C2V

Yamaha RY 30: Intelligent, sober, functional and…surprising!

By C2VUncategorized, Vintage Japanese drum machinesNo Comments

”Forse la batteria elettronica più sottovalutata della storia, questa creazione Yamaha si rivela essere un piccolo soundsystem, una sorta di <strong>Roland TR-909</strong> dei 2000!Realizzata nei primi '90, la <strong>RY 30</strong> include le innovazioni della R8 e va oltre, includendo il tutto in un design elegante e funzionale.La qualità dei suoni è notevole per potenza, chiarezza e dinamica, sfruttando dei sample 16-bit a 48kHz, con una conversione 22-bit D/A.
Daniele Pieraccini

From the nineties comes this elegant drum machine with advanced functions and great sounds

Sounds created by a synthesis engine based on samples from the excellent Yamaha SY/TG digital synthesizers line. Compared to its direct competitor of the times, the Roland R8, it is much more easily programmable and intuitive to use.

Forse la batteria elettronica più sottovalutata della storia, questa creazione Yamaha si rivela essere un piccolo soundsystem, una sorta di Roland TR-909 dei 2000!
Realizzata nei primi ’90, la RY 30 include le innovazioni della R8 e va oltre, includendo il tutto in un design elegante e funzionale.
La qualità dei suoni è notevole per potenza, chiarezza e dinamica, sfruttando dei sample 16-bit a 48kHz, con una conversione 22-bit D/A.

Main characteristics

• 12 “touch-sensitive” pads to adjust the dynamics of the single note
• 12 pad bank or instrument set, the last one, pitch bank, is a single instrument (bass) in 12 tones
• 128 voices (additional sounds can be inserted via ROM card)

Each voice can be made up of a waveform or a combination of two different waveforms

• 100 preset patterns in various musical styles ready to use
• 100 user patterns
• 2 demo songs
• 2 user songs

Use

It is possible to record the patterns by playing on the pads in real-time (real-time record) or in step record, by inserting the notes on a grid. The quantization to be assigned to the notes ranges from 1/8 to 1/96.
After recording, various parameters are editable note by note with extreme precision in step record mode.
Intervening on various parameters of the single sound is also allowed in real-time, manually, by an ingenious control wheel, similar to that of synths. We can modify intonation (pitch), decay of the note, positioning to the right or left of the sound (pan), filter frequencies and balance between the two waveforms of the sound.
The memory of the single pattern has a limit, it can be frustrating if you create very “crowded” sequences of notes or instruments.

Aesthetics

The front panel features, from top left to right: control wheel, parameter selector, volume, parameter control slider, 16 small selection buttons (here, at first, things may seem cluttered and unintelligible), record, stop and play.
At the bottom, we find buttons for parameter control, for the dynamic touch of the pads (sense) and for canceling notes or entire recorded phrases (clear). Finally, we have the 12 instrument pads.
Above all this, there is the LCD display.

The rear panel is equipped with: a power socket (15V 500mA), the on/off button, headphones socket, stereo jack outputs, two individual jack outputs to be assigned to instruments of your choice, foot SW jack output, a cassette recorder output ( let’s not forget that we are in the early ’90s…) to make a backup of the data, MIDI in and out and slot for the WAVE CARDS.

Conclusion

It’s hard to get bored with this little machine. This beauty is a realistic electronic drum machine, a synth, a sequencer, and more. You can create complex, interesting-sounding songs and patterns, fat bass lines and synthesizer solos.
Perfect for electronic and abstract music (the Scottish group Autechre released, in 1996, an entire EP using only the RY 30, “We R Are Why / Are Y Are We?”) but also effective in rock, latin, reggae, tribal contexts … Nothing to say, a magical Yamaha creation projected into the future.

Considering that, currently, the prices on the used market of the RY 30 are always affordable, finding one is a great deal.

To give an idea of the possibilities of the Yamaha RY 30 I made a demonstration video, using only its sounds and some Mixcraft plug-ins.

Enjoy the vision and above all, enjoy the listening!

Click & unlock the demo of the YAMAHA RY30

7 August 2022

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Odyssey Semiacustic Series B500WS – Attila Balogh’s Dream

By C2VCanadian vintage basses, Historical Figures, UncategorizedNo Comments

”Attila Balogh was the creator of Odyssey instruments, Odyssey were and are, according to those who tried them, the most comfortable instruments to play ever made. Attila Balogh invested all of himself, put every effort into it, and even lost his life. Attila was a unique character and he was a great luthier, completely dedicated to his passion, his life's work: the quest for the perfect guitar.
Lorenzo

It is all too easy to find similarities between Attila Balogh and Mario Maggi but so are the real geniuses: extremely fascinating characters, who live for their vision, so dedicated that you can only admire and love them.

The book “Attila Balogh & the quest for the perfect guitar” by Craig Jones

Attila Balogh was born in Hungary in 1948 into a family of artists who in 1956 chose to leave the country to escape communism and, after a stop in Belgium, they decided to settle permanently in Canada in 1959.

Little Attila grows up inheriting the artistic spirit and open mind of his father and, after having expressed himself in many fields, he arrives in the world of violin making, quickly acquiring an out-of-the-ordinary skill. Still very young he takes the historic decision: all his efforts will be concentrated on the creation of the perfect instrument and according to many, he has come terribly close.

Balogh with Stanley Clarke

In his short life, he managed to found Odyssey Guitars Limited in 1976 in Vancouver and in six years produce about 2000 handcrafted guitars and basses.

As a logo, he chose a small brass disc set on the headstock with a small whisker engraved on it and these instruments were played by some of the greatest musicians in the world.

Then Attila died in his workshop at the age of 34, taking the magic with him and his work ended up almost forgotten until the brand was taken over by his old partners who restarted the manufacture of more common instruments.

But for the story of Attila Balogh we leave you to the book by Craig Jones and we focus on this beautiful BW 500WS bass, one of only 10 fretless models in the world (of the B500 model no more than 50 examples were produced, including the fretless ones. which were built only on request) and certainly the only one existing in Italy.
Equipped with tonal chambers, it is a closed semi-acoustic equipped with a pair of Bartolini passive pickups, very powerful, extraordinary sound.

