Tuesday 16 April at 6pm the turntable was turned on for the first date with “Vinyl Tales. What a story that record is!”the event dedicated to 70s music created by Angelo Pravettoni, Marino Rabolini and Umberto Colombo.
The meeting, which was held in Headquarters of the Civic Library of Legnanohad as its protagonist the music of Van Der Graaf Generator and their 1971 album Pawn Hearts.
An audio system similar to those of the time has been set up in the room, and two tables, one with other vinyl records of the group and one with books dedicated to the history of various musical artists which are available in the library. The vinyls used are vintage, lent by one of the spectators, to convey the nostalgia of those years and highlight details such as the difference between the analogue and digital records, the lightness of the case and the graphics.
“It is an experimental exhibition, no one had ever done it before – commented Angelo Pravettoni -. Reading groups are held in libraries, and it is precisely the groups that are interesting and allow each member to express their strength. We wanted to try to do the same thing with listening. Why did we choose these bands? We wanted to deal with the 70-80 decade and see what happened in those years.”
“1971 was a turning point: the great singers like Hendrix and Morrison were no longer there and the push of the big festivals like Woodstock was over – said Marino Rabolini, explaining the origins of the band -. A group of young bourgeois people decided to take a totally new path, taking up the musical genres of the time and re-proposing them in a new way: longer songs, even 10 or 20 minutes, with new instruments such as the moog, the mellotron and the synthesizer.” .
The listening began with the 11-minute “Lemmings,” based on Arctic rodents traveling to their deaths. “Van der Graaf Generator are a progressive band that managed to survive the rise of punk – explained Pravettoni -. Their themes focus on existential themes, but their music is not at all boring.”
The playback was stopped to explain the singers’ skill in using various vocal registers and transitions. Once the piece was finished, the two organizers asked the public for their opinion. “Many have seen references to the self-destruction of war in this song – explained Pravettoni -. It’s very current.”
We then moved on to “Man-erg”, a 10-minute piece, with a dissonant architecture that ultimately returns to itself. Rabolini then asked the audience if they considered it current or dated music, but many responded that it seemed current. “It is a progressive music that has maintained the rhythmic impact of rock – explained Rabolini – many subsequent artists took inspiration from the music of this band.”
At the end of the meeting, the 23-minute long song “A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers” was listened to. Finally, Rabolini read the last three verses of the song as a wish for everyone: “I’m not so bad now: I think the end is the beginning. I’m starting to feel really good now.”
The next appointments are scheduled for Tuesday 7 May at 6pm with Lou Reed and the 1972 album Transformer and Tuesday 4 June at 6pm with the Clash and the 1977 album The Clash, again at Headquarters of the Civic Library of Legnano, with free admission.
Tags: Legnano relives music #70s exhibition Vinyl Tales story record
