Stelle di Mario Schifano - Dedicato a... (remastered / mini-lp sleeve)

SKU 27-AMS 238
"Psychedelia, avant-garde, improvisation, underground. “Dedicato A…” (Dedicated to…) is without a single doubt a unique record, and it’s really surprising to know that its authors were Italian, from Rome, and that it was released in 1967, the same year of “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” and “Sgt. Pepper's”!

Mario Schifano was not a musician but a visionary exponent of Pop Art, a sort of Italian Andy Warhol, who wanted to integrate his work with a group, providing the psychedelics visuals in support of live performances. The meeting between Schifano and the four musicians then baptized “Le Stelle di…” (The stars of...) yielded a handful of live concerts, a 45rpm and this album: perhaps dated now, but at the time almost no-one in Italy had ever heard something like that, unless he had flown to England to soak up the atmosphere of the ‘Swingin' London’.

“Dedicated to...” opens with a long passage of nearly twenty minutes, an acid jam sessions, sometimes delirious, which gives an idea of the potential of the group on stage, while the second half of the work consists of five short songs, more rational but still in line with the overall sound. It was an isolated experiment, which had no equal in Italy in those years; printed in a handful of self-produced copies, with a ‘stellar’ artwork by the same Schifano, is one the rarest Italian LP of all times."

"Mario Schifano was a leading Italian pop artist, and a friend of The Rolling Stones and other prominent 1960s countercultural figures. Inspired by Andy Warhol's association with The Velvet Underground, in 1967 he decided to sponsor a band. The album that resulted combines a lengthy improvisation with five shorter, psychedelic-influenced tracks, and is a landmark in the development of Italian rock. Pressed in tiny quantities, it was released in November 1967 (with artwork designed by Schifano), and original copies have sold for thousands of Euros, making this long-awaited CD reissue especially welcome. Includes background notes." "The only (true) italian psychedelic album. The first track is one of the most experimental tour de force of those years (the early Pink Floyd meet Zappa and John Cage?)and a stunning, powerful piece of absurd music. Side 2 is much more traditional, but some songs (Susan Song, Molto Lontano) have delicate melodies and are superbly arranged."-rateyourmusic.com
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