Capsicum Red - Appunti per un'Idea Fissa. 1972 Italy

Capsicum Red are yet another Italian beat/pop group who attempted a jump on the Italian progressive rock bandwagon. In the same league as J.E.T., but no one killer cut like Fede, Speranza, Carita. Still a fine effort if you can look past the production.

LP: 1972 Bla Bla
CD: 2011 Belle Antique
CD: 1995 Vinyl Magic

For yesterday's entry regarding Alain Eckert Quartet, I stated that if there ever was an album where buying the CD was more preferable than the original, then that was the one. Today, I will say the opposite: If there ever was an album to buy the original LP rather than a reissue, Capsicum Red is the one. Like most people, I discovered this album via the Vinyl Magic CD. It sounds horrible. I'd always been told the original vinyl was a mess, and that the masters were gone. I was fortunate to buy an original this year for a decent price (photo above is that album), and it changed my perspective on the album. Like all originals of this title, the sound has quite a bit of background noise (the original inner sleeve has a rough inside, which causes serious scuffing) - but much of the album rocks hard enough to obfuscate the noise. The CD's of this sound terrible in comparison. As I suspected (privately), the production wasn't the problem (though let's not get carried away, it's not incredible by any stretch). There's really no reason for this - as even a straight needle drop would sound better than what it's in the market. For me, it adds a solid half star (RYM) to my rating. I also do own the Japanese mini-LP for the packaging, but it's sourced/licensed/re-engineered from the Italian CD.