Prozac+
3

Reviewing a Prozac record here on debaser seems like wearing a bear fur and wandering through the forests in the middle of hunting season. The two brave souls who preceded me with the Miodio record received a load of not exactly flattering comments. So much so that I confess that returning to talk about Prozac was not a "instinctive" decision. What should I do? Play it safe and write the 14th review of Iron Maiden’s "A Matter of Life and Death"? Or should I dive into Prozac?

Well, the decision has been made, and even though I'm a bit shaky, I'm going ahead to present you their third work dated 2000, which I consider the most successful, and with a title like Max Catalano, it couldn't have been anything other than "3". The album consists of 13 tracks, all short, as is their style and the punk-rock style (or pseudo something) they are inspired by, with the last track being a cover of The Cure, "Boys Don't Cry". Structurally the songs are very simple yet never trivial. The underlying characteristic is a very compact sound, with few but well-chosen riffs, the guitar/bass/drums trio moves like a Swiss clock, without a hitch, considering that the pace is always high. The sound is very clean, maybe too much for the genre, but I personally consider it a production choice, the intent is clearly to appeal to a broad audience.

The tracks follow one another without ever tiring, surprising for their capacity for synthesis. Everything is very catchy, light tracks wrapped in a hard shell, not a masterpiece but an absolutely decent record. The melodic lines are dutifully executed by Eva's voice, which has a good timbre and rhythm. Three tracks (including the cover) are sung by GianMaria, maybe just for protagonism, because he effectively adds nothing more to what his colleague has already done admirably. I deliberately leave out the lyrics, as there is not much to report, they are usually very concise, I admit that this is not their strong point. At this point, the question arises spontaneously: why do the Prozac appear so bad to the Debaserians? Undoubtedly prejudice reigns supreme.

1) One reason is surely attributable to their commercial breakthrough in '98 with the piece "Acido Acida", one of the lowest points touched by the band, but there you go, the paths of success are inscrutable… "Are they the Acido Acida ones? Bleah,!" Branded forever, with no possibility of appeal.

2) Consequently, a certain idiosyncrasy with everything that comes from punk rock and has the fortune to sell a few handfuls of records. As a rule, 5-star punk-rock bands must sell a maximum of 15 CDs; if they exceed that threshold, the nose inevitably wrinkles.

3) Their sound is appreciated by some teenager, so it can't be anything but junk.

4) They are Italian (Horrroooor), so they copy. The truth is always the same, if a band from Manchester is similar to another from London, they “draw inspiration or even are inspired”… if the band is instead from Pordenone… unfortunately… they “copy”. And what could there ever be to copy and milk from punk rock, already genetically bare?

5) They are actually lousy and I have cheese in my ears. Ah! Well, in that case..

Well now, having said that, it is far from my intention to have wanted to make an Apology of Prozac, I consider them a good Italian band, luckier than many others for having managed to emerge from the role of garage band and good at skillfully packaging a genre a bit hostile to the Italics' mass ears.

The album 3 deserves at least a listen. Good hunting…