1.OUTSIDE: THE REASON WHY

 

1995-2015 It's been twenty years since the release of this album, stemmed from the renewed artistic collaboration of David Bowie and Brian Eno, their friendship rekindled at David and Iman's wedding in 1992.

 

So much has already been written about David that there is virtually nothing left to add.

In an interview, he described himself as “a god of Rock”: self-centered megalomaniac?

For some, he is an ever changing chameleon, a musical genius and even more than that, a true visionary. What else? A pioneer, a researcher always ready to change his perspective, always looking and thinking ahead, questioned by some, adored by those fans able to follow him along his many paths. All this in over forty years of career.

He wrote “We can be heroes...just for one day.” and “Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.”

 

And future is what “1.OUTSIDE” is all about. The dark future of a dystopian society in 1999, decadent and corrupted, where murder and human bodies dismemberment are the extreme degeneration of a perverted form of art.

 

There, in the neogothic slums of a big city,  Nathan Adler, Art-crime detective, investigates a series of ritualistic homicides. During his investigation, Adler (a hacker by self-definition) tracks down Ramona A. Stone, a fortish self-styled artist and, according to her acolytes,  tyrannical, futurist priestess of the Caucasic Temple of Suicides. In her shop, she collects abominations and amputated body parts. Other aberrant characters populate the sinister, dark suburban alleys: Minotaur the Artist (himself a masterpiece-to-be, due to his own dismemberment in progress), Mr. Algeria Touchshriek, 78, a highly disturbed, melancholic dealer in creative drugs, Leon Blank, a young male criminal of foggy ancestry who succeeds in luring teenager Baby Grace Blue, the pivotal character of the plot.

Minotaur injects her with 16 different liquids, from preservatives to anaesthetics, to dyes, to drugs. The last needle dries her of all her blood, she is then dismembered and her dissected parts are exhibited and admired as work of arts. But is it really art?

 

Such a story, unfolding through the songs and the recited texts connecting them, was bound to create something unique and highly controversial. The reviews have ranged from deep praise to total rejection, although the music itself has been generally appreciated.

 

And music it is, even if the first idea was a scenario where the performance-art is pushed to its limit, with  death as its ultimate expression. Avant-garde, inventive music of unprecedented sonorities, way ahead of its time. “1.OUTSIDE” is one more proof of Bowie's visionary genius, and, as arguable as it is, nonetheless its innovative progressive sound has had an indisputable influence on many music works in the following years.

The dark Gothic  atmospheres of the “1.OUTSIDE” clips are overwhelming and live performances of the songs unforgettable. Among Bowie's fans, Outside is considered one of his best albums, if, possibly, the most unsettling.

 

So, why now our 1.Outside Again? Because we believe that, after twenty years, the time is right to offer you, completely live, this full neglected masterpiece. Because we think that its music is still original, difficult and demanding to be performed. Michele Capraro, solo guitar, Francesco Infarinato, piano and boards, Massimiliano Angelotti, bass guitar, his brother Simone Angelotti, drums and Ambra Mattioli, leading voice, have accepted the challenge with passion, both on the human and the artistic level, eager to pay homage to the extraordinary talent of David Bowie. A tribute to the energy and creativity that spring from his music and from life. His. Ours.

 

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                                                                                        Ambra Mattioli (lead vocalist)
                                                                                        Francesco Infarinato (piano keyboards back vocals)
                                                                                        Massimiliano Angelotti (bass guitar)
                                                                                        Michele  Capraro (electric guitar)
                                                                                        Simone Angelotti (drums)