It was released on September 7, 1973 "Zarathustra"considered today one of the best non-English prog albums. It is a concept album based on "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Nietzsche, one of the favorite works of the members of the "Museo Rosenbach"
When the album was released, the group was immediately seen badly and accused of fascism due to various factors, the first being the bust of Mussolini in the photo collage, and then the very basis on which the album was based, Zarathustra and the Superman, still considered as "parents" of Nazi ideology. RAI, then the main means of gaining visibility, censored the album, and very few radios broadcast their songs. Instead the prog environment (deeply left-wing) ostracized the album, causing its sales to fall and damaging the name of the band in an almost irreparable way. "Museo Rosenbach"
But were Museo Rosenbach really fascist? No, it is sadly a big misunderstanding. As Moreno says in an interview, no one at the time understood the meaning of the front and especially the back cover, many stopped at the name of the album and the Duce. The back cover shows two arms, one with a syringe in the vein, which represents poverty and degradation, and then a well-dressed arm that squeezes people in its fist, obviously representing oppression. Looking at the face instead you see cells, poor children and Mussolini, the one who par excellence took away freedom from Italians. If we connect the dots then we can well understand that the cover is anything but fascist, it speaks of poverty, oppression and freedom. As for Zarathustra, as mentioned before, it was one of Moreno’s (Museo’s bass player) favourite books, who did not consider Zarathustra as an inspiring figure of one of the most monstrous ideologies in history, but as a positive prophetic character, told in fairy-tale tones and therefore suitable for a prog album.
Because of this flop, caused by Rai and the left-wing environment, the group never managed to fully recover and due to various commitments and doubts, the band broke up in 1974. Over the years other albums were released such as "Exit" in 2000 and "Barbaric" in 2013, but they are not remotely comparable to "Zarathustra". In 2015 one of the key members died, Giancarlo Golzi, the drummer and driving force of Museo Rosenbach, as Moreno said, with his death it is impossible to hope for a new album
Finally, a final note on the cover. Originally, the collage was supposed to include ancient temples, to recall the idea of ​​the museum suggested by the name of the group. However, the record company Ricordi decided to change it, giving life to the version that aroused so much controversy.
https://i.redd.it/jbshqt58qfnd1.jpeg
Posted by -Fornjotr-
6 Comments
Volevo condividere con voi la storia ,purtroppo triste, di uno dei miei album preferiti e magari farvelo ascoltare. È un album complesso con sonorità che vanno dall’epico al calmo anche velocemente, con una tastiera importante
Conoscete anche voi gruppi o album con storie simili che vennero oscurati o completamente censurati a causa di incomprensioni?
perchè i downvote?
> Un’ora fa
> 56% Upvote
> Zero commenti
OP, mi sa che la gente non è ancora pronta per questo grandissimo album che mi ascolto almeno una volta all’anno. L’unico difetto è che è davvero troppo corto.
Mah, così a naso, uno che infila in copertina il busto del Duce quantomeno lo fa per fare scalpore. Complimenti, missione compiuta.
Non avevo mai sentito parlare né dell’album né dei Museo Rosenbach, e ti ringrazio perché mi è piaciuto veramente tanto.
Vorrei segnalare il fatto che quei coglioni di Spotify hanno una versione ridotta (quasi dimezzata) di questo album. Mancano le tre tracce “Degli uomini”, “Della natura” e “dell’eterno ritorno”.
Comunque merita assolutamente. Forse il miglior album prog italiano di sempre.
Amo il prog e non lo conoscevo, lo ascolterò, grazie!