Produced between 1979 and 1980, the bass is in excellent condition, all original except for the neck pickup which has been moved to the bridge. It is an instrument that is perfectly at ease in jazz as well as in rock and fusion.
The B500s were at the top of the range of the B line, which was produced in the 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 versions. The bass belongs to Armando who, with great regret, decided to give it away.
Interested parties can contact him by email

GUARDA e ASCOLTA la demo di questo ODYSSEY B500 WS

The biggest guitar in the world!

It is worth mentioning one of Attila Balogh’s most curious ideas: the largest guitar in the world.

The gigantic guitar is practically a huge G series and was built in 1977 in 500 hours of work over 6 months by Attila and the two partners Ken Lindemere and Joseph Sallay to advertise the Odyssey and left on display at the Iron Music store in Vancouver and at trade fairs including Namm in Chicago and MIAC in Canada.

This beast, equipped with brass parts, real DiMarzio pickups and piano strings, weighs 350 pounds, It measures 9′ 7″ X 7′ X 3’6″ and is perfectly playable by any giant!

Balogh and partners with the Giant Guitar

4 August 2022

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Boss PS-2 – Little Dream Factory

By C2VJapan vintage pedals, UncategorizedNo Comments

”The PS-2 has long been one of the most forgotten pedals in history, at least by me, that I only used it in cascade with other delays just for its 2 seconds delay without realizing that I actually have an authentic Swiss Army knife with so many possibilities that even Boss itself could not have discovered.
Lorenzo

I did not know I was holding an authentic Shoegaze pearl (Slowdive, Stars of The Lid, Mono) and I did not know that this pedal was practically a younger brother of the RPS-10, leader of the Mini Rack series and now one of the most sought after. vintage effects by Boss/Roland.

But let’s get into the details of this pedal.

The PS-2 is a Boss-pedal format multi-effect that contains both the first Pitch Shifter produced by Boss and an old generation digital delay, therefore very warm, with delay times ranging from 30 to 2000 ms and at the time performance like that could only be goggling.
The pitch can be set one octave lower or higher than the source sound or manually adjusted as desired.

There are six settings:

• 30 to 125 ms delay
• 125 to 500 ms delay
• 500 to 2 seconds delay
• pitch shift manual setting
• +1 octave
• -1 octave

The PS-2’s fast pitch shifting circuitry virtually eliminates any delay issues and signal quality differences between the source sound and sounds processed with pitch shift or delay.
You get chorus, octave and a variety of harmonization effects with quality pitch shifting (twin guitars, 12-string effect and various peculiar possibilities) and confirmation of the note pitch is available via the Tuner Out output by connecting a chromatic tuner to it.

It will be the latter to reserve a further surprise since from there comes the signal of an oscillator integrated in the pedal circuit that can be pitched with the Fine/Manual control and processed through the effects of the pedal itself, as can be seen in the finale of the Pepe Music demo.

Demo of the BOSS PS-2 by Pepe Music

Of course with the digital multi-effects disguised as pedals that are around today, machines like the PS-2 no longer have much surprise “effect” but everything must be related to the context and such an instrument in the second half of the 80s was surely never seen, certainly not understood in all its potential and which still reserves its beautiful surprises today such as deep and violent self-oscillations, a low-fi pitch shifter and surprisingly usable in different music genres, a very long delay with a very warm sound that does not make you regret an analog echo.

The amount of effects obtainable is explored in the demos linked in the article, one of which (that of the excellent YouTube channel Pedal Partners) is actually a psychedelic journey in the form of a small art film to be enjoyed over and over again, in loop.

Watch and listen to BOSS PS-2 demo by P. P.

BOSS PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifter/Delay

Specifications
• Controls: Balance (between effect in direct signal), Feedback (for amount of repeats, and very unique pitch shifting effects), Fine-Manual (for adjusting delay times and pitch) and Mode (for selecting any of the 6 modes).
• Connectors: Input, Output, Tuner Out (for plugging into a tuner), AC Adaptor
• Current Draw: 60 mA (DC 9V)
• Weight: 460g/1.01 lbs.
• Input Impedance: 1Mohm
• Residual Noise Level: -90dBm (IHF-A)
• Recommended Load Impedance: 10kOhm or greater
• Delay Time: 30ms to 2000ms
• Frequency Response: 10Hz to 30kHz, +1/-3dB (Direct)
• Recommended AC Adaptor: PSA Series

Labels
• Blue – Made In Japan
• Blue – Made In Taiwan

The PS-2 was marketed from October 1987 until March 1994.

Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer: Mr. Growly!

distortionwhauwhaurepeat 3 cosmosound marchetti classic2vintage

La storia degli effetti Cosmosound, Silversound, Goldsound – intervista a Sandro Marchetti

24 July 2022

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…THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE – 1971

By C2VUncategorizedNo Comments

”This year falls the fiftieth birthday of this incredible film, just as incredibly as unfairly forgotten.
The Boss

Corrado Farina between Giuliano Disperati and Geraldine Hooper

The opportunity has arisen, after so many years, to be able to see again this particular film by Corrado Farina, which contains an urgent and current message, and we felt so called into question that we needed to review it to help give it the visibility it deserves.

It is a work that unfolds through a precise use of symbolism and a peculiar use of the camera and the very tense music of the excellent Amedeo Tommasi of Avatiana’s memory (unfortunately recently passed away), which will also be a source of strong inspiration for future cinema ” argentiano ”(The Goblin will take from it with both hands).

Throughout the film, a disturbingly increasingly topical message is shouted with urgency: beware of the power of technology which, seen as a monster, ensnares and intimidates man, making him his succubus and extinguishing in him every spirit of self-awareness, criticism and rebellion.

Given the nature of the film, it is impossible not to anticipate the plot, so we strongly recommend that you view it and come back later on this article, to compare your opinions with ours.

