanto Paolo VI non c'è più/È morto Berlinguer/Qualcuno ha l'AIDS/Qualcuno il PRE/Qualcuno è POST senza essere mai stato niente" and the desire to wake up in "this middle age."

The next "Huligani dangereux" is amusing in its rock and roll pace amidst subtle ironies "Comunista Italiana osa Annegata guada vorticosa/Aggiornata storia decorosa/Moderata rivoltosa." Again, the fear of returning to the "primitive uncontrollable," unfortunately now more present than ever, in "B.b.b.," unusual with its bluesy stride. "Fedeli alla Lira?" is instead a Surf-like track, which should have conquered the charts for its catchiness, full of irony and a lighthearted song dedicated to the love-hate relationship with money, the Lira: "E poi mi vuoi fedele a te… Ma tu cosa mi dai?".

Then "Roco Roco Rosso" returns to denunciation, anger, the desire to spit out direct words, although the sounds are no longer as sharp and fast as they once were, but now influenced by flamenco (perhaps for commercial reasons?)! Then the dances and prayers: it seems that music and technique prevail over the vocals, with one eye always on the East (as it was for the second part of Socialismo e Barbarie), and another on the nice rhythm and captivating melody, on occasions like "Le Qualità Della Danza" or in the percussive and tedious "è vero."
It sounds like listening to Litfiba in "Palestina" with those oriental-sounding keyboards. It continues with "Madre," a prayer to the Madonna, who also appears on the cover, again with plenty of keyboards, but very intense. The banality of "Conviene" begins to scare me... but luckily, we later have "And The Radio Plays," where the soul of the Clash takes over Ferretti and Co. in a reggae style and with finally fitting lyrics: "Come puttana fragile in cerca d'occasioni/So dove sta il delirio e trema il cuore" and once again, the theme I thought was lost among banality and appealing music: the middle age we live in and the resulting restlessness; "Tremo per un non so tremo per un non so/Tremo per un non so che si trova a volte a caso...".

Then the delirium, really unbearable of poor Danilo Fatur (defined as "artist of the people") in the horrible and disgusting "Vota Fatur," full of dance and electronics with lyrics so stupid that it can't get any worse. But what does it mean? Are the Cccp mocking us? Perhaps to underline the baseness of certain periods in human history, we need songs so ugly?
And then again, stupid and fake in its seriousness is "Reclame" from Annarella's voice, presenting "i suoi gioielli," practically who participated and the final thanks, with new age and ambient background music (or so...) that are truly disgusting. To the previous question, one cannot answer affirmatively.

This album is a mistake. They wanted to make it big (I'm not very sure) and they flopped. It's a blemish among their masterpieces, the last one being "Epica Etica Etnica Pathos," which will arrive just the following year as if to reaffirm the talent and creativity that were not lost but only overshadowed by a truly grand and original group, fond of traditions, the East, Emilia, and Italy.