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The
fourth album from Antonio Bartoccetti's international magic group Antonius
Rex, is the only one of their albums that went more or less "mainstream"
and had good sales. After the more "light" album (then their first Neque
Semper Arcum Tendit Rex) Zora, and the death of drummer Albert
Goodman (in 1978), Antonius Rex didn't really want to record more
albums. But when RCA contacted the band, and it was clear that the basic
core was Bartoccetti and Norton with guests, the band asked an exaggerated
advance. The label accepted and after 40 days in the Osthoff recording studio's,
Ralefun was released. The first edition of 12.000 copies was
burned out in just a few days.
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It seemed to be Antonius Rex's moment: interviews, commercial
pages, radio, TV, contracts for concerts, tempting proposals, sponsors
a 60 minutes super video and a super European tour that touches cathedrals,
ancient villas and castles of Oslo, Berlin, Lods, Praga, Ostrava, Brno,
Budapest, Ankara, Istanbul, Baku ending in Milan the 20th of April 1979.
But just like all legends... all this (incredibly) didn't satisfy the two
founders of the band anymore who in an interview for the international press
and the Milanese radio - Radio Popolare, said: "We are now running a big risk...
that of becoming commercial therefore before risking to fall in absurd compromises
of the music business, we say... enough".
Definitely much less dark than anything else they made, Ralefun
is more listenable then much of their previous work (probably causing the
venture into the more "mainstream" market). It was more varied and the
sound was richer with the addition of flute and bass guitar (with guest
appearences by Marco Ratti and Hugo Heredia), but some ventures into different
music styles don't always work very well. Filled with good compositions
but recorded in too much of a hurry and without much care, with a lousy
sound and poor mixing (Colin Coldweis was not at the controls)..... the
final mixing was done without the knowledge of the group. They were not
satisfied with the fact that their quickly recorded Ralefun, an
album full of good compositions but badly release, was their only work
that had good sales, thanks to the RCA marketing team and Sidet promotion.
Bartocceetti later stated in an interview in 2002 that Ralefun was
a ridiculous album both on the conceptual and the artistic-technical side,
and that all of their albums (including Jacula's) except Ralefun
could be described as limited editions, musical emotions for a selected
group, to accept or refuse as a whole. And so, this is the concept album
that has carried the group to the notoriety and the collectors to search
for all the other Antonius Rex/Jacula albums. After this album, Antonius Rex produced one last album - Praeternatural (1980) before dissappearing. It is often regarded as their best album (but since it is from another decade it is not included here). In 1992 a small 12" single entitled Pig in the Witch by Antonius Rex surfaced, described by Antonio Bartoccetti as a "techno experiment", and mostly sold in England. This was a short joy, but in 2005 Antonius Rex re-appeared completely and surprised fans with the combined album and video Magic Ritual. This time they came back for good, proven by the release of yet another album; Switch on Dark the following summer! Antonius Rex is the only band from the "occult rock wave" of the 60's/70's that is still active and records new material. Long live the Rex... |
Tracks: 1. Magic Sadness (3.46) 2. Agonia Per Un Amore (4.56) 3. Witch Dance (4.13) 4. Incubus (4.08) 5. In Einsteinesse's Memory (5.27) 6. Enchanted Woods (12.21) (No lyrics yet)
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Band Members:
Antonio Bartoccetti - Guitars, vocals Doris Norton - Keyboards Jean-Luc Jabouille - Drums Collaboration:: Marco Ratti - Bass guitar Hugo Heredia - Flute --- Recorded at: Osthoff Studios Munchen
Engineer / mixer: Doris Norton Cover / photography: Martin Elwood Production: SI DET Edizioni s.r.l. Licensed by TICKLE s.r.l. - Rome except track 2 and 3 licensed by PEER - Southern productions |
Release info: Released by RCA subsidiary Radio Records 1979 - Ralefun (LP) (ZPLRR 34048) Also released: Spark 1979 - Agonia per un amore / Witch dance (7") (SR 848) Reissued on CD Mellow records MMP 232 1994. |
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