Plot:

Dr. Alberto Valle, (Giuliano Esperanti, alias Giuliano Disperati), an employee of the important Auto Avio Motor, is summoned by the president of the company and invited to go to the owner’s villa, Eng. Giovanni Nosferatu (Adolfo Celi).

Arriving in the rural town surrounding the house, Valle meets Laura (Francesca Modigliani), a hippy who travels aimlessly, in search of experiences that take her away from everyday life.

Once they arrive at the villa, Laura decides to wait for her companion in the car, while the latter goes to meet the tycoon. The atmosphere, which already appeared sinister around the village, inside the Nosferatu estate becomes even more burdensome and oppressive.

Along the driveway, Valle is escorted by two white Fiat Cinquecentos, driven by strange men who do not answer his questions. Crossing the threshold of the house, Corinna (Geraldine Hooper), the engineer’s icy personal secretary, is waiting for him.

The subsequent interview with Nosferatu brings with it some big surprises: the businessman proposes to Valle that he become the new president of the company, and for this reason invites him to stay at the villa so that his decision can mature.

Events follow one another at a fast pace, and Alberto finds himself involved in a strange but engaging relationship with Corinna. However, during some solitary patrols, he makes a disturbing discovery…

The Cinquecento which, used as guard dogs, patrol the villa, is an obvious metaphor of the working class made dull and sensorily deprived to serve the master by betraying their soul and individuality.

The same thing will happen to the protagonist when he chooses to abandon his purity – here symbolized by Laura (The Aura, with an amethyst ring), the young girl he met on the street – to cross the gate of Villa Nosferatu, accepting the appeal and corruption of power and being able to discover “how deep does the Rabbit hole go”.

Disperati may not be a perfect actor but he plays the role well and his facial mimicry makes the part of a man struggling with a vitally important dilemma well, Hooper perfectly embodies the cold and wiry Corinna, an enigmatic character even more than himself Nosferatu. Celi, as usual, is very solid in a perfect role for him.

Giuliano Disperati as Alberto Valle

Geraldine Hooper as Corinna

Francesca Modigliani as Laura

Adolfo Celi as Giovanni Nosferatu

Farina fully exploits its experience in the advertising field and effectively avoids ending up enclosed in the genre film, while effectively exploiting the wave to shout its message to the world.

Despite this, the gothic vein that pervades the film will end up profoundly influencing precisely what is considered the most famous of the Italian directors of the genre film.

Furthermore, the freshness of the ideas discussed even seems to be ahead of its time to marry well with the current ones, almost a ‘premonition’.

An excellent sequence shows a series of babies in cribs and a huge register where the names and “fates” of present and past babies are read. There Alberto finds his name and a photo of him as a child with the expectation that he would become President of Auto Avio Motor.

Nosferatu raises his favorite children so that in the future they will play a role under him, maintaining absolute and strict control, trying to prevent them from free will. This image can logically be extended to all Italians, whose fate, whether they are aware of it or not, is almost always decided by “others”.

The association of the character of engineer Nosferatu with a well-known figure in the automotive industry of the time was immediate, but at the same time, he was even more in tune with current times.

The meeting of the board of directors is a masterpiece of subtle irony because at the table of Nosferatu sits every kind of power, even the ecclesiastical one.

The metaphilmic part of the commercials is not only hilarious but perfectly in step with today’s times.

In short, we find ourselves in front of a small art film which, however, has the advantage of speaking in the face and therefore being usable by anyone.

Celi, Farina and Disperati

Corrado Farina in the LSD commercial

From an aesthetic point of view, the canons of the time are well represented by Space Age-style furnishing accessories, including the splendid Platea Artemide lamps designed by Ferrari-Mazzucchelli-Tartaglino, which mix with more classic elements, giving an icy atmosphere to the movie, an atmosphere where colors are kept on soft pastel shades except for some studied sudden break with bright colors (see the yellow sweater, a symbol of knowledge and intellect, by Desperati in the daytime scenes outdoors and in the crypt).

Three amazing Platea lamps by Artemide, to decorate the living room

The insertion of continuous interactive advertising jingles that come into operation when objects are used inside the rooms of the villa and meals based on fluidized foods, defined as ‘gastronomic socialism’ and deliberately made devoid of shape and flavor, in order to avoid evoking useless pleasures that would translate into wasted energy instead of being used for ‘productive’ purposes.

Nosferatu’s “gastronomic socialism”

Watchdog Cinquecentos

As already mentioned, Argento will take a lot from this film, from the shots and camera movements (especially during the explorations through the corridors and in the crypt), to the music, from the lights-colors-scenography of the scene in which Nosferatu plays the piano from behind and even the use of Hooper as a character actor for the androgynous character Massimo Ricci in Profondo Rosso (Deep Red).

It is impressive how much the scene of the discovery of the register of the ‘predestined’, during the exploration of the corridors, remembers Suspiria (but also Inferno) for music and events but obviously, it cannot but also recall the famous scene of the cultivation fields of humans in the Matrix.

The cradles of the predestined

The predestined registry

Some of the ‘slogans’ launched as diabolical mantras during the film:
‘Humans, you force them to work and they say thank you’
‘Advertising and sex’
‘Alice in the land of consumerism’
‘The sale of indulgences’
‘The future occupation of all children is to be specialized consumers’
‘Return to the cradle’
‘Psychoseduction of children’
‘Recruiting new consumers’
‘The direction of consent’
‘How optimism is cultivated’
‘The consumer should be attacked when he least expects it, in the intimacy of the living room, kitchen, bedroom’
‘Mass narcissism’
‘Attack on the unconscious’
‘The whims of the consumer’
‘The material we work on is the very substance of which the human mind is made’
‘The symbols of prestige’
‘Hooks are lowered’
‘Canned soul’

Incredibly, Farina’s film was opposed by that liberal left that should have embraced it and elected it as its bulwark and, against all obviousness, chose instead to snub it and even put it down openly from the pages of L’Unità with a review that leaves you speechless:

“We would say that for a first work it shows itself as a whole terribly dated with all the paraintellectual charms it flaunts, with all the smug” citations “of the cinema of glorious periods typical of the inveterate cineclub-goers, with all the apparently desecrating paraphernalia of myths and presences of our time against which, if you really want to be right, you need very different energies, very different clarity, much more courage than the acrobatic and childish metaphors of They Have Changed Their Face”

“Sorry to say such severe words for a first work such as Corrado Farina’s but the fact is that in it the apparent charge of subversive action is tinged with such and many common banalities against which we believe it would be guilty to remain indifferent or worse, acquiescent »- Sauro Borelli, Variable Mediocrity at the XXIV Locarno Film Festival, in L’Unità, 10/08/1971.

