★Btf - VM - AMS - GDR
Sensation's Fix
A monster rarity finally reissued: this is the very first album from Sensations' Fix - and together with "Portable Madness" and "Fragments of Light" one of the three titles published in 1974, a collection of psychedelic compositions, in which glimpses of 'cosmic' music can already be noticed; those elements would soon become a trademark in the group's repertoire. The twelve compositions present here were part of demos that Franco Falsini had sold to the record company, which decided to publish …
Portable Madness
Listening today to the music produced by Sensations' Fix, a project founded and directed by Franco Falsini in '70s, can't just leave anyone indifferent. Already in the mid-'60s, Falsini was full-time involved in musical activities: a tireless traveler and experimenter, an artist with uncommon curiosity and intuition, after having lived for some time in the United States and England, he finally established again in Italy where he gave shape to Sensations' Fix and signed a contract with Polydor fo…
Carnascialia
Special Price. A litlle known but excellent Italian album originally published at the end of the 70s, a few months before Demetrio Stratos’ death, which was honored by the same musicians in the famous concert in his memory at the Parco Lambro in Milan. Although the heyday of Italian progressive rock was already long gone, with this LP Carnascialia demonstrated that it was still possible to make music far from the new trends imposed in the late ‘70s. A unique work, combining world music, folk and…
A Venezia Un Dicembre Rosso Shocking
Pino Donaggio is one of the great Italian composers often forgotten or obscured by more high-sounding names. Yet, along with names such as Umiliani, Piccioni, Rota, Rustichelli, he deserves a place of honor alongside the Master that the whole world envies us: Ennio Morricone.
A singer-songwriter of a notable fame in the ‘60s, he becames a soundtracks composer by pure chance when, at the beginning of the ’70s, while walking in front of the Venice station one morning he was noticed by a pr…
Un Esercito di 5 Uomini
“Un esercito di 5 uomini” (The Five Men Army) is a western movie directed by Italo Zingarelli in 1969, dating back to the golden age of the so-called Italian ‘spagetti western’ genre; among the protagonists we find a Bud Spencer whose popularity would have dramatically increase only the following year, thanks to the legendary “Lo chiamavano Trinità…”.
The soundtrack has been composed by Ennio Morricone and directed by his historic companion Bruno Nicolai, and sees the participation of I …
Appunti Per Un'Idea Fissa
** 2024 Repress, Yellow Vinyl **The Capsicum Red were a group of Italian progressive rock formed in 1970. The name Capsicum Red was chosen by the producer Pino Massara when he discovered Canzian, singer and guitarist of the Prototypes, and took him to the new label Bla Bla in 1970. To attract the interest of the press, the Capsicum Red were presented as a foreign group, and this caused some success for the first two 45 rpm. The group disbanded in 1973, when Red Canzian went for a short time in O…
1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano
1978 Gli dei se ne vanno, gli arrabbiati restano! ("The gods depart, the angry remain!") is the sixth album of the Jazz fusion band Area and was released in 1978, as the title says. It is the first album without guitarist Paolo Tofani, and it is also the first album whose lyrics were not written by Gianni Sassi. Also, noticeably it is the only album in which Demetrio Stratos is credited as a composer.Area has stripped their sound a bit. Not drastically, but the experimental, avant-garde and fusi…
Il Mio Nome è Nessuno
"Il mio nome è Nessuno" (My name is Nobody) is an atypical western, difficult to classify as it’s placed halfway between the founders of the genre of the '60s and the comedies of the following decade. Sponsored and partly directed by Sergio Leone, it came out in 1973 and received a great success, thanks to the presence of the actors Terence Hill and Henry Fonda, in a perfect balance between a light-hearted side and the more serious one proper of the 'spaghetti western' genre.
The other ele…
Questa specie d'amore
**special price, limited offer from the label**“Questa specie d’amore” is a 1972 movie by Alberto Bevilacqua, here in a dual role of writer and director, since the film is taken from his book by the same name. Two years after “La Califfa”, Bevilacqua confirmed Ugo Tognazzi as the main actor and Ennio Morricone as soundtrack composer. While the first one confirms himself as an exceptional protagonist, in the dual role of father and son, the second is not far behind, as the author of a beaut…
Le Due Stagioni della Vita
More than a halo of mystery surrounds "Le due stagioni della vita" (The two seasons of life), a film virtually impossible to find in any format, that we hardly know the names of its actors and director. The latter, Samy Pavel, of Belgian nationality but born in Egypt in 1944, debuted in 1972 precisely with this film, which was presented at the Venice International Film Festival in the same year.
