Artist

AREA

1973:
Demetrio Stratos (vocals, organ, percussion)
Paolo Tofani (guitar, synth)
Victor Busnello (sax)
Patrizio Fariselli (keyboards)
Patrick Djivas (bass)     
Giulio Capiozzo (drums, percussion)

from 1974:
Busnello and Djivas left, added:
Ares Tavolazzi (bass)

Area were in fact an "international popular group", as the cover of their first album says, with greek singer Demetrio Stratos coming from the beat group I Ribelli, French bass player Djivas and belgian sax player Busnello. 
The first line-up, in 1972, also included pianist Leandro Gaetano and guitarist Johnny Lambizzi, the latter soon replaced by Paolo Tofani, a musician with the longest experience in the group, having played in 60's bands Samurai along with Formula Tre keyboardist Gabriele Lorenzi, I Califfi and Noi Tre, that also included future Triade bass player Agostino Nobile.

Arbeit macht frei was an essential album in the Italian rock of the 70's, full of different influences yet totally original in its sound. Stratos' voice is stunning, used like an instrument, and the backing band is powerful, formed by top quality and inventive musicians. Some jazz and eastern folklore influences are easily distinguished, and the music is not easy to categorise. The group image was characterised by the style of Cramps label designer Gianni Sassi, that added a distinctive visual style to their music.

Second LP, Caution radiation area, was more experimental with tracks like Lobotomia and ZYG (Crescita zero) that show strong free-jazz influences.
The following album, Crac, released the same year, returned to a more prog style, with some of their best rock tracks in Gioia e rivoluzione and L'elefante bianco, yet retaining the long instrumental parts that were the group's trademark.

The strong political influences in Area music emerged in their rendition of the popular socialist hymn L'internazionale, released as a single in 1974 and a concert classic, as demonstrated in the 1975 live LP Are(a)zione. 

1976 saw a radical turn in the group's style, with the help of external musicians such as sax player Steve Lacy and percussionist Paul Lytton, playing in Maledetti. The band was turning toward jazz and even the posthumous live recordings from 1976 concerts seem to demonstrate it. 
Maledetti was the last chapter in the long Area/Cramps connection, with the group signing a recording deal with Ascolto and releasing less successful albums at the end of the 70's.
1978, gli dei se ne vanno gli arrabbiati restano, their first on the new label, contained a couple of interesting prog-inspired tracks, like the opening Il bandito del deserto and Hommage à Violette Nozières, mixed with others in a stronger free-jazz direction.

Demetrio Stratos died in 1979, probably one of the most important singers and music researchers of all the Italian (and probably european) musical scene. The day after his death a big concert, with 60000 people, was held at the Arena Civica in Milano to honour him (this had been originally organised to collect funds to support Stratos expensive medical therapy), and a double album was taken from the event.

Another group called Area II appeared in the mid 80's, this was in fact a group built by original Area drummer Giulio Capiozzo with session musicians. Much closer to jazz than any previous Area incarnation, the group lasted for two albums in 1986-87.
A new CD by Area, Chernobyl 9771 was released in 1997, the line-up included this time another original member, Patrizio Fariselli, along with Capiozzo.
This was probably the last time the Area name has appeared on an album of new recordings, the group kept playing until 1999 then split. Drummer Giulio Capiozzo has sadly died in August 2000.

All the albums by Area are still easy to find in Italy, as they have been issued in large quantities. Around 1977-78 the Cramps label changed distribution and adopted a different numbering system replacing the CRSLP-5 prefix with 5205 (CRSLP 5101 became 5205 101 and so on). Many of the albums released until then were reissued with the new catalogue numbers, but are easily identified for this reason.

Hardest to find are the first album in original form with the gun insert, and Crac with the sticker. The first issue of Arbeit macht frei, Caution radiation area and Crac have a "Distribuzione Dischi Ricordi Spa" credit on the back cover, they were later distributed by Baby Records.

A vinyl reproduction of the first album was released in late 90's and also included the gun insert, this is very similar to the original but can be identified with a side to side comparison, having a slightly miscoloured label and different matrix writings on vinyl. This reissue was released in 500 numbered copies for Italy and 500 non-numbered ones for abroad.
A vinyl reissue of Caution Radiation Area was released at the same time.

A very rare promotional compilation featuring a track by Area (Antes de hablar abra la boca, taken from Tic e Tac) is SIM Hi-Fi (CGD 15049), promoted by Radio Studio 105 and issued to launch the 1980 hi-fi and electronics exhibition in Milan.

Japanese issues exist of Arbeit macht frei (Pioneer-Warner P-10286C), Are(A)zione (Pioneer-Warner P-10393C), 1978, gli dei se ne vanno gli arrabbiati restano (King GXF2053) and Tic & Tac (King K22P116).
A French issue (on Cramps, distributed by Barclay) exists of their 1974 single L'internazionale (no.640 068) and their albums Crac (no.940.512), Are(A)zione (no.940.528, with glossy gatefold cover) and Maledetti (no.940.803, with liner notes in French), and it's likely that other Area records have been issued in that country.
Anto/logicamente (Cramps P5205 106 - single cover with inner) and 1978, gli dei se ne vanno gli arrabbiati restano (CBS 83142- gatefold cover) were also issued in Portugal.

The Area II albums are both hard to find, and have been only recently reissued by Duck Records.

Arbeit macht frei - front cover
Arbeit macht frei - inner gatefold and gun insert
Caution radiation area - front cover
Crac - front cover	Crac sticker
Are(a)zione - front cover	Maledetti - front cover
1978: gli dei se ne vanno, gli arrabbiati restano - front cover	Event '76 - front cover
Tic & Tac - front cover
L'abbattimento dello Zeppelin - 7" single	L'Internazionale - 7" single
Hommage à Violette Nozières  - promo single

Area's keyboardist Patrizio Fariselli has an official website at http://www.fariselliproject.com that contains lots of information on both Area and Fariselli solo career.
The website of Paolo Tofani, including information on his past career with Area is at http://www.krsnavision.com

Thanks to Massimiliano Chiarini, Luigi Papi, Alessandro Ciuti, Manuel Da Achada and Annunziato Cangemi for some of the information mentioned in this page