At the Locarno Film Festival that year where the film won the Golden Leopard as a first work they were of a very different opinion indeed.

Corrado Farina with the Golden Leopard

We close with the excellent words of Salvatore Incardona, taken from his article on the film, and a consideration by Corrado Farina himself:

Salvatore Incardona:

-We will not dwell on what disastrous consequences certain types of comments had at the time, but it is easy to imagine how this ostracism ended up influencing the judgment of the public (specialized and non-specialized), thus preventing the film from receiving the adequate distribution. Indeed, the blocking of censorship also came to curb any possible large-scale diffusion on a large scale, affixing an arbitrary as well as incomprehensible V.M. 18.

And in this regard, the words addressed by Giovanni Nosferatu to his employee Alberto Valle after the proposal to put him at the head of one of the companies can only be emblematic: “You are thinking that this speech is disproportionate to the offer I make to you. But it is not. I don’t just own a certain number of factories, companies, department stores. I also own newspapers, political parties, opposition groups ».

Almost fifty years later, we are still left with a daring, precious work, for which we can perhaps blame some slight flaw in the direction – mainly due to the very limited budget available [Cfr. Corrado Farina, in D. Bracco, S. Della Casa, P. Manera, F. Prono (edited by), Torino città del cinema, Il Castoro, Milan, 2001.] – but which overall appears as a magma of fantasy and symbolism, of real and unreal, of compelling narration and merciless criticism which constitutes its specific character and its best value.-

Corrado Farina:

-I haven’t changed my point of view. If nothing else, it’s even more negative. I still consider a certain type of advertising – that which persuades or manipulates, rather than informs – as a driving force to push human beings in directions that are perhaps useful and positive from an economic point of view, but dangerous and wrong from an ethical and social point of view. . As Erich Fromm might say, it creates a focus on “having”, rather than on “being”.-

Scheda Tecnica

… THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE (1971) BY CORRADO FARINA

Year 1971

Durata 97 min

Genre Fantasy – Horror – Satirical

Director Corrado Farina

Subject Corrado Farina

Script Corrado Farina, Giulio Berruti

Production Filmsettanta

Cinematography Aiace Parolin

Editing Giulio Berruti

Music Amedeo Tommasi

Actors and characters:

Giuliano Esperati (Disperati): Alberto Valle

Adolfo Celi: Giovanni Nosferatu

Geraldine Hooper: Corinna

Francesca Modigliani: Laura

Italian dubbing:

Renato Turi: Giovanni Nosferatu

Benita Martini: Corinna

Press Review

Trailer from the movie “…THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE”

Corrado Farina was a multifaceted person who made a lot of different things. His shorts and the commercials, which can be easily found online, are interesting as his books and his other works. A visit to his web page is recommended.

7 July 2022

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A Fistful of Ideas – 5 precursors of great Hollywood hits

By C2VCinema, Cinema, Historical Figures, Historical Figures, Historical Figures, Historical FiguresNo Comments

”Where do ideas arise? How do they develop? Who has the economic and marketing possibilities to create and spread a successful product but is searching for a new and powerful idea, where can he find it? Are the minds of the film writers of the big production companies enough or do you sometimes have to steal here and there?
Daniele Pieraccini

In Hollywood studios, they know something about this. The world film scene offers inexhaustible hints of ideas: in particular, Europe and Asia have always been sources of more or less derivative inspiration for US producers. You take an interesting film, with a brilliant concept and convert it into a product for the masses, making the necessary changes to meet the tastes of the general public and making it spectacular with “explosive” visual ideas and well-known faces of superstars. A process that has always been applied, for example, also in pop and rock music.
Obviously, works of a certain depth have also emerged from the famous studios on Sunset Boulevard, but we must keep in mind that we are talking about a real industry for profit, a financial machine rather than an artistic one, with very rigid rules and hierarchies that also concern the creative aspect.
We, therefore, want to present you, among the many, five films that have been forerunners to great successes at the box office, some repeated in sequels, remakes, reboots or real franchises. It seems right to recognize to certain works and to those who conceived them the added value of more or less obscure forerunners to the masses.

1 – “World on a Wire” becomes “The Matrix”

il_mondo_sul_filo_5_precursori_classic_2_vintage

The authors of the franchise starring Keanu Reeves have stated that they were inspired by Japanese animated films such as Akira, Ghost In The Shell and Ninja Scroll. No mention for another anime, Megazone 23 which is the one they drew on in more detail.

On closer examination, the Wachowskis drank on many “sources”, among others it is worth mentioning the sci-fi noir Dark City, Ubik by P.K. Dick but, above all, the TV film World on a Wire (Welt am Draht) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, released in 1973 and then taken up in an updated and softer way at the end of the millennium in the film The thirteenth floor by Josef Rusnak.

The German director, based on the novel Simulacron 3 by Daniel F. Galouye, stages a surprisingly current, very modern story: a virtual reality program creates a world whose inhabitants live as authentic, a world made of augmented reality and paradoxically simulations more true than true. In this environment, only a “contact person” is aware of living in a simulation.
In the early seventies, we were far from the big data society and the compressed and instantaneous world of digital as we know it now, which is why Fassbinder’s film is a surprising precursor of The Matrix and of doubts about the veracity of our existence.

