Album title: Arbeit macht frei
Artiste: Area
Nationality: Italian
Year: 1973
Subgenre: Rock Progressivo Italiano, though I would say more jazz fusion (ugh)
Player(s): Demetrio Stratos (Vocals, Organ, Steel Drum), Giampaolo Tofani (Guitars, Synth), Patrick Djivas (Bass)Guilio Capiozzo (Drums), Eddie Busnello (Sax), Patrizio Faraselli (Piano)
Familiarity: None at all
Favourite track(s): The whole thing to me seemed to come off as just one long jazz influenced piece.
Why? N/A
Least favourite track(s): N/A
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Trollheart had given it such a terrible review it left me intrigued to hear it, but before that I was intrigued, as I always like to indulge anyway into European bands.
Factoids you'd like to share? A noted highly socialist band....well it was trendy and cool back then.
End impression: A somewhat enjoyable experimental jazz effort with an Italian tinge to it and yes I'd listen to more material by this band.
Comments: This is one of those experimental albums that carries over elements of the 1960s experimental scene, it has a big druggy acid-psychedelic influence as well and I also hear the Canterbury scene in there too and these are all scenes that I really like and were well executed here. I wouldn't call this a classic album but I enjoyed the somewhat distinctive feel of the album and also the heavy jazz score (and I'm not really much of a jazz fan either) When he sung I thought Demetrio Stratos was actually very good and the album's experimental idiosyncrasies both in the vocals and music was quite refreshing as well, overall I'd say this was actually a very good album if the listener is keen on any of the above mentioned influences by me. To be honest I never noted the left-wing focus of the band here and maybe it's more obvious on their other material. Remember too that this was the early 1970s and violent communist revolutionary movements were very en-vogue especially in Italy with the Red Brigades and in Germany with the Baader-Meinhof Gang, so the band would've been very politically clued up as well.
Rating: 4.0 An enjoyable 30 odd minutes with an Italian identity