The author of the soundtrack is Ennio Morricone, who was already a World famous composer in t…
Naus + Suan
"Suan" and "Naus", respectively published in 1972 and 1973, are the only two LP ever recorded by Neapolitan singer Armando Piazza; both see the participation of a very special guest, the American folk musician Shawn Phillips. Printed in limited quantities at the time on label B.B.B. (Beautiful Black Butterfly) and scarcely distributed, they went unnoticed for decades until a few years ago, when the recent interest in a certain type of music has lifted up the original editions prices, tran…
Come un Vecchio Incensiere all'Alba di un Villaggio Deserto
The Sorrenti brothers' musical careers, Jenny and Alan Sorrenti, have three elements in common at least: the unconventional use of the voice as an instrument, a wonderful debut album (respectively, the eponymous Saint Just's LP and "Aria") and the subsequent 'second album syndrome' that depicted their sophomore efforts as inferior to their predecessors, by an unfair and demeaning comparison. Sorrenti's voice and relatively sparse instrumental accompaniment are remarkable in how much they accompl…
La Casa Del Lago
"La casa del lago" came out just a year after Saint Just's eponymous debut album; in 1973 the band were a very special trio, consisting of Jenny Sorrenti (voice), Antonio Verde (guitar) and Robert Fix (saxophone). They had a contract with Harvest (as well as Jenny's brother Alan Sorrenti, who debuted with "Aria" the previous year), and managed to stand out in the vast Italian pop scene of the early '70s.Unlike many other musical realities, they had a concrete support from the record label…
Aria
A very important artist from Naples, Alan Sorrenti released his first album in 1972 on the legendary Harvest label. Aria is an absolute Italian prog classic, with two different sides: the first only contained the long title track, a dreamy psych-suite starting with acoustic guitar and based on the marvelous instrument-like voice of Sorrenti, and exploding in the final part with a memorable violin solo by Jean Luc Ponty. Side 2 was softer, with three tracks, two of which also appeared on …
Terra In Bocca
This is an absolute treat! A very important, outwardly "weird and wild" work as some of the 73-74 period Italian albums would become, "Terra in bocca" is a sort of rock-opera concept album, basically consisting of two long suites, each occupying an entire side of the LP. Full of tension from the first to the last moment and beautifully produced, this record had everything it takes to make I Giganti rise above the crowded Italian pop scene of the early '70s, but the subject chosen as concept - th…
Tepepa
Although this wasn't directed by but Sergio Leone, but by the less known Giulio Petroni, "Tepepa" is one of the best films in the spaghetti western genre, thanks to a perfect synopsis - even if as set in the 'abused' Mexican Revolution of the early '900 - to a trio of exceptional actors and, finally, to Ennio Morricone's soundtrack. The protagonists are in fact the immovable doctor John Steiner, the histrionic revolutionary Tomas Milian and the massive Colonel Orson Welles, a unique and p…
Tutto deve finire
A band from near Rome, Seconda Genesi, have become famous among prog fans for one of the rarest (and much looked after) Italian albums of the 70's, Tutto deve finire, released in 1972 in just 200 copies, all with different painted covers, that has finally achieved a vinyl reissue thirty years after its initial release.The album is very good, with nice flute, Hammond organ and guitar playing to the fore, starting with the impressive Ascoltarsi nascere with a stunning rhythm acceleration, a…
Free Love
"Free Love", the only LP ever released by Kaleidon, is one of the many 'forgotten ones' from the Italian progressive rock era. The title "Free Love" takes its name from the eponymous band, 3/5 of which were North American musicians living in Italy. Free Love released two 45rpm's in 1970; the first one, "Sandy / Temple of Stone", highlights the remarkable ability of each individual component, if we also consider their young age. The second single contains the theme of the movie western "Roy Colt …
Central Unit
Back together a few years ago, after a silence that lasted about 20 years, Central Unit were a unique case in the Italian scene of the ‘80s. Coming from Bologna and active during the years of the so-called 'post-new wave', the group did not take long to get noticed by the press and television, due to the release of the EP debut "Loving Machinery" and a self-titled LP. Since the beginning it was clear that Central Unit would not settle on the small Italian scene, given the internatio…