Skiantos
Signore Dei Dischi

Skiantos - Lord of the Records - 1993

Great rock tracks in this masterpiece album by Freak and the gang, with excellent sounds that only vaguely remind of the untamed and chaotic Skiantos of the late 70s. The production is finally wealthier, with a title track video on rotation on music video channels of the time, and the madness is contained:

there are the canonical references to the Sex Pistols (I despise you deeply), then a bit of Rolling Stones (Italiano terrone che amo ), a splash of the old Kinks from You really got me with Lamento di uno spacciatore; really beautiful and so sad despite the vague irony is the psychedelic garage of Nostalgia della miseria: how many of us have identified in those blurred memories of laundry hanging, Ovomaltina with milk. On Calpesta il paralitico there’s a confession about wanting to beat up a handicapped person that is mean and somehow truthful; how many haven’t secretly dreamed of it at least once. I fatti che contano is another Skiantos gem, sharp and prophetic: I miss money, the girls won't come, the gays get offended but what matters are the facts, The blacks increase, the fans that break, then the mothers cry but what matters are the facts What matters are the facts ..You didn't win, try again, about the scratch-and-win frenzy it is a rocknblues with an almost Gospel-like chorus, which I could well imagine as a counterpoint to the chorus of Shine on you by Pink F.

It's a record, as the Skiantos themselves say, that is "Courageous in tackling topics such as racism, drugs, diversity, maternalism, grievances, alienation and also in the attempt to propose dialogues against false pieties and fake solidarities".
There are also blues nursery rhymes (Non sopporto il capodanno, La bestia) and to conclude with a ritual recall sprinkled with dementia to the early Bowie of Space Oddity (La Fattanza, live)

Majestic is the blues prayer Lord of the Records that opens and gives the title to the album, with Ramones-style acceleration at the end: all vitellonic hopes of success in pop music, already started with the old track Io vi faccio un disco, are summarized in this magnificent song: I want to be on the charts, climb the hit parade...Lord of the Records, we need a miracle, as you did with Zucchero, can you try with us?

Unfortunately, the Lord of the Records, if he exists, protects other folks, indeed, he demands prayers and paid indulgences with CDs - few - and downloads - many, even taking bribes from the peer-to-peer sites, illegal due to government orders, but then they indulgently release everything and more. So here everyone is cashing in, right? Otherwise, you'd see how they'd turn off the taps.

And then how could the Lord of the Records and Madonna Siae maintain the tax haven for a few chosen gurus? Peertupeer-take yours, take theirs.

This record, also released on vinyl, cd, and cassette, deserved great success: all the ingredients were here, unfortunately today as then rock in Italy is forced to praise itself among friends, in self-referential niches to survive a bit. Who knows if Freak expected the hoped-for success in the top 10? The record even had the famous 80s tv tax mark, meaning the TV advertisement, which you, the listener, had to pay.... Today they seem like things from the Jurassic era, yet only 14 years have passed. I found it on sale at Standa, a year after its cassette release even: among a heap of tapes there was a little god with the cd in hand staring at me, I couldn't resist, it hypnotized me... It was worth it.

Valerio Rivoli