Press Play to watch the trailer for TORSO

2 – “The Vindicator” becomes “Robocop”

vindicator_5_precursori_classic_2_vintage

Also known as Frankenstein 88, The Vindicator is a 1986 film, directed by Canadian Jean-Claude Lord, a director with a very Hollywood style but interested in political issues.
Following an accident, a scientist’s brain and body parts are transplanted into a robot. The resulting cyborg maintains a human and conscious component, unleashing various massacres to get his revenge. Lord was undoubtedly inspired by the myth of Frankenstein, by the 1959 film The Colossus of New York and he undoubtedly drew on the aesthetics of the first films of his compatriot David Cronenberg, but we must acknowledge that he point to a story that, the following year, Paul Verhoeven will re-propose (taking the human aspect of the protagonist’s tragedy into the background) in the much more famous Robocop.

Premi Play per guardare il trailer di THE VINDICATOR

3 – “Sole Survivor” becomes “Final Destination”

sole_survivor_5_precursori_classic_2_vintage

A woman inexplicably emerges unscathed from a terrifying plane crash; she tries to resume her life normally but, in addition to an understandable mental illness, strange events and phenomena haunt her. Death herself wants to complete her work, the survivor will not be able to escape her fate.
Sole Survivor, released in Italian (on the sly) as Ragnatela di morte, is a 1984 film by director Thom Eberhardt, author in the same year of the interesting Night of the Comet.
Although the origins of such a concept can be traced back to the 1962’s cult movie Carnival of Souls, it is from Sole Survivor that James Wong undoubtedly drew the inspiration for the first film of the Final Destination pentalogy.

Premi Play per guardare il trailer di SOLE SURVIVOR

4 – “La Jetée” becomes “12 Monkeys”

Terry Gilliam has never hidden his source of inspiration for the film starring Bruce Willis, but it is impossible not to pay homage to a work ahead of its time such as La Jetée, an experimental short film from 1962 made by French director Chris Marker. sequence of photographic images with a voiceover that tells the story. A sort of post-apocalyptic photo novel, in which we find:
-a shooting scene in an airport, central to the story
-a world devastated by a catastrophe
– dungeons where the prisoner is forced to travel through time
– mysterious marks on the walls
– references to the animal world
All strong points of 12 Monkeys, released over thirty years later.

Premi Play per guardare il trailer di LA JETEE

5 – “Twitch of the Death Nerve” / “Torso” become “Friday the 13th” and “Halloween”

reazione_a_catena_5_precursori_classic_2_vintage

For the last “case” that we will consider it would be more appropriate to talk about inspiration for an entire genre, that type of horror that takes the name of slasher.
The progenitors of this type of film are considered, in the mainstream, Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter and Friday the 13th (1980) by Sean S. Cunningham.
But to inaugurate and anticipate the genre that later became very popular and exploited in America were two Italian directors: first of all Mario Bava, with his 1971 Twitch of the Death Nerve, then Sergio Martino in 1973 with The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence.
Many have “fished” from the works of Mario Bava, some have even built a disproportionate fame behind the intuitions of the Italian horror master, who has given rise to numerous other genres over the years, despite budget and timing of limited achievement.
In his films we can discover several scenes plagiarized by American and Italian authors.
This is the case of Reazione a catena (in the English-speaking markets released as Twitch of the Death Nerve, Bay of Blood, Bloodbath), totally full of sequences copied by everyone, from Carpenter to Sam Raimi to the aforementioned Friday the 13th saga. It is worth mentioning the critic Alberto Pezzotta: “The slashers like Friday the 13th seem to have shamelessly copied it, without having understood the essential: that Bava does not respect any rules. And not only is he more cultured and more ironic than his alleged followers, but also much more evil ”.
Sergio Martino also starts from a sequence of Bava’s film to make an entire film based on university girls targeted in an isolated environment. A sub genre of the slasher genre, that of sinful schoolgirls, was therefore born with I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale (Torso or The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence), Quentin Tarantino‘s favorite Italian thriller, who from the genre repertoire of our cinema has always drawn copiously.

“Così imparano a fare i cattivi!”

We close with the working title of Reazione a catena, making fun of the “crafty” directors we caught… even if it is necessary to reiterate that our intent is more to offer the right tribute to artists who, with their creativity, have offered significant ideas and paved the way for others to follow.

Premi Play per guardare il trailer di TORSO

la_jetee2_5_precursori_classic_2_vintage

7 July 2022

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supercortemaggiore_il_caso_mattei_classic_2_vintage

THE MATTEI AFFAIR (1972) – THE MISTERY THAT IS NOT A MISTERY

By C2VCinema, Historical Figures, UncategorizedNo Comments

”These days there is a lot of talk about Italian energy independence, given that there is a need to disengage from the current enemy of the "masters" with crawling stars. Energy independence, the real one, has been within our reach for decades and has been hampered by the same leeches who today want to impose further sacrifices on us for their economic and political interests.
Daniele Pieraccini

Enrico Mattei

«We Italians have to get rid of this inferiority complex that we were taught, that Italians are good writers, good poets, good singers, good guitar players, good people, but they do not have the skills of the great industrial organization. Remember, friends from other countries: these are things that made us believe and are now teaching you too. This is all false and we are an example of it. You must have faith in yourself, in your possibilities, in your tomorrow; you have to train this tomorrow for yourself».

These days there is a lot of talk about Italian energy independence, given that there is a need to disengage from the current enemy of the “masters” with crawling stars. Energy independence, the real one, has been within our reach for decades and has been hampered by the same leeches who today want to impose further sacrifices on us for their economic and political interests.

Basilicata, for example, literally floats on oil. As early as 1400 the inhabitants saw tongues of fire produced by methane; the first research activities began in the 1900s, until 1959 when, thanks to Enrico Mattei, the first important deposits came to light.

The kitten’s parable

It is to this exceptional and courageous entrepreneur, whose figure Eni continues to exploit to boast an ethic that does not belong to it, Francesco Rosi dedicated a remarkable film in 1972 (never released on DVD), drawing it from the book The Assassination of Enrico Mattei by Fulvio Bellini and Alessandro Previdi (also co-writers of the film) and entrusting the role of manager to Gian Maria Volonté: The Mattei Affair (Il caso Mattei),
an investigative film that should be seen by everyone, screened in schools and recognized as an essential testimony of an event that has profoundly changed the fate of our country.

