Picci

A small label founded in Rome by Pino Cassia, Picci had a very short life, and all of its production was in the years 1972-73.
Apart from the first LP, probably distributed by RCA, in the first year the records were distributed by Messaggerie Musicali, then in mid 1973 the distribution passed to Aris, and this is reflected by a change in the record label design.

Pino Cassia was a composer and lyricist rather popular in the 60's, he also translated some international hits, by the likes of Burt Bacharach, Doc Pomus, Bert Kampfert and others.

The Picci name is not particularly relevant in the Italian prog scene, except for the presence, among the albums issued, of the ultrarare Tutto deve finire, the only release by La Seconda Genesi.
Other interesting titles for the lovers of prog are the singles by Gli Esseri, Il Punto, Le Aquile and Officina Meccanica, and the album by Paride e gli Stereo 4 (the latter only for its connection with La Seconda Genesi).

The pressing of the Picci albums was always very low, some say just a few hundred copies of each LP, and this caused a big interest by the collectors for the most part of these records, and consequently a rise in their prices.

Most of the Picci productions were credited to Cassia himself and Redo Lucchetti as composers, and both authors also appear on some singles released from another small label, Ellecci, probably connected to this. Another recurring name in the Picci productions is Oscar Lindok, a name behind which hid the composer Giacomo Dell'Orso. On his 1973 album, Come upstair, some tracks were composed by Campo di Marte guitarist, Enrico Rosa, who also played the guitar. Rosa himself contributed with some compositions and with the musicians of his band's last line-up to the LP The Physicians, one of the latest issued by Picci.
Also connected to this label was Beat Records, founded by Franco De Gemini (the harp player in Morricone's Once upon a time in the west for the Sergio Leone eponymous movie), that had some artists in common with Picci.

The Picci label had a different design during its short life of the record company.
Early records had a red label with blue logo (except GLA 2001, that was light blue), later replaced by a black one
starting with GLA 2005, when the distribution deal was changed.
Many copies of the first four albums (GLA2001-2004) were distributed in promotional form, the first LP with "Disco fuori commercio" printed on the label, the others with a blue stamp carrying the "Disco campione non vendibile" writing only on one of the labels.

An odd feature of some of the Picci LP's, including the very rare Tutto deve finire by La Seconda Genesi, is that they have the front cover coloured with random splashes of paint, that made every copy different from the others. These covers, made by glossy white cardboard, were painted on one side only, with a paste-on sheet on the back with titles and recording notes.
In some cases the painted covers, with blank back cover with no title sheet applied, were used to replace the standard printed ones on other records (as with GLA 2003).
A similar graphic effect had been obtained in 1972 by CGO, with a series of library LP's (by groups such as Panamera, Corfull, Playsound Orchestra), all having an identical printed cover, reproducing splashes of paint.

Other oddities in the Picci production are some LP's issued with the same cover picture (The Fast Machine a.k.a. Oscar Lindok and two Vasco LP's) and the Franco Chiari LP with two different covers .

The last known single in Picci's discography seems to be a later release. It's a single by Antonio Leone, Bella bellissima, that has on the cover the text "Sigla Girl Italia '81" and an unusual light blue label similar to the first LP made by Picci. It's likely that this single was issued in 1981.

LP number	Band/Artist(s)	Title	year	notes
GLA 2001	Paride & gli Stereo 4	Naufrago in città	1972	picture cover - light blue label
GLA 2002	La Seconda Genesi	Tutto deve finire	1972	painted cover - red label
GLA 2003	Ugo e Vittorio	Sono una formica	1972	both picture cover and painted cover exist - red label
GLA 2004	Fiammetta	Io, l'altra faccia della luna	1972	picture cover, laminated on front and with flipback - red label
GLA 2005	Orchestre Giacomo Dell'Orso, Claudio Gizzi, Mario Migliardi	My favourite tones	1972	painted cover - black label
GLA 2006	The Fast Machine	The fast machine	1972	picture cover - black label
GLA 2007	Oscar Lindok & His Friends	Come upstair	1973	painted cover - red or black label
GLA 2008	Corinna	El grillo è bon cantore	1973	picture cover - red label
GLA 2009	Vasco	Ritmi e suoni	1973	picture cover, identical to GLA 2006 - black label
GLA 2010	Vasco	Interspaziale	1973	picture cover, identical to GLA 2006 - black label
GLA 2011	The Physicians	The Physicians	1973	art cover - black label
GLA 2012	Franco Chiari	Franco Chiari al sint	1973	picture cover - black label - also exist with art cover and with painted cover

