supersoul

The Levellers have always embarrassed me; on one hand, there’s admiration for a group of anarchists monitored by the police who traveled in a red and black bus, idolizing the Crass. On the other, their musical proposal felt like rehashed leftovers, as Azzo would say, between the Waterboys (but I’d also say the Pogues) and the Alarm. In short, originality wasn’t in their strings, folksy ballads that draw from the past, proletarian expropriations of battle songs from Irish folk. After all, didn't the great anarchist Proudhon say that property is theft? The fact is that other anarchists, like the Crass with their visceral punk of four chords played like a dog’s mess, grabbed you by the balls, as if to say, “You miserable bastard, can’t you see what a shithole you live in? Is it really a shit band that needs to open your eyes and tell you to fuck off those who exploit you?” Instead, the Levellers always seemed to me like those who wanted to tell you that it’s a shithole of a world, but let’s all dance in a circle to the lovely sound of the fiddle from days gone by. A few years ago, they even lent one of their songs (What a beautiful day) for a commercial for a brand of canned beans. Like hell the Crass would have done that! What do we want to do? Do they deserve a nice 1 for their consistency too? No way, as Joker explains to the uptight and clueless colonel in Full Metal Jacket who asks him why he has "born to kill" written on his helmet and the peace symbol on his uniform; the contradiction, as Jung taught us, is part of the human soul.

It’s not a matter of whether one likes Lovecraft in general; Bartleboom hits the mark. The same Lovecraft who had his golden period between '27 and '30 even believed he was no longer able to convey his feelings through writing, and the novel was rejected by the "weird" magazines of the time because it was deemed too slow and wordy. It’s clear that those who are passionate about Lovecraft consider him a gem for his descriptions that reach the full maturity of simple nature that becomes an elusive mystery. Lovecraft’s greatness lies in the hundred pages of "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," the autobiographical attempt of a man wanting to know, who sacrifices himself to affirm his intelligence. Is it a detective story? Fantasy? Horror? It has influenced more people in literature, cinema, and comics than any other tale.

Sorry mike76, but you insist on looking at the finger and not the moon. You mock (and this site seems full of clever opinionists, like in the Processo di Biscardi, who disdain the elementary Pistols) the Sex Pistols who in '77 played the three chords of "no fiiiuciooor," while maybe Krisma was already ahead. The fact is that if that idiot Rotten hadn’t sung "no fiiiuciooor," Arcieri might still have been the little poppet of the New Dada and wouldn't have gone to London, struck by punk, mediating it with his pop background to come out with pieces like the ones you mention with a pin on your cheek. And Strummer might still have been playing the pub rock of "Keys to your heart" with the 101'ers.

But that’s not true at all; for instance, I don’t remember this album at all, even though I really enjoy that crazy guy Cope as a solo artist. The fact that you write and speak well of it is an invitation to listen or re-listen, and personally, I needed your notes in that regard. I don’t think I’ve been on Debaser for very long; I think it’s been a year and a half, but I’ve never seen such a "low" period in terms of reviewers and commentators. Quite a few good ones have stopped writing or write much less—there used to be guys, I’ll name a few I remember, like Rooftrampler or Alphy86, who were good not only as reviewers but also as commentators, and they seem to have vanished as well. In the end, I think the majority of the site is much more interested in the hundredth review of Metallica or Dream Theater, where they might even have a few laughs throwing insults left and right. It seems to me that this is the current reality of the site, which seems to tolerate without problem the free-for-all of people wishing cancers and ulcers instead of talking about music (or cinema or books), and that isn’t nice nor does it do much honor to the site itself. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that really valid reviews, written not with the urgency to "appear" but to share, are recognized by the fifteen or so people you mentioned (and I think a few more :D), and it’s only for this "sharing" that I think it’s worth writing. Honestly, you (and the others) have my gratitude for doing this, and I hope you will continue.

Well done mike76, you really nailed it with number 42… try listening to a German band from 1972 with a name made up of three letters and an exclamation mark…

but I don't judge the musical group; I reflect on the fact that in our provincial lands, a young kid sees them with a pin in their mouth in 1979 and says they were ahead, but ahead of whom? Definitely not Matia Bazar. I find them quite likeable, but to pass them off, as it seems you want to do, among the creators of the international new wave seems like a truly crazy idea, even worse than the battleship Potemkin. At this point, it's only normal that someone comes out and says that Enrico Ruggeri's Decibel contributed to the creation of punk.

See Mike76, just a comment from a guy from '85 regarding their video of "Lola" from 1979 says: "the beautiful safety pin stuck next to Maurizio's mouth :D they were already ahead of their time!" Here we go, how can one disagree with a user from debaser who commented on a review of "Grace" that today in these virtual spaces to exalt Jeff Buckley, putting him on par with compositional geniuses like Cohen, Drake, and the same Tim, means distorting the reality of the facts.

Exactly, Mike, "Lucky Number" is from 1979, just a year before the hit "Many Kisses"... I think you missed the irony of my "connection"; I hope I've explained myself better now :)

@macaco and comnell, the beauty is that these have nothing to do with southern rock, and in truth not even with the blues, or the Kings of Leon or Howlin Rain.