Wednesday 12 December 2012

Area - Crac ! (1975)



The third album from this Italian band. A band who is slowly getting a new fan in myself although the band is now disbanded and the vocalist has passed away if my memories serves me right.

Crac is a very playful jazz/fusion album which takes a lot of influences from the likes of Soft Machine, Gentle Giant, National Health, Mahavishnu Orchestra and the Italian symphonic prog scene. A scene Area was one of the leading bands in. The music is as you now understand not purely jazz or even fusion. It takes a lot from rock and classical music too.

Demetrio Stratos vocals are still well over the top. The bass is rampant and the drums is backing that up. The guitars, flutes, clarinets and keyboards delivers melody lines full of small intricate details. In the eight minutes long song Megalopoli, the band also has something of a hit song on their conscience. It is a superb song who elevates this album up a notch. The rest of the music is very good to great too.

In short; this is so far their best album and one album that fascinates me. Area is a band I really rate very highly now.

4 points

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