SINGLES number	Band/Artist(s)	Title	year
LG 1001	Bruno Cesarini	Marianne Padre mio, padre Dio	1972
LG 1002	Fathia	Somiglia a te Perché	1972
LG 1003	Piero Della Fonte	Oh yeh Quattro mura di lana	1972
LG 1004	Fiammetta	Il tango delle capinere Non toccatemi vernice fresca	1972
LG 3001	Gli Esseri	Il corpo di una madre Un mare di tranquillita	1972
LG 3002	Fathia	Somiglia a te Perché (also issued as LG 1002)	1972
LG 3005	Fiammetta	Il giardino dei fiori finti Ma chi siamo noi	1972
LG 3006	Fiammetta	La terra e il seme Angelo mio	1972
LG 3007	Erica Solari	Ti volti indietro Io ti ucciderei (also issued on Champion CP-1001)	1972
LG 3008	Il Punto	Non si ferma nessuno La ballata del tempo	1972
LG 3009	Bruno Cesarini	Marianne ???	1972
LG 3010	Vittorio e la sua chitarra	Gocce d'acqua Per una volta per un momento	1972
LG 3011	Carmelo Pagano	Io non vivrò Tu sei lì che mi aspetti	1972
LG 3012	Ugo e Vittorio	Il tempo delle olive Un fiore in mezzo al fango	1972
LG 3013	Deborah	Solo un uomo I misteri dell'amore	1972
LG 3014	Officina Meccanica	Signora Marisa La mia strada in periferia	1973
LG 3015	Mary Martin	15 giorni Sembri un bambino	1973
LG 3016	Le Aquile	Il tuo splendido amore Agnus Dei	1973
LG 3017	Ernesto Bassignano	Guarda verso riva Da terra arida	1973
LG 3018	Carlo da Ragusa	Nella tua mente Evelyn Rubare un amore	1973
LG 3019	Fathia	Un giorno in più dell'eternità Che faccia hai	1973
LG 3020	Officina Meccanica	The land of a thousand dances Un prato e poi sognare	1973
LG 3021	Laura	Una farfalla non strappa il fiore Non ci sarà poeta	1973
LG 3022	Amedeo	Ed è subito sera La farfalla	1973
LG 3023	Stelvio Cipriani	Ed è subito sera La farfalla	1973
LG 3024	Marta Lami	Ma se mi va mi va Sempre a casa tornerai	1973
LG 3025	Lina De Lima	Io ti cerco Gorny	1973
LG 3026	Corinna	Forse tra cent'anni Che sensazione ti dà	1973
LG 3027	Laura	Dimmi che ci sei Dimmi cos'è	1973
LG 3028	Vassil Kojucharov	Backfire Don't say you love me	1973
LG 3029	Officina Meccanica	Bambini innocenti Bambini innocenti (strumentale)	1973
LG 3030	Piero Della Fonte	Io no Sonia	1973
LG 3031	Silvano Polidori	Poesia di dicembre Un mondo di ricordi	1973
LG 3032	Giuliano Spiga	Sole mare e te Terra di Sardegna	1973
LG 3033	Silvano Polidori	Allora bevi Un'anima in più	1973
LG 3034	Antonio Leone	Bella bellissima Bella bellissima (strumentale)	19??

Picci - LP, light blue label (promo copy)

Picci - LP, red label

Picci - LP, black label

Picci - LP, detail of promotional blue stamp on GLA 2002-2004 LP's

Picci - 7" single, red label

Picci - 7" single, black label

Picci - some examples of painted covers, the LP's are GLA2002, GLA2005, GLA 2007 and only a few copies of GLA 2003

Picci - the identical picture covers of GLA2006, GLA 2009 and GLA2010 LP's

One of the 1972 LP's by CGO with a printed cover similar to the painted ones later made by Picci

Thanks to John Elvis Gualtieri, Giuliano Semprucci, Lorenzo Pittan of Amarcord Records, Franco Brizi of Vinylseduction, Fabio Paolotti, Giovanni Ottone for some of the pictures on this page, and to Carmelo Pagano for one of the scans, his recollections and information on Pino Cassia and Picci.