Massimo Zamboni, guitarist of CCCP Fedeli alla Linea, and his bandmates have resurfaced after nearly two decades with a reunion in 2024. While they haven't released new compositions, they've offered fans the ultimate live experience following an exhibition in Reggio Emilia, albeit at a premium price.
CCCP Fedeli alla Linea, though perhaps not the most innovative post-punk band in Italy (a title arguably belonging to Gaznevada), was undoubtedly the most captivating to audiences. Their references to Cold War-era Communism in the Western world positioned them as the quintessential anti-establishment voice for many young people.
The album under review, "Altro Che Nuovo Nuovo" (Universal, 2024), captures CCCP's first public live performance from 1983 in Reggio Emilia. This release offers several intriguing aspects: it features a live drummer instead of the drum machine that would later become their signature sound, and includes previously unreleased material, such as a cover of D.A.F.'s "Kebab Träume," the unheard tracks "Onde" and "Sexy Soviet," and early versions of songs that would be reworked in later years.
While the live drums occasionally struggle to keep pace with the guitar lines, explaining the band's future shift to electronic percussions, these imperfections don't significantly detract from the listening experience.
CCCP Fedeli alla Linea has faced criticism for prioritizing financial gain over artistic principles, evidenced by high reunion ticket prices and their signing with a multinational label in 1986. This situation draws parallels to Joe Strummer's experience with The Clash, though Italy lacked an alternative like Crass.
Unlike Strummer, CCCP's lead singer Giovanni Lindo Ferretti has, in recent years, embraced Christianity and adopted a stance reminiscent of Morrissey. However, it's important to note that CCCP's early works, particularly their first two EPs ("Ortodossia I" and "II") and debut album ("Affinità/Divergenze"), provide an authentic snapshot of Italy's counterculture during that era.
With CCCP's entire discography now reissued and remastered, "Altro Che Nuovo Nuovo" serves as an excellent entry point for post-punk enthusiasts looking to explore scenes beyond the US and UK. This live album offers a glimpse into a past that continues to resonate, as evidenced by the current resurgence of post-punk bands, underscoring CCCP's enduring influence.
Fontaines D.C.'s fourth album, "Romance," marks a triumphant evolution for the Irish post-punk band. Released under XL Recordings, this record stands as potentially their finest work to date, showcasing them at the peak of their creative powers.
Initially, one might draw parallels to Idles' recent release "Tangk" (Partisan Records, 2024). Both albums explore themes of love—an atypical subject for post-punk groups historically rooted in social critique. However, "Romance" transcends simple comparisons, carving its own distinct path.
What sets "Romance" apart is its ambitious sonic palette. The band ventures beyond their usual instrumentation, incorporating piano, Mellotron, Minimoog and Ring Modulators. These elements, combined with collaborations featuring a string quartet on tracks like "Desire," "In The Modern World," "Starbuster," and "Horseness Is the Whatness," create a rich, textured soundscape.
Producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Depeche Mode) lends his expertise, resulting in complex arrangements that elevate the album. The influence of classic British pop and even The Beatles can be heard, pushing Fontaines D.C. into new territory while maintaining their core identity.
While love is a central theme, "Romance" offers more than simple ballads. "Starbuster," the lead single, delves into the experience of panic attacks. The album also serves as a tribute to recently departed Irish music icons Sinéad O'Connor and Shane MacGowan, acknowledging artists who embodied punk's spirit of authenticity and defiance.
What's remarkable about "Romance" is how organic this transformation feels. Rather than a calculated move to avoid criticism of stagnation, the album radiates with genuine artistic growth. The band's commitment to their craft is evident in every track, resulting in one of the year's most captivating listening experiences.
"Romance" represents a significant milestone in Fontaines D.C.'s career. It demonstrates their ability to push boundaries while staying true to their ethos. The album's booklet photos capture a band revelling in their artistic journey, mirroring the listener's enjoyment. With this release, Fontaines D.C. have not only created their best work to date but have also laid an exciting foundation for future musical explorations.
A return to spirituality in jazz was clearly tangible since Eric Mingus, Charles’ son, released a record titled "Too Many Bullets, Not Enough Souls” (2002 Some Records, re-released in 2021 by Zoar Records). The collaborator of Elliott Sharp (who also produced this album), Hal Willner, Karen Mantler and many others, was clearly pointing out what we were missing at that point in history.
The duty of a spiritual jazz, or of a spiritual crossover between genres, was taken more recently on the shoulder of musicians such the late great Jaimie Branch and of Kamasi Washington, that few months ago released this interesting LP titled “Fearless Movement” (2024, Young). The album opens with an invocation to God both in English and in an ancient Ethiopian language. But it’s the tone of Washington saxophone that sometimes makes you think of a spiritual musician such as Pharoah Sanders.
