Mass Media Stars

Mass Media Stars is the second album by the Italian progressive rock band Acqua Fragile. The album was released by Dischi in 1974. The album is sung entirely in English, as was the band's first album Acqua Fragile, but it also received a release in the United States which was unusual for an album by an Italian progressive group.

Reception

Dag Erik Asbjørnsen in Scented gardens of the mind compared Acqua Fragile's sound to Genesis, Yes and Crosby, Stills & Nash, combining Lanzetti's nasal voice with "majestic guitar licks" and three-part vocal harmonies.
Augusto Croce in Italian prog commented that the album was similar to their first, but with slightly better production. Jerry Lucky in The progressive rock files said: "Sounds like early Genesis. Two LPs produced by PFM and it shows in their sound."

Personnel

Musicians

Bernardo Lanzetti: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 8-string guitar
Gino Campanini: electric guitar, mandolin, vocals
Piero Canavera: drums, percussion, acoustic guitar, vocals
Franz Dondi: bass
Maurizio Mori: keyboards

Others

Gaetano Ria: engineer
Claudio Fabi and PFM: producers
Guido Harari: design, photography
Bernardo Lanzetti: lyrics
Piero Canavera: music

Release history

Discogs lists 23 versions of Mass Media Stars including two unofficial versions. Versions have been released on LP, CD, cassette and 8-track cartridge from 1974 to 2021, starting with the original LP and cassette versions released by Dischi in 1974.

Plagiarism

In 2018 Bernardo Lanzetti and Acqua Fragile accused the rapper Busta Rhymes of plagiarism because in "Genesis", the song that gives the title to his 2001 album, he used a sampling of "Cosmic Mind Affair", taken from Mass Media Stars, without declaring it and indeed attributing it to himself.