Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi

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Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi
Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi cover
Studio album by Alice
Released November 20, 1992
Recorded May - December, 1991
Genre Alternative rock, Experimental rock, Contemporary Jazz
Length 44:49
Label EMI
Producer Francesco Messina
Professional reviews

All Music Guide [1]
Alice chronology
Il Sole Nella Pioggia
(1989)		 Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi
(1989)		 Viaggiatrice Solitaria - Il Meglio Di Alice
(1995)

Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi is the twelfth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice, released in 1992 on EMI Music.

Three years after the commercially successful Il Sole Nella Pioggia Alice returned to the music scene with her most mature and complex work to date, exploring genres like experimental and avant-garde rock and including influences from both contemporary jazz and European and Asian folk music. Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi, which translates as Noon in the Alps, also featured further collaborations with British musicians like keyboardist Richard Barbieri (former member of Japan and Rain Tree Crow, Barbieri also co-wrote two of the tracks), drummer Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), bassist Danny Thompson (Richard Thompson, John Martyn, David Sylvian, Kate Bush), guitarist Dave Gregory (XTC, Peter Gabriel, Porcupine Tree), guitarist and keyboardist Jakko Jakszyk (Level 42, Tom Robinson), bassist Martin Elliott as well as influential Italian jazz trumpeter Paolo Fresu.

The album's opening track and lead single "In Viaggio Sul Tuo Viso" includes an excerpt from the Hungarian folk melody "Istenem Istenem". The English language track "Blue Melody" is a cover of a song by American singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, originally included on his 1969 album Blue Afternoon. The lyrics to the track "La Recessione" were originally a poem by controversial cinematographer, intellectual and writer Pier Paolo Pasolini, set to music by Mino Di Martino. The song "Tim" was dedicated to the late Tim Kramer, a sound engineer with whom Alice had collaborated on the albums Mélodie Passagère - Alice Canta Satie, Fauré & Ravel and Il Sole Nella Pioggia.

Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi came to be Alice's final studio album for EMI Music. Despite its moderate commercial success the Italian subsidiary of the EMI label chose not to record the artist's next project, Art et Décoration with the Arturo Toscanini Symphony Orchestra, and instead released a best of compilation of 80's hits entitled Il Vento Caldo Dell'Estate, including an unapproved disco remix of the 1982 duet "Chanson Egocentrique" with Franco Battiato, which omitted all lines sung by the composer himself. This subsequently resulted in both artists leaving the EMI label after a fifteen year long collaboration.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "In Viaggio Sul Tuo Viso" (Francesco Messina, Alice) - 4:06
    • Includes "Istenem, Istenem" (Traditional, arranged by Francesco Messina, Alice)
  2. "Passano Gli Anni" (Francesco Messina, Mino Di Martino) - 3:50
  3. "Blue Melody" (Tim Buckley) - 5:54
  4. "Neve D'Aprile" (Francesco Messina, Mino Di Martino, Alice) - 4:02
  5. "Rain Town" (Francesco Messina, Richard Barbieri, Alice) - 4:00
  6. "Il Colore Della Lontananza" (Francesco Messina, Alice) - 4:21
  7. "Tim" (Dedicated to Tim Kramer) (Francesco Messina, Alice) - 1:06
  8. "Lungo Ritorno A Casa" (Francesco Messina, Alice, Rosario Cosentino) - 4:43
  9. "La Recessione" (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mino Di Martino) - 3:53
  10. "Madre Notte" (Francesco Messina, Paolo Fresu, Francesco Messina) - 3:20
  11. "Luce Della Sera" (Francesco Messina, Alice, Richard Barbieri) - 5:32

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Production

  • Francesco Messina - record producer
  • Recorded at Logic Studio Milan and Polystudio by Pino Pischetola & Marco Guarnerio, May-December 1991
  • Mixed at Logic Studio by Pino Pischetola, January 1992
  • Editing: Logic Audio File Studio
  • Polystudio - artwork, design
  • Massimo Gradone - photography
  • Comp Service, Udine - graphic design

[edit] Notes