Starting from the end, or rather from the death of Mattei, which took place in a plane “accident” in 1962, Rosi stages a narrative of the facts carried out with documentary rigor but compelling, original and objective at the same time. Using different narrative registers and never leaning into hasty conclusions, the Neapolitan director gets involved artistically and humanly, creating, with the help of the usual great Volonté, a masterful mosaic of political inquiry.

Dwelling for a moment on Volonté, just think that in the same year he also shot Elio Petri’s The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso)…

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The Movie Poster

“

I don’t want to be rich in a poor country

“

In 1945 Enrico Mattei was appointed extraordinary commissioner for the liquidation of the Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli (AGIP). Soon the manager from the Marche contravened the orders, bypassing the Board of Directors recently appointed by AGIP and ordering new drilling in the Lodi area, convinced about the potential of the company he had been called to liquidate.

Mattei deems it necessary to keep in Italian hands the possibility of benefiting from any fruitful developments in the hydrocarbon sector, sparking controversy and disagreements between those who are ready to support it and those who fear above all a reaction from the Allies.

Mattei’s suspicions about the insistence on the liquidation of AGIP are confirmed by the generous offer, of 250 million, from the United States for the acquisition of the company’s facilities, as well as by the sudden increase in foreign technicians in the Lodi area and by the simultaneous release of permits for exploration and research.

Strongly supported by geologists, Mattei convinces the Minister of Industry Giovanni Gronchi and the Minister of the Treasury Marcello Soleri with his reports: he is finally appointed vice president with the task of continuing the mining exploration.

Later Mattei founded Eni, building gas pipelines for the exploitation of methane, obtaining oil concessions in the Middle East and an important trade agreement with the Soviet Union.

His activity breaks the oligopoly of world oil companies (which he himself called “the seven sisters“), placing Italy in a period of national autonomy as well as making it competitive in the world, outside the logic of exploitation of the economic cartel.

The interview (from the movie “The Mattei Affair”)

Over the years, also engaging through media and politics (he founded the newspaper Il Giorno) and opening up to African and Middle Eastern countries with an equal approach far from colonialist logic, Mattei increases its power and aims at a political and economic detachment from orbit of the Allies.

L’intervista (dal film “Il caso Mattei”)

Gagliano’s speech and death

On 27 October 1962 Enrico Mattei was in Gagliano Castelferrato, in the province of Enna. The area is promising in terms of gas and oil fields, but the local politics of the period is in the pay of the Americans and tries to block their way.

Mattei addresses the locals, the misery and hopes of the locals; his are important words, for future memory (if memory has a future). Those who took his place at Eni went in the opposite direction to his: drills roam wildly in Val di Noto and in our seas, but to supply NATO’s arsenals.

A few hours later, Enrico Mattei, together with the pilot and an American journalist who should have interviewed him, dies on board a small private plane that crashes while returning to Milan from Catania.

Enrico Mattei’s is not a story of a distant past, no longer of interest: it is the story of our wretched country, transformed into a land of conquest for other nations, it is the story of a murdered man, taken out of the way and replaced by others to pursue specific objectives. Objectives to date, sixty years after his sacrifice, more and more evident.

Watch the movie.

The arrogance of the powerful

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Articles about the movie

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Mattei in one of his frequent inspections at the plants

FRANCESCO ROSI TALKS ABOUT HIS FILM

“The Mattei Affair” (Italia 1972) by Francesco Rosi

Director	Francesco Rosi
Script	Tito Di Stefano, Tonino Guerra, Nerio Minuzzo, Francesco Rosi, Fulvio Bellini, Alessandro Previdi
Production	VIDESFranco Cristaldi Fernando Ghia
Starring	Gian Maria Volonté: Enrico Mattei Luigi Squarzina: the journalist Gianfranco Ombuen: ingeneer Ferrari Edda Ferronao: mrs Mattei Accursio Di Leo: sicilian politician Furio Colombo: Mattei’s assistent Peter Baldwin: Mc Hale Aldo Barberito: Mauro De Mauro
Cinematography	Pasqualino De Santis
Editing	Ruggero Mastroianni
Music	Piero Piccioni
Distribution	CIC
Release date	January 26th 1972
Time	118 minutes

TRIVIA:

In the last days of July 1970 Rosi contacted the journalist of the Palermo newspaper L’Ora Mauro De Mauro to reconstruct the last hours of Mattei’s life in Gagliano. De Mauro went to Gagliano where thanks to Mr. Puleo, manager of the local cinema, he managed to get the tape with the last speech made by Mattei; He also had talks with Graziano Verzotto, politician and administrator of the Sicilian Mining Authority (indicated by many as very close to the Giuseppe Di Cristina clan) and with Vito Guarrasi, a very ambiguous character close to both Amintore Fanfani and the US Secret Services. On September 16, 1970, De Mauro was seized from his home in Palermo and was never found again.

13 June 2022

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The Amazing Melita Guitar!

By C2VVintage USA Guitars, Vintage USA GuitarsNo Comments

”When this wild, obviously custom built guitar came into our world, I knew that we had to have it. Built in the mid-1950's, it has been attributed to being built either by or for Sebastiano “Johnny” Melita, who was of course the designer of the Melita bridge. While we don't have documentation of this, the story absolutely makes sense when you study the instrument.
Izzy Miller

Today our welcome guest is a unique, absolutely unprecedented guitar: a splendid Melita solid body owned by our friend Izzy Miller, a great hunter and collector of fine instruments.
He will tell us about it himself:

«When this wild, obviously custom built guitar came into our world, I knew that we had to have it. Built in the mid-1950’s, it has been attributed to being built either by or for Sebastiano “Johnny” Melita, who was of course the designer of the Melita bridge. While we don’t have documentation of this, the story absolutely makes sense when you study the instrument.

