Artist

EXPLOIT

Carlo Crivelli (keyboards, vocals)
Enzo Cutuli (bass, vocals)
Aldo Pignanelli (drums, percussion)

Exploit were a little known band from Rome that only released an ultrarare album, Crisi, for the small label CGO. 

The group was formed at the end of the 60's, with a five-piece line-up comprising Lamberto Fiaschi (vocals), Piero Stano (guitar), Luciano Livi (keyboards), Mauro Picone (bass) Tonino Valeri (drums). The last three left the group, and Fiaschi and Stano were joined by Enzo Cutuli on bass and Aldo Pignanelli on drums. Later on singer Lamberto Fiaschi also left and his place was taken by the young keyboardist Carlo Crivelli, this quartet backed a popular singer, Bruno Filippini, with which they recorded a version of Summertime for a TV show that was never released.
In 1971 the group was offered the chance to record a single for the CGO label, and L'anima nuda was recorded in an afternoon in Naples.
The four musicians then started working on an LP, with compositions by Crivelli and Stano, and the departure of the latter for his military duties didn't stop the others, who carried on as a trio and released the album.

Crisi is one of many minor albums from the Italian Pop containing two very different faces, the A side contains a long three-part suite, the B side features six commercial pop songs, four of which were also released on the band's first two singles. 
While these shorter songs are rather dull and inconsistent, the side-long Crisi, composed by three parts, has very interesting moments with the keyboards of Crivelli being the lead instrument with some ELP and Le Orme influences. One of the three parts of the suite is sung in English, rest in Italian.
For this long track only, the album deserves a listen, but the price of an original is too high for the real musical value.

It's likely that the group played at the Rome Villa Pamphili Festival in May 1972, playing the entire Crisi suite, but their presence is not documented in the reviews that appeared at the time.
After the album release, even bassist Cutuli left for the army and Exploit broke up, although a final single, rather commercial and different from their previous released, was issued by CGO in 1973.
Keyboardist Carlo Crivelli had an intense musical activity as composer and orchestra director. Guitarist Piero Stano moved to France, where he still lives, and was a guitar teacher for many years.

LP
Crisi	CGO (FC 1008)	1972	gatefold cover
	CGO (FC 1008)	1989	as above - official reissue
	Sonor (SME 24)	2016	new reissue with gatefold cover in 500 copies
CD
Crisi	Mellow (MMP 189)	1994	reissue of 1972 album
SINGLES (with picture sleeves)
L'anima nuda La tua pelle scotta	CGO (EX 601)	1972	both tracks from Crisi
Il campanile della cattedrale Giochiamo insieme	CGO (EX 001)	1972	both tracks from Crisi
The green's man Hot Mexico road	CGO (EX 607)	1973	both unreleased tracks - apparently only issued with blank cover

An extremely rare item that only had a limited pressing of a few hundred copies, reaching a $1000-1500 value;  the album has had a 1000 copies reissue in 1989 from the original masters, keeping the same design and label as the original, and this second issue is easier to find though expensive.

The reissue is very similar to the original, and can be identified mainly by the label, that's smooth where the first issue had a rough, almost textured, paper. The printing on the seam is thin, whereas it was in thick type on the original LP.
All the labels in the reissue carry the "Disco campione - Vietata la vendita" writing ("Promotional copy - Not for sale") and have the circular SIAE stamp in dark ink, very hard to notice. Both these elements can also be found on some original copies, hence they are not always useful to identify this record.
In the label layout the main differences are:
- the CGO logo on the top side of the label has an inclined "record" writing between the "C" and the "G" in lower case letters (the reissue has the same writing in capital letters);
- the "33 giri" writing on the left side is centered on the "SIAE" logo (in the reissue the two writings are aligned on their left margin);
- the original label has a 32mm groove near the spindle hole which is much less deep in the reissue.

No counterfeits nor foreign issues exist.

The LP had a new reissue in 2016 by Sonor Music Editions in a limited pressing of 500 copies. It's remastered from the original tapes and has the gatefold cover.

The three singles are difficult to find though not particularly expensive.
The first one is L'anima nuda, recorded in 1971 as a quartet and probably issued in 1972 just like the second Il campanile della cattedrale. Both these singles with their B-sides were included in the LP Crisi.
The third and last single, rather commercial, was presumably issued the following year only with a blank cover. It's odd to notice that The green's man had already been issued in identical version in 1971 with the title Fantasia della natura on the LP Dodici rose rosse (Pinciana PM 003) by the Orchestra Walter Rizzati. The composer's name on the LPfor this track is Agicor (Alfonso Corsini), but on the Exploit single it's credited to Corfull, a nickname used by Rizzati himself.

Crisi - LP
Crisi - original LP (left) and reissue
Crisi - side titles on the cover of the original (left) and reissue LP
L'anima nuda - 7" single	Il campanile della cattedrale - 7" single
The green's man - 7" single

Thanks to Maurizio Fulvi, Giovanni Ottone, Massimo Livi, Piero Stano and Massimiliano Bruno for information and pictures.