The Years vinyl

The mighty Italians Do It Better return with a four track EP of productions from the archives of Italo disco legend Fred Ventura - which will precede an 18 track LP due out later in the year. The iconic producer has been a long term fan of the label and showered Johnny Jewel and co with champagne during the Bologna arm of Desire's European tour last year. It was here that Ventura presented some copies of the reissued tapes of his early post-punk outfit State Of Art. The figurative lightbulb went on in the heads of the IDIB decision makers who inquired about the possibility of Ventura having some recordings of his solo work. Fast forward a few months and a veritable bounty of unheard home recordings arrived at IDIB HQ, containing some 86 tracks from the Ventura archives recorded between 1982 and 1987 that only a few close friends have heard before. From that pile of sonic magic, the label has culled four tracks for this opening EP! The heaving Italo flex, fat synths and endlessly lovely broken English yearning vocals on "The Years (Go By)" hog the A-Side in both vocal and instrumental form - proper disco business here! Flip over for "You Want Me", which could just be the long lost Italian answer to Depeche Mode, while the 80s action movie closer "Don't Give Up" rounds off a fantastic sampler. Bring on the album please Mr Simonetti!

AJELLO, Ali Renault, Markus Schneider / Robot Scientists, Tabernacle Records DJs