We will start with the fact that the original Melita bridge found on this instrument includes the *stupid rare* original string mute, which we have only seen on a few other Melita bridges over the years.

We are sure that Melita was in well with Gretsch at this point, which explains the early metal Gretsch knobs that lack the G or arrow branding to the tops, the DeArmond Dynasonic pickup (it originally carried a pair of them as evidenced under the non-original and non-working Hofner replacement), and the Grover keys (which were found on a number of Gretsch instruments).

The Gretsch association also makes sense when it comes to the two-piece neck construction and the shape of the neck heel and end cap. The Philadelphia connection is further corroborated by the mid-1970’s Philadelphia newspaper page that we found in one of the back cavities.

The tailpiece is homemade and is a pretty impressive piece in itself. The original aluminum nut appears to be an early homemade attempt at an adjustable nut. It, along with the tailpiece, is very, very cool.

It appears that Mr. Melita had this built and then used it to test ideas over the years. The hole in the pickguard goes into the body as well, but nothing appears to have ever been wired up there.

The black plastic plate on the back and the routing underneath look to be a later attempt at weight relief, as the guitar is solid maple and a bit on the heavy side. The neck is chunky and has a slight v-shape to it as it heads towards the body. On top of feeling great, look at that flame in the maple!

The instrument lacks an adjustable truss rod and the neck has a slight bit of relief in it. Paired with the original brass frets that show a decent amount of wear, the action is low where it should be but it is quite buzzy up and down the fretboard.

It’s obvious that this instrument was played fairly heavily and we are sure that someone out there has more pieces to this mysterious story…»

Thanks to Izzy for the history and images of this unique and fascinating instrument.

Click on the link to visit Izzy Miller’s Facebook page

22 April 2022

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Fender Telecaster Blonde 1963

By C2VUncategorizedNo Comments

”It is the emblem of minimalism: a maple neck screwed to an ash body with 2 pickups, the Fender Telecaster is probably the longest-running solid body guitar in history and certainly one of the most fascinating.
Lorenzo

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Today we welcome a beautiful 1963 Blonde Telecaster that our friend Mark R. has restored on behalf of his uncle E. R.

It is one of the early “veneers” and is a real gem, especially after Mark’s work.

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Mark replaced the malfunctioning pots with other originals consistent with the year, oiled the mechanics and bridge and gave the guitar a nice polish, absolutely manual, to the finish of the guitar.

He also did this well-finished work for his uncle’s other Telecaster, an equally splendid ’68 Lake Placid Blue that we will present to you shortly.

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In the beginning of the 1950s Leo Fender, then a technician specialized in radio repairs and in the construction of electric steel guitars, together with George Fullerton created what would prove to be the first solid-body guitar of industrial production, an exquisite example of fascinating simplicity. .

Initially called Esquire and immediately renamed Broadcaster, a name to which it will immediately have to give up due to a dispute with Gretsch for its Broadkaster series of drums, the Telecaster was immediately a great success among young guitarists for its affordable price, excellent sustain. and the absence of feedback.

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Over the years it has proved to be an extremely versatile instrument, it has become the favorite instrument of many guitarists who have made it their workhorse, making it the queen of country and blues but also of rock and funky and later of new wave and of pop, becoming the symbolic guitar of the Police in the person of Andy Summers.

The rest is history.

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AN INTERESTING VIDEO ON THE TELECASTER “TWANG”

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15 April 2022

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Phase 4 (1974) – The dystopia of reality

By C2VCinema, Historical Figures, UncategorizedNo Comments

”1974: the film destined to change (in silence) the history of cinematography is released and which, in a final as innovative and visionary as it is chilling, tells a hypothetical future of the human race that instead increasingly resembles the present.
The Boss

The novel “Phase IV” by Barry N. Malzberg was based on the draft of the screenplay and was released before the film

1974: the film destined to change (in silence) the history of cinematography is released and which, in a final as innovative and visionary as it is chilling, tells a hypothetical future of the human race that instead increasingly resembles the present.

THE POST-HUMAN CROSSROADS

Article by Daniele Pieraccini

Where works created by authors also geographically and chronologically distant meet, all converging towards a single concept: the “alien” invasion understood as the trigger of a palingenesis of known reality.

Something foreign to human nature works to take possession of our own Being, changing us to exercise unlimited and absolute control.

In this imaginary apocalyptic crossroads pass films such as “They Live“, “Logan’s Run“, “The Matrix“, “Videodrome“, “THX 1138″, “Soylent Green“, “The Terminal Man” as well as titles already covered in this blog such as “I viaggiatori della sera“, “Hanno cambiato faccia“, “Wounds“, “Swiss Made 2069“, “Good News“, “Omicron“.

Movie Poster

The fake mash-up poster derived from the Italian film Omicron and Phase 4

About the latter: the fake poster released a few months ago and referring to an alleged 1963 film entitled “The Omicron variant” is actually an edit of the poster of “Phase IV”, a surprising SF-horror from 1974, made by Saul Bass.

Saul Bass, illustrator, maker of logos for large companies and above all king of posters and film titles, which he transformed into a fundamental introduction to movies.

Influenced by Constructivism and Bauhaus, thanks to his minimalist artistic vision (see above all the example of “Anatomy of a murder”) Bass was able to leave his mark on the history of cinema, transforming the opening credits into an integral part of work, prologue to the story and an identifying mark of the film itself.

Saul Bass and some of his famous posters

After winning an Oscar in 1969 with the short film “Why Man Creates” and inspired by the short story “The Empire of Ants” by H. G. Wells (1905) and perhaps also by “The iron heel” (1907) by Jack London, Bass in 1974 he made his only feature film as a director.

“Phase IV” was a flop at the box office and crushed by critics, but over time it has become a “cult” and has finally been re-evaluated by some commentators, who have recognized its dimension as a universal metaphysical drama. Surely, on a visual level, we are faced with a nightmare of visionary intensity that deserves further study.

A recurring criticism of the film’s release consisted in highlighting a lack of satisfactory explanations to the story told, which made the work an exercise in visual style devoid of interesting meanings: ultimately a 50’s monster movie, with good intentions and valuable documentary shoots but summarily useless. This impression is shared by anyone who has seen Bass’s film over the years, including myself.

