(LONG-AWAITED REISSUE OF THE ONLY LP (1990) MADE BY THIS GREAT ITALIAN PSYCH BAND, PLUS AN AMAZING SELECTION OF THEIR BEST TRACKS REMASTERED AND ORIGINALLY RELEASED ON THEIR DEMO CASSETTES BETWEEN 1989 TO 1993 AND NOW READY TO BLOW UP YOUR MIND!!! THE BACKWARDS: ITALIAN UNDERGROUND'S BEST KEPT SECRET...OR SO IT SEEMS!!! BY ROBERTO CALABRÒ * THE BACKWARDS ARE ONE OF THE BEST KEPT SECRETS OF THE ITALIAN UNDERGROUND. A TRUE REVELATION THAT CAME OUT OF THE PSYCHEDELIC SCENE IN THE LATE EIGHTIES WHEN THE INTEREST IN THE NEO-SIXTIES MOVEMENT WAS ALREADY DECREASING AND THE MEDIA ATTENTION WAS TURNING ELSEWHERE. THE GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION TOO - THE GROUP WAS FROM GENOA, AN IMPORTANT CITY BUT MILES AWAY FROM THE UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT MAJOR CENTRES - HELPED IN CREATING AN OBSCURE CULT-BAND DIMENSION, WHICH DID NOT AT ALL DISPLEASE PIERPAOLO RIZZO, DEUS EX MACHINA OF THE PROJECT AND, AT THE TIME, A YOUNG MEDICAL STUDENT WITH A BURNING PASSION FOR THE ORIGINAL SIXTIES PSYCHEDELIA AS WELL AS FOR THE NEW PSYCHO-POP SENSATIONS (ROBYN HITCHCOCK, JULIAN COPE) COMING FROM THE UK. AFTER THE INITIAL CHAPTER 24 THAT EVOKED THE SYD BARRETT'S PINK FLOYD, THE CHOSEN BAND'S NAME IMMEDIATELY REVEALED THAT THE IMAGINARY THE SONGWRITER WAS DRAWING HEAVILY ON: BACKWARDS IN FACT REFERS TO THE TAPES TURNED UPSIDE DOWN (AND OTHER SONIC WEIRD HOME-MADE EFFECTS) SO MUCH IN VOGUE IN THE LATE SIXTIES. PRIOR TO THEIR DEBUT ALBUM, IN 1989 THE BAND RELEASED AN INTRIGUING DEMO-TAPE TITLED "REAL LIFE PERMANENT DREAM": A COLLECTION OF PSYCHO-POP GEMS ALWAYS SUSPENDED BETWEEN AN ACID AND NOSTALGIC SIDE AND A MORE AGGRESSIVE AND GRITTY ONE. IT'S EXACTLY IN THIS "MIDDLE LAND" THAT THE UNIQUE AND INSTANTLY RECOGNIZABLE BACKWARDS' SOUND TAKES SHAPE. HIDDEN AMONG THE ORIGINAL SONGS, THERE ARE ALSO FOUR COVERS THAT REVEAL SOME OF THE QUARTET'S TUTELARY DEITIES: THE CREATION ("MAKIN' TIME"), ROBYN HITCHCOCK ("THE LIZARD"), THE BYRDS OF THE "FIFTH DIMENSION" PERIOD ("WHY"), THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND ("NO WAY OUT"). IT'S JUST A TASTY STARTER FOR THE ALBUM THAT WILL BE RELEASED JUST 12 MONTHS LATER FOR CRAZY MANNEQUIN, THE MILAN-BASED LABEL OWNED BY MEMBERS OF PETER SELLERS & THE HOLLYWOOD PARTY. "EERIE THOUGHTS COLLECTION PT. 3" - THAT'S THE ALBUM'S TITLE - STARTED TO TAKE SHAPE BETWEEN RECCO, WHERE RIZZO LIVED IN THAT PERIOD, AND MILAN, WHERE THE ALBUM WAS RECORDED AT WINDOW ST BY FABIO MAGISTRALI WITH THE HELP OF SOME MUSICIANS OF THE CRAZY MANNEQUIN'S ENTOURAGE: CESARE POLENGHI, STEFANO CONCOBEACH AND MIC MARTIRADONNA (POW), UNCLE TYBIA AND MAGICK (TIBERIO LONGONI AND STEFANO GHITTONI OF PETER SELLERS) AND VALERIA (IMPULSIVE YOUTH), UNDER THE CLEVER PRODUCTION OF THE SOUND ENGINEER FABIO MAGISTRALI. THE ALBUM IS A KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLOURS, A MAZE WHERE TO GET LOST BETWEEN ACID BALLADS, LYSERGIC ACCELERATION, EVOCATIVE ACOUSTIC FRAGMENTS, CATCHY POP SONGS, MELANCHOLY NUMBERS THAT FEW MOMENTS LATER DESCEND INTO PSYCHEDELIC ROCK SONGS. IT'S PURE MAGIC. WITHOUT DOUBT WE CAN DEFINE IT AS ONE OF THE BEST SIXTIES-ORIENTED ALBUMS RELEASED IN EUROPE IN THAT CREATIVE SEASON. MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS LATER "EERIE THOUGHTS COLLECTION PT. 3" RETURNS TODAY TO CHARM US AGAIN. THE CD YOU'RE HOLDING IN YOUR HANDS CONTAINS THE WHOLE BACKWARDS DEBUT ALBUM AS WELL AS THE 10 SONGS INCLUDED IN THEIR FIRST LEGENDARY DEMO "REAL LIFE PERMANENT DREAM", PLUS A NUMBER OF OTHER INTRIGUING/DREAMLIKE EPISODES COMING OUT FROM THE DEMOS (ACTUALLY REAL LP'S ON CASSETTE) THAT BACKWARDS WERE GENEROUSLY RELEASING UNTIL 1993: THE YEAR IN WHICH THE BAND'S ADVENTURE ENDED AND THE STORY OF LO-FI SUCKS BEGAN! THIS RETROSPECTIVE IS THEREFORE A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME AND DIVE INTO THE DREAMY DIMENSION OF A MINOR MASTERPIECE THAT TIME HAS GIVEN US BACK INTACT IN ALL ITS MAGIC)
FEATURES
1. Love song
2. The Backwards Are Here
3. Travellin' Knight
4. She Stared At Her Own Feet
5. Out Of Focus
6. Across Your Mind
7. My Advice For You
8. Pause
9. Your Precious Time
10. Happily Ever After
11. Upstairs
12. In search Of Yourself
13. Portrait (of an unbalanced mind)
14. Evening Conversation
15. Daily Rites
16. Point of View
17. Makin' Time
18. Across Your Mind
19. So Asleep
20. The Lizard
21. In search Of Yourself
22. Portrait (of an unbalanced mind)
23. Nasty, When I'm Leaving
24. My Advice For You
25. Why
26. No Way Out
27. Spoiled Child
28. Or So It Seems
29. Here She Comes Now (Reed)
30. My Attic
