Label

PICCI

A small label founded in Rome by Pino Cassia, Picci had a very short life, and all of its production was in the years 1972-73.
Apart from the first LP, probably distributed by RCA, in the first year the records were distributed by Messaggerie Musicali, then in mid 1973 the distribution passed to Aris, and this is reflected by a change in the record label design.

Pino Cassia was a composer and lyricist rather popular in the 60's, he also translated some international hits, by the likes of Burt Bacharach, Doc Pomus, Bert Kampfert and others.

The Picci name is not particularly relevant in the italian prog scene, except for the presence, among the albums issued, of the ultrarare Tutto deve finire, the only release by La Seconda Genesi. 
An odd feature of this record, that was used on other LP's, is that it has the front cover coloured with random splashes of paint, that made every copy different from the others.
Other albums in this label's production were issued with the same cover picture, this was the case with the The Fast Machine (Oscar Lindok) and Vasco LP's.

Other interesting titles for the lovers of prog are the singles by Gli Esseri, Il Punto, Le Aquile and Officina Meccanica, and the album by Paride e gli Stereo 4.

The pressing of the Picci albums was always very low, some say just a few hundred copies of each LP, and this caused a big interest by the collectors for the most part of these records, and consequently a rise in their prices.

Most of the Picci productions were credited to Cassia himself and Lucchetti, as composers, and both authors also appear on some singles released from another small label, Ellecci, probably connected to this. Another recurring name in the Picci productions is Oscar Lindok. Behind this name hid the composer Giacomo Dell'Orso.
Also connected to this label was Beat Records, founded by Franco De Gemini (the harp player in Morricone's Once upon a time in the west for the Sergio Leone eponymous movie), that had some artists in common with Picci. 

The Picci label had a different design during its short life of the record company. 
Early records had a red label with blue logo (except GLA 2001, that was light blue), later replaced by a black one
starting with GLA 2005, when the distribution deal was changed.
Many copies of the first four albums (GLA2001-2004) were distributed in promotional form, the first LP with "Disco fuori commercio" printed on the label, the others with a blue stamp carrying the "Disco campione non vendibile" writing only on one of the labels.
All the LP's have a single cover.

Thanks to John Elvis Gualtieri, Giuliano Semprucci, Lorenzo Pittan of Amarcord Records, Franco Brizi of Vinylseduction and Fabio Paolotti for some of the pictures on this page, and to Carmelo Pagano for his recollections and information on Pino Cassia and Picci.