SUPERMAN by FABIO FABOR / ANTONIO ARENA

Repress of rare 1984 synth album, originally only released as a promo for Radio and TV programs. 180 grams black vinyl 500 hand numbered copies1983, in the history of synths, is a key year. During the January edition of NAMM (the most important music fair in the US), MIDI - the standard protocol for electronic instruments interaction - was introduced to the world. Until then, programming and making synths work together was something practiced by a restricted elite of “wizards", explorers armed with cables and analog patches, who could create new sonic worlds - but totally temporary, not replicable. In Italy, the seeds of this tradition were planted in RAI’s Laboratory of Phonology (in Milan), in the middle of the 1950’s; later, pioneers like Piero Umiliani, Federico Monti Arduini (aka Il Guardiano Del Faro), Marcello Giombini, Giampiero Boneschi and Fabio Borgazzi (Fabio Fabor) introduced electronic music in pop. Fabor (together with Antonio Arena) is the protagonist of “Superman", an album of library music released by the World label (owned by Minstrel group) in 1984. Borgazzi, born in 1920, lived through the whole saga of Italian easy listening music (from big orchestras to the digital revolution), always keeping up with the latest styles and trends. So it’s not a surprise, here, to see him using a LinnDrum and the first Japanes synths; and it’s perfectly natural to find some electro-funk touches (especially “Rockit", by H