The leading actors are Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy and Lynne Frederick. Davenport and Frederick had previously worked together on another dystopian catastrophic film, “No Blade Of Grass” which is about a plant virus that undermines the food supply of all big cities, leading to famine.

After almost forty years from its release, however, here’s the surprise: the ending of the movie seen by the whole world until 2012 was not what the author thought. The production in fact opted for a rather obvious epilogue in the images and in the meaning, compared to that foreseen and created by Bass.

And it’s a different story entirely. It is with this rediscovered ending that everything takes on another meaning, so much so that a “50s monster movie” becomes a real masterpiece.
We find references to Kubrick, anticipations of Ken Russell’s visions, a concept of rebirth that we will find in Cronenberg… Many elements aimed at showing us a destiny, indeed, a post-atomic and post-human phase now upon us and that “someone” designed for us.

Whether they are the machines of Matrix, the aliens of Omicron / They Live, or the insects of Phase IV, a reality foreign to humanity is permanently changing our condition. A substantial dehumanization looms; the only way is to rebel against mechanization, depersonalization, the oppressive and coercive power that oppresses us more and more.

The computers shown in the laboratory are real: it is mainly the GEC 2050.

Those of the rediscovered finale of the film are five minutes of visionary creativity that change the fate and meaning of a film, raising it to grandiose and prophetic levels. An explosive ending, a disturbing trip that shows the decline of mankind. A majestic film mirage hard to forget.

The Italian title is therefore misleading: Phase IV is not about the destruction of our planet, but a reconfiguration of humanity itself, by taking possession of bodies and minds in order to mathematically and “efficiently” reorganize life on Earth.

The fatal Phase IV comes after an artfully constructed tension between visual metaphors, surrealism, excellent sound commentary, beautiful photography and even discreet acting. Everything takes on a sense with this ending, an apocalyptic sense blasted in the face (with force but also with a certain executive subtlety) to the spectators who are annihilated in front of a representation of anti-human inevitability that leaves us terrified.

Among the rich symbolism of the film we find lozenges inscribed in “crop circles” and 7 particular obelisks.

Desert shooting was done in Kenya.

The technical side is very important, just look at the use made of micro cameras (in 1974!) To follow insects closely; note also the realization of a “subjective” of an ant.
On a visual level, it is ultimately a monumental work: even the phenomenon of crop circles is anticipated by a few years.

The plot in short: following a spectacular and mysterious cosmic event, ants of every species evolve in a lightning-fast and inexplicable way. Insects soon wage war on humans, quickly immunizing themselves from the chemical weapons used to fight them and erecting eerie geometric monoliths surrounding a laboratory in Arizona, the base of humans trying to oppose the fierce colonies of mutated insects.

The ant revolt is mechanical, organized, an extreme and efficient assembly line that leaves no way out for humans.

The terrible mystical ecstasy of the finale reveals the real purpose of the invasion: far from wanting to destroy the planet, the plan of the ants, Phase IV, foresees the transformation of the human species and its adaptation to the world of insects. Total assimilation.

The film’s human protagonists eventually reveal that they don’t know what ants want from us, but await instructions. The technocrat dream of the (solely) operative man is about to come true.

The Phase 4

“There are fields… endless fields, we’re human beings are no longer born. We are grown. For longest time, I wouldn’t believe it… and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. ”
The Matrix

THE ORIGINAL PHASE 4 TRAILER

The Japanese musician Stomu Yamashta contributed to the music of the final sequences.

“Phase 4″ (Usa 1974) by Saul Bass

Starring
Original Title	Phase IV
Countries	United Kingdom, United States
Release Date	September 6, 1974
Running time	86 min
Genre	SF, drama, horror
Directed by	Saul Bass
Written by	Mayo Simon
Produced by	Paul B. Radin
Production	Alced Productions, Paramount Pictures

Cinematography	Dick Bush
Edited by	Willy Kemplen
Special FX	John Richardson
Music	Brian Gascoigne
Scenography	Don Barry
Nigel Davenport: Dr. Ernest Hubbs Michael Murphy: James R. Lesko Lynne Frederick: Kendra Eldridge Alan Gifford: Sig. Eldridge Robert Henderson: Clete Helen Horton: Mildred Eldridge

8 April 2022

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Eko C22: for the few!

By C2VHistorical Figures, Uncategorized, Vintage Italian GuitarsNo Comments

”It seems incredible that a Les Paul copy could be one of the rarest guitars and yet in the case of Eko's C22 it is just like that.
Lorenzo

It seems incredible that a Les Paul copy could be one of the rarest guitars and yet in the case of Eko’s C22 it is just like that.

This guitar, extremely comfortable, light and compact, was unfortunately built in an extremely very limited number, unlike the C11 (SG copy) which are quite easily found. Really strange for a Les Paul copy.

But it is a very special instrument, whose body is entirely made of a very unusual oriental wood called Jelutong which contributes with its yellow color to give that fascinating amber-orange that makes the C22 immediately recognizable to enthusiasts.

The neck, bolt-on or set-in, is typically late 70/early 80, a maple/mahogany/maple sandwich with rosewood fingerboard.

The C22 was born in 1978 as the C11 and has the same neck. The pickups, as was typical of that period, were offered to choose between a pair of excellent Eko HP and HD from the parent company and a pair of Di Marzio Paf and Dual Sounds of the C22/S version.

The controls are the typical 2 volumes and 2 tones with a 3-position selector but in addition, we find a switch to split the coils of the Dual Sound pickup.
A great solid steel bridge with brass saddles tops it all off, adding sustain to this beautiful instrument.

This C22/S is part of the collection of our friend Roberto Coccia Ascoli who, after extensive research, bought it many years ago from the previous owner, after much insistence and paying a good amount, given its rarity.

This reminds me of an episode from almost 20 years ago and which at times still causes me restless nights: I was about to grab a splendid C22 for 100 euros, but…