CCCP
Compagni Cittadini Fratelli Partigiani

First LP from the Emilian band CCCP, "Compagni Cittadini Fratelli Partigiani" is an album that encapsulates the essence of post-78 Italian punk. Let's not forget that the band's "leader" Giovanni Lindo Ferretti was a militant in Lotta Continua. However, he has now converted to the pro-Christian right, perhaps due to existential crises following his recovery from a serious illness.

The album can certainly be categorized under the punk genre, with lyrics that are sometimes heavy, sometimes difficult to understand, and at other times light and highly digestible. "Militanz", the first track, is a typical example of a punk song: almost two minutes long, with fast-paced bass-guitar verses and choruses. The album is peppered with challenging themes like death, sex, politics, and religion: take "Morire", a true anthem to our sister death, but also a denunciation of the consumerist state: produce, consume, die. "Emilia Paranoica" is surely the most representative song of the then-current Italian punk: the opening bass intro is extraordinary, and Lindo Ferretti's voice is absolutely neurotic, especially in the song's final part. "Live in Punkow" sounds like a pogo anthem for the Soviet socialist republics: "I want to take refuge under the Warsaw Pact, I want a five-year plan, stability". The album continues with "Mi Ami?", a highly erotic if not pornographic song, here is the opening text:

"an erection, an erection, a sad erection

for an annoying coitus, for a modest coitus, for an annoying coitus

sperm sperm sperm sperm indifferent

for indigestible gulps, for indigestible gulps, for indigestible gulps."

The seventh gem is "spara Jurij" whose lyrics refer to an incident that occurred in September 1983, when Soviet fighters shot down a Korean airliner in Russian airspace, mistaking it for an American spy plane. Juirj Andropov, the then-secretary of the PCUS, is indeed the Jurij in the song (source: Wikipedia). The album closes with "Punk Islam", a strongly pro-Eastern song. In the music, you can hear an Eastern-influenced riff, befitting a belly dance, while in the lyrics, the straightforward, edgy, and ironic (?) phrase stands out: "Allah is great, Gaddafi is his prophet".

In essence, the album is an absolute must-listen for anyone who wants to claim they know the CCCP.