Equipe 84: Stereoequipe (Ricordi, 1968)

Often dubbed as "The Italian Sgt. Pepper's", "Stereoequipe" is the third and best known album of Modenese beat quartet Equipe 84. The twelve tracks collect all the 45" released by the band in 1967/68 and include four Italian renditions of English hits and two of the most successful Italian singles of the Sixties, "Nel cuore, nell'anima" and "29 Settembre". All of them, together with the remaining tracks, are arranged in a typical Beatles-like fashion: "Nel cuore, nell'anima" wonderfully recreates the string quartet miracle of "Eleanor Rigby", while "29 Settembre" is notable for the pioneering use of radio news excerpts to give the song a topical feeling. Many other refined gimmicks are employed throuought the album: horns, winds, tablas, sitar, wind effects... The result is still impressive today and particularly shines for its bright melodies and adventurous sound (with great piano and bass guitar performances). It's certainly a masterpiece of Italian beat.

Four songs are signed by the Battisti/Mogol duo and were released by Equipe 84 before Battisti's solo success. Some others ("È dall'amore che nasce l'uomo", "Per un attimo di tempo") were written by Francesco Guccini (which would later become one of the best known Italian singer/songwriters) but credited to Equipe's singer Maurizio Vandelli, just because Guccini was not a member of SIAE, Italian musical copyright society.
"Stereoequipe" ows its name to the fact that it was the first Italian album to be released only in its stereophonic version.


Tracklist:

1. Nel cuore, nell'anima
2. Ladro
3. È dall'amore che nasce l'uomo
4. Nel ristorante di Alice
5. 29 Settembre
6. Un anno (No Face, No Name, No Number - Traffic)
7. Un angelo blu (I Can't Let Maggie Go - Honeybus)
8. Tutto è solo colore (Every Little Bit Hurts - The Small Faces)
9. Hey ragazzo
10. Per un attimo di tempo
11. Intermission riff
12. Nella terra dei sogni (Land of Make Believe - Easybeats)

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