Clearly Kamasi Washington is not a copycat, his style is evidently his own, but there is something in his attempts to launch ‘that’ cry over the obstacles that in a way reminds us of John Coltrane’s pupil, exactly as the beginning of this record can remind us of many Coltrane’s moments on records such as the beginning of Om, or of Kulu Sé Mama. And even if Washington’s eloquence on saxophone is more linear than Sanders’, nonetheless his approach is similar, being a clear spiritual invocation.
“Lesanu”, the first track on the album, is clearly devoted to the Aethiopian music of Getatchew Mekurya, Mulatu Astatké and similar masters of ethio-jazz. Sometimes featuring horns speaking in tongues, sometimes featuring keyboard passages or tenor solos, the piece is possibly a prayer, an attempt to create a ‘new song’ for God and so it is a manifesto, as if Kamasi Washington were saying is music is ‘new music’, a new mix between jazz, hip hop, soul, and music to dance with, more than an intellectual experience. Anyway, we’ll see.
In an interview Washington recalled his aunt who was babysitting him and his brother making them dance, and if this is the idea underlying all the album, another recollection from the childhood is the second track “Asha The First”, whose melody was created by Washington’s daughter while experimenting at the piano. The little girl is present also on the cover of the album along with his dad. The song is immersed in a 1970s atmosphere but featuring singing and rapping by Thundercat, Taj and Ras Austin, and a beautiful electric bass solo that is an homage possibly to Stanley Clarke.
And if “Computer Love” is a cover of the soul combo The Zapp, from their fourth album “The New Zapp IV U”, “The Visionary” is a less common group improvisation just before “Get Lit”, a mid-tempo featuring the soulful voice of George Clinton and that of a younger but incisive D Smoke. “Dream State”, featuring André 3000 on flutes, has this short psychedelic intro before a small alto saxophone solo who introduces the song with a gentle touch. Washington shows us his expressive ductility at alto before the drums start signing the temperature of this song, calm but decidedly syncopated.
Finally, “Together” and “The Garden Path” close the first LP with an intriguing ballad with BJ The Chicago Kid at the voice and a hymn full of wah-wah guitars, choirs, and horn solos. At this point one might wonder about his own experience as a listener before passing to the second LP, even because the music is full of references to the past decades of the African-American music history, and you can also ask yourself if it all has a value nowadays in this returning. Obviously Kamasi Washington, his octet and entourage are searching for a commercial affirmation but there’s something original in this music or it is only a good summary of the past glories?
I know it is a strange question nowadays that everything of value has a strong tie with the past, but obviously we want to understand if what we’re listening to is in a way a small step ahead or if it is a mere reproduction of the past. Maybe the second LP can be of help for us? Let’s give it a try. “Interstellar Peace”, with its almost Coltrane-inspired title, is another piano melody with the horns creating a small hymnodic and melancholic choir before some trumpet and saxophone intense solos.
Then it’s time for “Road To Self (KO)”, with his almost minimalistic keyboards intro before a piano melody surrounded by the horns, while the drums depict a circular rhythm, leaving us with the feeling that this is not a record of solos emerging from a given structure, as in (too?) many jazz records, but an attempt to create a sonic landscape full of different meanings. One can appreciate pieces like this more than the others, as it happens to the writer of this review, but that’s it.
“Lines in the Sand” is another ballad where you can appreciate both the foreground and the background, the vocal melody and the horns’ countermelody, in a quiet atmosphere, with only one question in mind: what if these pieces were shorter and less complicated by solos? In a way, if I remember well, Albert Ayler’s “New Grass” was an album containing pieces from 3 to 5 minutes, and it worked well even if it was accused to be a commercial album.
Sometimes longer structures, like pieces of 12 minutes, aren’t paying well if they’re not able to convey tensions and releases in an intriguing way. Being too much redundant is the defect I can find in this music. Things go a little worse with the last “Prologue”, an homage to a beautiful melody by Astor Piazzolla where you can listen to all the weaknesses of the arrangements by Kamasi Washington.
In this piece you can find that ‘Seventies touch’ as something little bit out of time. This effect is propagating during the listening to all the album. But there is a sincerity in the music of Washington that is something I want to save. So in the end, all we can do is waiting for future releases and hope in a more contemporaneity of arrangements and of inspiration.
Spirituality is good, and since I’m reading Sun Ra biography by John F. Szwed in these days I can say it’s also something that has precious roots, but it must become a personal quest, otherwise the risk is that of following the leaders’ principles instead of becoming truly yourself. And what can be applied to spirituality, can also be applied to music. Washington is a musician coming from a noble tradition and with a personal touch as an instrumentalist, but he needs to rejuvenate some arrangements and/or become less verbose.
For the moment this album is something worth listening, as it is also last year output by Jaimie Branch “Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die (Word War)” (International Anthem, 2023), but everyone has to understand that the sound of music defines an era, and we can’t really take back the past in the present times. We have to move forward, defining this era with music for our times. This is unluckily not what happens with this album, and it’s a pity because the source of inspiration is original, and the musicians involved are great. But being contemporaneous, for an artist, is not optional.
