Area/Demetrio Stratos: C or D

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A long overdue thread for one of the greats:

http://web.tiscali.it/area/areindx.htm

Classic all the way.

― Joe (Joe), Sunday, 9 May 2004 21:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Of course classic, all the way until Stratos died. Faves are Caution Radiation Area and Crac!. wrote

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 10 May 2004 00:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Great review Dominique!

(What inspired this thread): I did a 10K in Narragansett yesterday, and put together a mixed CD to listen to while doing the course. First up to bat on the CD: the title track to Arbeit Macht Frei. First time I've really listened to it in a long time, but divine...especially after having to suffer through the MC of the event blaring a live version of Jimmy Buffett doing "Margaritaville" right before.

I've been blessed lately with a lot of stuff from the Akarma label falling into my lap. A few months ago, I found the 1979 Demetrio Stratos Tribute concert on CD for $3 (an interesting gathering), and just a few days ago I found a 4CD boxset for Opus Avantra/Donna del Monica for $13 (Amazon lists it for $68). Love how huge/faithful Akarma's 'mini-LP' CD reproductions are.

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 10 May 2004 01:31 (nineteen years ago) link

I've heard Akarma isn't exactly the most trustworthy label ever, but they certainly have great taste in packaging. I don't know if you have that Revolution box, but my only real complaint is that I can hear faint vinyl noise on parts of the albums. It seems strange that a band like Area wouldn't have original masters available to do reissues - again, I wonder how 'legit' Akarma really is.

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 10 May 2004 01:57 (nineteen years ago) link

The other Akarma titles I've mentioned above I suspect are vinyl transfers, so I doubt they are entirely legit, too (same as Spalax and other labels).

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 10 May 2004 02:12 (nineteen years ago) link

the only two I have are Radiation and Metrodora, the latter of which I particularly love to bits.

― (Jon L), Monday, 10 May 2004 09:52 (nineteen years ago) link

I have Metrodora as well. It's the feel-good hit of the summer! :)

― Joe (Joe), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:06 (nineteen years ago) link

i downloaded the most of their albums at one point. wanted to like them, and i suppose i did, but i haven't listened to them much since. i guess i was expecting them to be way more freaked out than they were, especially in the vocal department.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Monday, 10 May 2004 10:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Hey Dominique,

There's a thread about this on PE right now...seems the Akarma box IS a bootleg, '24-bit' or not. A shame (especially since the packaging is so cool!).

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 23:52 (nineteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

Does anybody know much about the sound quality on releaases of their material? Just wondering how the 2002 Edel versions compare to the 2009 cramps digipacks?
Also seeing the Edel listed as copy protected which presumably means i'd have trouble sticking them on my walkman.

Also how do people rate the various lps?
I have the late 80s version of Caution Radiation Area which sounds pretty weird despite the low volume and not perfect sound. Did they get straighter from that point forward? Is it better to start earlier if you want weirder and only get the later stuff once you've got into that or are they all great?

― Stevolende, Thursday, 3 May 2012 22:14 (eleven years ago) link

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