AMS Records is proud to release “Dedicato A…” by Le Stelle di Mario Schifano, the mysterious 1967 masterpiece, in an unmissable version, purple vinyl in gatefold LP with silver-backed gatefold sleeve and 8-page booklet inside. “Dedicato A…” is a unique record of its kind, released in the year of the Summer of Love and the triumph of Psychedelia, 1967, and it is not a little surprising to learn that its authors were Italian and that the album was released in the same year as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper and Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
The story is well known: former New Dada Gian Crescentini met Urbano Orlandi, the two involved former Wretched Nello Marini and Sergio Cerra, and in Rome they were thunderstruck by an encounter with Mario Schifano thanks to Ettore Rosboch. Schifano is in the midst of his experimentation with languages and disciplines, so he starts a collaboration with the four, who are renamed Le Stelle di Mario Schifano. Thanks to their international contacts with pop art, Schifano and Rosboch moved the group from the beat to Psychedelic experimentation: after the first Roman concert in September 1967, an authentic event in the history of the Italian Avant-Garde for its daring combination of music, visuals, lights and projections, in November BDS (belonging to Ariston) published “Dedicato A…“
In addition to being the highest and most unparalleled example of Italian Psychedelia, “Dedicato A…” is also the most expensive and sought-after Italian album: BDS published two versions in very few copies, a red one in 50 copies, a black one in 500. “Dedicato A…” opens with a long track of almost twenty minutes, an acid jam session, at times delirious, that gives an idea of the band’s live potential, while the second half of the work consists of five short songs that are more reasoned but still in line with the sound of the work. It was an isolated experiment, unparalleled in those years. At the time, nobody in Italy had ever heard anything like it, unless you had flown to England to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of Swingin’ London, or to New York in Andy Warhol’s Factory.
Released on CD papersleeve a few years ago by AMS Records (AMS238CD), this cult album is finally available on LP, in an edition that is as faithful as possible to the 1967 original in every respect. Limited edition of 500 copies.
Purchase the album here: https://btf.it/prodotto/le-stelle-di-mario-schifano-dedicato-a/
Side A
1. Le ultime parole di Brandimante,
dall’Orlando Furioso,
ospite Peter Hartman e fine
(da ascoltarsi con TV accesa, senza volume) 17:46
Side B
1.Molto alto 3:12
2.Susan Song 3:47
3.E dopo 2:12
4.Intervallo 2:37
5.Molto lontano (A colori) 2:50
Sergio Cerra / Drums
Giandomenico Crescentini / Basso, Voce
Nello Marini / Keyboards and Vocals
Urbano Orlandi / Guitars and Vocals