Rockets
Plasteroid

Sunday, March 29, 2009, 11:08 AM, page 103 of teletext:

PDL, Berlusconi closes the congress, the people of freedom born in Rome.

Climate, Obama convenes forum April 27-28 and calls for a summit in Italy in July.

Fights among North Africans, TWO DEAD in incidents in Rome and Milan.

Australia GP, Button precedes Barrichello in Melbourne domination of Brown GP (Ferrari KO note).

Soccer, Italy wins in Montenegro.

As of tonight, daylight saving time is back.

Scrolling through this "front page," many sad considerations sadly surfaced in my mind, further saddening an already gloomy Sunday.

Gentlemen, there are no Saints!!! We talk, talk, talk, babble; agreements, unions, filibusters from the right, center, left, I don't know from where the heck! The results are always the same: Another TWO CHILDREN of despair are no longer with us.

They also have the nerve to baffle us with soccer that couldn't be more corrupted!

Sorry for the lengthy preamble, which I deemed necessary to make you understand how important music can be for everyone's life. A moment of escape from everything and everyone, from all the daily abuses and ugliness, the freedom to pair a record with every moment of existence, a private refuge where one can rejuvenate the spirit too often put to the test by events.

Almost forgot, two months ago I lost my job!!!

Music allows me to escape from an increasingly overwhelming harsh reality. On such a grim day for the aforementioned reasons, why not escape completely, maybe into space!

It was 1979 when the Rockets presented themselves in stores with their third studio album titled "Plasteroid," a work that confirmed the qualities of a capable band (also thanks to clever management/marketing strategies) to create a good following around them.

The album in question is fundamentally rock with faint bluesy tinges (at least that's the musical background of the band in my opinion), tendencies put "in timeout" to make room for plenty of electronics that at the time seemed futuristic. The result is, musically, not exhilarating but certainly pleasant. The most appreciable aspect of this album is the effort (albeit blatantly constructed "at the table") to offer something new, and in some episodes, one gets caught by the easy-listening music of "Plasteroid," for example in "Electric Delight" where the numerous electronic effects and the heavy use of synthesizers complete an effective rhythm section.

Or in "Astral World" and "If You Drive" where we find well-crafted electric guitar solos combined with extensive use of keyboards and "space" effects. Finally, there's "Anastasis," the classic instrumental track with dreamy melodies which, with electronics reigning, stamped their trademark on every album.

The voice is often electronically filtered to make the conventional singing in many choruses more intriguing. The themes are all space/fantasy-oriented.

In short, I challenge anyone not to tap at least a little to the rhythm of this honest "Plasteroid" that, with its simplicity, won't make you gasp but will simply give you half an hour of carefree good company.

P.S. I apologize to the editors for the poor quality of the cover scan sent, but, from a record, I couldn't do more.