Area - Arbeit Macht Frei (1973)

Area - Arbeit Macht Frei (1973)

Album: Area - Arbeit Macht Frei
Released: 1973
Styles: Prog-, Art-, Jazz-Rock
Group Biography: AMG
Edel CRSCD 001

Debut progressive jazz rock album from Italy released in 1973. Area were one of the most important Italian groups and their uncompromising style combines Greek and Turkish music with Soft Machine and flashes of Gong, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Magma and Egg. The insane vocal acrobatics of Greek borne Demetrio Stratos are totally unique.. - Album Description

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are entering the "almost" non plus ultra of progressive music, whatever subgenre you want to addres to this 70's italian band. Ok, I must admit I"m italian and so I may sound not too objective to review this album, but as a matter of fact whoever will listen to this album will be amazed and left speechless. For those who are a bit familiar with the political and social situation in Italy during the 70's, it will be quite easy to recognize the incredible political background in the lyrics of "Arbeit Macht Frei", ironic title taken from the well known Nazi motif, "the work makes you free". And this is one of the unique peculiarities of Area, the ability to match the sperimentalization of complicated music with very intense and profund lyrics. In fact, Demetrio Stratos was first of all an all-around artist, a sperimentalist of the voice, as you could appreciate in his solo album "Cantare La Voce". And behind him but not least, a group of musicians who will undoubtedly influence many generations. What is phenomenal is the rhytmic section, in which we can hear the bass lines modelled along a sometimes walking bass-like pattern and some other times more funky and "groovy", if you let me this adjective. My favourite song is Luglio, Agosto Settembre (Nero), a music manifesto of what my country was on those years, seen thorugh the eyes of these 5 superb and crystally innovative musicians; yet, it's just a question of emotional impact, because the rest of the album must be present in your discography, as well as The Dark Side Of The Moon or In the Court of the Crimson King or Foxtrot, and I'm not joking, as you will experience after listening to it...
...From the first Arab prayer words to the the last note , everything in this album spells classic! It certainly is a very influential album not only for Italian groups ( bands such as Deus Ex machina owe a lot to Area) but also for RIO. Although Area is one of the prominent group thought of when RIO is mentioned , this album is not yet in that style but more to do with Canterbury style music.
Led by Grek-born Stratos, Area were very left wing politics and the title of this album is a denonciation of the Nazi slogan (translates into "work sets you free") written on the gate of the extermination camps! This title track is absolutely stunning veering often in Free style improv at the start before settling in its jazz-rock groove. All tiltes are strong but the real highlight IMHO is the closer Abbatimento dello Zeppelin. A lot of the ambiances will remind you of Canterbury classic bands but none exactly pin-pointed. Just one hint, some of the more inventful moments will remind you of Soft Machine but more in the Hugh Hoppe- mode tunes than in the Ratledge-Jenkins mode.
Very much a classic and highly influential! - AREA Arbeit Macht Frei reviews@ProgArchives.com

Area is one of the best-known Italian prog-rock bands and perhaps the lead group in Italy during the Seventies...
As opposed to other famous Italian prog bands, Area hasn't had any influence by the English bands of that period, but I think in some cases their music is more similar to Return To Forever and sometimes is very hard to listen to... - PROGRESSIVEWORLD.NET

One of the most unique bands ever. Riveting ultra-high energy schizophrenic jazz-rock fronted by the operatic vocals of Demitrios Stratos. The band's Instrumentation was guitar, bass, drums and keys with trombone, bass clarinet and flute. There are five albums I know of: Arbeit Macht Frei, Caution Radiation Area, Crac!, Areazione, and Maledetti.... Probably not recommended for the Marillion/Alan Parsons crowd...
...One of the really interesting bands from the '70s. Briefly: They sound like a mix of Balkan music, Weather Report, Cecil Taylor and King Crimson. Technically they are on the same level. Their records are as different as King Crimson's, so do not give up if you dont like the first one you hear. The singer, Demetrio Stratos (unfortunately dead now), has a powerful, overwelming voice. He experiments with all the sound possibilities of a voice, and also with more than one tone at the time...
...An inventive Italian jazz rock fusion band. Their first 4 albums are classics of inventive Italian jazz rock fusion featuring the stupendous vocalist Demetrio Stratos who may have been one of the most unique singers in history. Stratos unfortunately passed away so many years ago... - New Gibraltar Encyclopedia Of Progressive Rock

Area's formula on their early material: glass-breaking operatic lead tenor belting didactic Italian lyrics of Marx-ian determinism over furious jazz fusion with Arabesque tinges...
This is how such "PROGRESSIVE JAZZ" should have to be, while as usual the performance regarding the vocalist of the best vocalists, Demetrio Stratos ,is always unforgettable...highly recommended!!. - Reviews and Ratings for Arbeit Macht Frei -- Area [ITL] -- Rate Your Music

Listening today to ARBEIT MACHT FREI by AREA, issued in the new historic year 1973, it is more a dive into the living, breathing present rather than to dip into the past.Obviously, this does not necessarily signify a defense of the Nineties, mediocre and formless they are, contrasting with the far more complex and startling Seventies.On the contrary, it simply aims to state that not a single one of the component sections of this record sounds dated and/ or nostalgic.Firstly, THE SLEEVE: visibly Dadaist on the outside with its key-shaped puppet and a large Yale padlock, inside is a visionary photo-spread, extremely relevant today: the five AREA members are posed alongside each other between the "logo" from the Nazi concentration camps (work is freedom) and a Palestinian "kefiah" wrapped around the head of Giulio Capiozzo, between the Communist hammer and sickle and the figure of a flying angel, typical Christian emblem.
Then THE MUSIC: admirable in its ability to appear as an indivisible UNICUM, a profound mixture of "composition" and "improvisation",first and great example in Italy of WORLD MUSIC blending the best in rock and jazz with a touch of "Mediterranean folk music"and some extremely advanced para-Cagean contemporary styles.AREA wished to credit themselves from the outset in the eyes of their public is fully legitimate:INTERNATIONAL POPULAR GROUP.
As if to say that the "moods" of making music would have nothing to do with any remnant of nationalist feeling, any refuge of parrochial attitudes.
And finally THE INTERPRETATION: AREA can't leave the extra-voice of DEMETRIO STRATOS apart, showing, here at once, all his phonic equilibria.During those years (and still nowadays), many people found his voice excessively virtuoso bearing no resemblance to the pedantic style that has always made the fortune of every "pop singer" worthy of the name.Let us repeat: they totally ignored an incontestable fact: without Demetrio's contribution, the "pop vox" would still be rooted, at least in Italy, in the classical modulations of the singer-songwriter.In reality, listening again after so many years to A.M.F., I can safely assert that I very much miss the unique quality of Stratos' voice. In the same way, as I miss his artist's honesty, the pureness of his work, the solitude of his personal way never coming to compromises with the "establishment".
Thanks to him we have discovered the real meaning of pop music: not only good vibrations or feeling groovy, it also consists of seeking for one's own "IN SE" and of deliberate perception of contradiction.(Cfr.Roberto GATTI)

Demetrio Statos - Vocals, Organ
Patrick Djivas - Bass
Patrizio Fariselli - Keyboards
Gianpaolo Tofani - Guitars
Giulio Capiozzo - Drums, Percussio

Tracklist:

1. Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (Nero) - 4:27
2. Arbeit Macht Frei - 7:56
3. Consapevolezza - 6:06
4. Le Labbra Del Tempo - 6:00
5. 240 Chilometri Da Smirne - 5:10
6. L'Abbattimento Dello Zeppelin - 6:45