Gaznevada
Sick Soundtrack

THE REVIEW

Unbelievable! Incredible! In ITALY between 1979 and 1981, there was a band of Bolognese aliens called Gaznevada capable of creating music so unheard for the pizzaland people that even today it's hard to believe they were truly Italian. These ingenious guys adopted improbable battle names (Bat Matic, Andy Nevada, Chainsaw Sally, E-Robert Squibb, and Billy Blade) and were authors of a sound that drew from the most “new” American wave (namely Residents, Devo, Talking Heads, Contortions, Tuxedomoon, Suicide, but also Cramps) yet presented with great personality in a style that could be defined surreal/comic-like (as suggested by the cover subtitle “The invincible guardians of world’s freedom”) with lyrics sung in English and/or Italian.

The essential first astonishing album “Sick Soundtrack” of 1980 has been recently reissued in a deluxe version including not only the excellent miniLP of the following year “Dressed To Kill,” but also the excellent single “Nevadagaz” (cold war phantasmnightmare), complete with b-side, and two rarities. Needless to say, it’s a true godsend since all these gems have been out of catalog and untraceable for at least two decades.

In this way, we can be left speechless listening to the futuristic-crazed punkabilly of “Walkytakin’,” “Now I Want To Kill You,” and “Antistatico Shock” (shock as an awakener of consciences), the Talking Heads imitation with a surprise ending of “Oil Tubes,” the sci-fi funk of “Pordenone Ufo Attack,” the delirious punk-funk of “Going Underground” where a dancing bass, metallic (?) drums, and a carnival sax coexist. Amusing is the 78-rpm cartoonish jingle of “A.Perkins,” and remarkable is the nocturnal reinterpretation of The Doors' “When The Music Is Over.”

It's rumored that our fellows were great even in live versions, but I, who at that time had not yet lost my milk teeth, can only look at the period photos and imagine them, perhaps in front of the over 5,000 curious who incredibly gathered to see the "Bologna Rock" mini-festival in '79 or two years later dressed as geishas sharing the stage with Bauhaus, DNA, and Chrome and receiving compliments from the latter. It’s a pity they were lost almost immediately; we needed them and their desire to astonish here in the boot, and instead after some arguments and the abandonment of the singer Andy the disaster happened: albumpopdance/festivalbar/domenicainpippobaudo/sanremorock and in the end, they lost their early fans without even making it big in the charts. What a real shame, but not everything has been lost, we have this record which, also thanks to recent revivals, seems current and perhaps represents the pinnacle of Italian new wave, perhaps the best Italian album of the '80s, and possibly the best made in Italy ever.