Gaznevada adventure started at the end of the seventies when Billy Blade, Bat Matic, Andrew Nevada, Chainsaw Sally and Robert Squibb decided it was time to give a form to their social / sonic hysteria. At that time alternative foreign records weren't that much distributed here in Italy, so it wouldn't be that correct to link Gaznevada sound to the one of The Contortions, Lydia Lunch and generally to those bands who took part to the no wave movement in USA (maybe they had been more influenced by early Talking Heads from what I can hear on "Oil tubes"). You've got to know that Italy and especially Bologna had a musical developement on its own, just like Pordenone and Firenze. Anyway, the first recordings of the band were gathered on the homonymous tape released by Harpo's Bazar on 1979 (tape that will be released sometimes soon). On this reissue you can find "Mamma dammi la benza" from that tape along with every track coming from their very first album SICK SOUNDTRACK (Astroman also included the track recorded as Billy Blade And The Razors which was given free as a one side single on the first press), the MLP DRESSED TO KILL and their single NEVADAGAZ. Musically you can hear a certain developement that brought the band from the punk impetuosity of the first single ("Blue TV set" is a real punk anthem) to the experimental jazz new wave of the first album where you can find gems like "Going underground" (really memorable its melody and the powerful sax parts), "Japanese girls", "Shock antistatico" (here it seems really to listening to the Contortions of "Designed to kill" mixed with the astonishing band's personality), "Tij-u-van" (a weird opening part that seems coming right from the "united states of middle eastern drunken land" just to turn into a upbeat post punk track). Punk turn back with the live recordings of "Now I want to kill you" where Gaznevada use all their energy for a straight punk song. Listening to this you'll releaze that the band was able to do direct songs with particular structures. With DRESSED TO KILL the sound is a little more elaborated even if there aren't so many differences from the first album. Tracks like "A. Perkins", "Dressed to kill", "Frogs on the phone", "Going underground (2)" (a two minute eccentric reprise of the song coming from the previous record), "D.J." and "When the music is over" (yes, it seems to be twisted experimental cover of the Doors track) are less direct respect the first album but they define a little more the sound of the band adding to it some lush light with those crawling rhythms and cold vocals. This is the second CD released by Astroman and it could be useful to tell who's behind this label. Well, you won't never tell, but it's the same person who was running Italian Records then who decided that it was time to make people discover a part of our musical past that no one should forget. See you soon with he's next reissue: Freak Antoni. I suggest you to don't miss these reissues, you'd regret it! P.s. Get your copy at http://www.sonicrocket.com