Exit (Alice album)

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Exit
Exit cover
Studio album by Alice
Released 1998
Recorded 1998
Genre Alternative, Electronica, R&B, Ambient
Length 46:01
Label WEA/Warner Music
Producer Francesco Messina
Professional reviews

All Music Guide 3/5 stars [1]
Alice chronology
Charade
(1995)		 Exit
(1998)		 God Is My DJ
(1999)

Exit is the fourteenth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 1998 on WEA/Warner Music.

After the musically experimental and lyrically introspective albums Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi (1992) and Charade (1996) Alice released Exit in 1998, her most pop-oriented and melodic studio album since the late 1980's. As All Music Guide wrote in their review: "the album often suggests Sarah McLachlan in a duet with Enigma".

The lead single "I Am A Taxi" was a lyrically minimalistic up-tempo dance groove with influences from contemporary R&B and electronica, and the single included further dancefloor friendly remixes.

The second single release, "Open Your Eyes", was an English/Italian language duet with Skye Edwards, lead singer of British electronica and trip-hop band Morcheeba, recorded shortly after the release of their 1998 album Big Calm (#18 UK). "Open Your Eyes" was co-written by Alice, producer Francesco Messina, singer-songwriter Juri Camisasca and Peter Hammill of British band Porcupine Tree and was again one of the most accessible and chart-oriented tracks the singer had recorded since Il Sole Nella Pioggia. The promo video showed the two singers performing the song sitting in a rowing boat on a sunny summer's day in London's Hyde Park.

Third single "Dimmi Di Sì" ("Tell Me Yes") was a midtempo ballad which juxtaposed subtle club beats and ambient keyboard effects with acoustic guitars. Exit also included a second duet between Alice and Italian alternative rock band Bluvertigo's Morgan, "L'Immagine" ("The Images"), and the two were to duet again on both Personal Jukebox in 2000 and Viaggio In Italia in 2003. The one minute eighteen seconds "Il Cielo Sopra Cielo" ("The Sky Over The Sky") was an excerpt from the ambient/crossover group project Devogue's eponymous 1997 debut album, a forty-five minute sound collage which had featured vocals by Alice on five of the thirteen titles. Exit closes with a cover version of French poet, composer, singer and musician Léo Ferré's "L'Étranger" ("The Stranger"), a poem by Charles Baudelaire set to music by Ferré and first released on his 1967 album Léo Ferré Chante Baudelaire.

Both "Open Your Eyes" and "Dimmi Di Sì" were later included in the 2000 career retrospective Personal Jukebox.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Dimmi Di Sì" (Alice) - 4:13
  2. "Open Your Eyes" (duet with Skye of Morcheeba) (Juri Camisasca, Peter Hammill, Alice, Francesco Messina) - 4:08
  3. "Il Vento Soltanto (Alice, Osvaldo Coluccino) - 3:25
  4. "L'Immagine" (duet with Morgan) (Luca Urbani, Marco "Morgan" Castoldi, Francesco Messina) - 3:43
  5. "Exit" (Alice, Osvaldo Coluccino) - 4:26
  6. "Isole" (Lorenzo Amato, Vincenzo Zitello) - 3:45
  7. "Il Contatto" (Alice) - 3:45
  8. "Il Cielo Sopra Il Cielo" (Francesco Messina, Mino Di Martino) - 1:18
  9. "I Am a Taxi" (Francesco Messina, Alice) - 4:29
  10. "1943" (Mino Di Martino) - 3:33
  11. "Transito" (Mino Di Martino, Francesco Messina) - 4:21
  12. "Lo Specchio" (Francesco Messina, Alice) - 1:58
  13. "L'Étranger" (Charles Baudelaire, Léo Ferré) - 3:07

[edit] Personnel

  • Alice - lead vocals, keyboards trks 2, 3, 5, 7 & 12
  • Marco "Morgan" Castoldi - vocals & electric bass trk 4
  • Andrea Cernecca - cello trk 13
  • Osvaldo Coluccino - vocals trk 5
  • Simone D'Eusanio - electric violin trk 6, 7 & 11
  • Skye Edwards - vocals trk 2
  • Michele Fedrigotti - string arrangements (6)
  • Marco Guarnerio - acoustic guitar 3, 4 & 5, electric guitar trks 9 & 11, additional keyboards trks 1, 3, 5, 6 & 11, Hammond organ trk 11, synth bass trks 1, 3, 5 & 9
  • Francesco Messina - synthesizers, samplers trks 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11 & 13, synth "guitar" trks 1 & 3, beats trks 11 & 12
  • Pino Pinaxa Pischetola - rhythm constructions trks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 & 13
  • Bruno Romani - flute trk 13, saxophone trk 6
  • Mauro Spina - synth bass trk 2, wave drum trks 7 & 13
  • Luca Urbani - vocals trk 4
  • Vincenzo Zitello - celtic harp trk 6

[edit] Production

  • Francesco Messina - record producer, sounds programming
  • Pino Pinaxa Pischetola - computer programming + processing, sound engineer, Stonehenge Studio
  • Marco Guarnerio - computer programming + processing, sound engineer, Didde Studio
  • Mixed by Pino Pinaxa Pischetola, Stonehenge Studio, Milan
  • Antonio Baglio - Mastering at Nautilus
  • Polystudio - cover design
  • Gianfranco Casula - Mac artwork
  • Sheila Rock - photography (Alice, London)
  • Alessandro Paderni - photography, (other photos, Milan) Altre foto: Milano
  • Una Sas, Bologna - executive producers
  • Paolo Santoli, Musica Srl, Bologna - management