Attila (album)

For the self-titled album by the band Attila, see Attila (rock band).

Attila
Studio album by
Mina
ReleasedOctober 1979
Recorded1979
StudioLa Basilica, Milan[1]
Genre
Length87:54
Language
LabelPDU
Mina chronology
Del mio meglio n. 5
(1979) 		Attila
(1979) 		Kyrie
(1980)
Singles from Attila
  1. "Anche un uomo"
    Released: March 1979[4]

Attila is a studio album by Italian singer Mina, released in October 1979 by PDU.[3]

Overview

The album, unlike other previously released double albums, is an absolute novelty: it does not consist of two stand-alone albums, independent and unrelated to each other, like the "doubles" that preceded it since 1972, but is a unitary project consisting of eighteen songs divided into two discs.[3]

"Anche un uomo" was the ending theme of the TV quiz show Lascia o raddoppia?[5] written by Mike Bongiorno, Anselmo Genovese and the famous "Mr. No" Ludovico Peregrini.[6]

"Don't Take Your Love Away" is a cover of a song written by Isaac Hayes. The song is also the longest track recorded by Mina. The track "Un po' di più" was originally sung by Patty Pravo and included on her album Sì... incoerenza in 1972. The songs "Rock and Roll Star" and "Anche tu" were also recorded by Mina is Spanish under the titles "Estrella del rock" e "También tù", respectively.[7] At just sixteen years old, Mina's son Massimiliano Pani made his debut as a songwriter with two tracks entitled: "Sensazioni" and "Il vento".

The album cover is signed by Luciano Tallarini, on photographs of Mauro Ballets reworked with the airbrush by Gianni Ronco. The album cover won the prize for best cover of the year and is displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.[8][9]

Released in October of 1979, Attila was an immediate success, rising to the second place of the Italian chart and entering the top ten most successful records of the year.[3] It is one of the best-selling albums of the singer's career.[3][10]

In 2024, in honor of the forty-fifth anniversary of the album's release, Warner Music released a limited edition of the album on colored vinyl. Also in this edition there is an unpublished additional illustration of Mina by Gianni Ronco.[11]

Critical reception

Claudio Milano from OndaRock [it] noted that Attila was positioned as an ambitious project, but in the end it turned out to be weak. It was from this album, in his opinion, that the decline in Mina's creative path began. Milano called the songs "Don't take Your Love" and "Shadow of My Old Road" the most worthy on the album.[12]

Track listing

Volume 1

Side A
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Tiger Bay"Julie ScottBeppe Cantarelli6:50
2."Ma ci pensi"Nino RomanoFederico Monti Arduini4:15
3."Se il mio canto sei tu"Paola BlandiCantarelli4:23
4."Non tornerò"BlandiCantarelli6:31
Total length:21:59
Side B
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Che novità"Firmo RizziniDanidy4:54
2."Bonne nuit"Andrea Lo VecchioShel Shapiro3:11
3."Sensazioni"
  • Alfano
  • Pani
4:47
4."Un po' di più"Sergio BardottiShapiro3:57
5."Il vento"
  • Alfano
  • Pani
  • Alfano
  • Pani
4:56
Total length:21:45

Volume 2

Side C
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Don't Take Your Love Away"Lee HatimIsaac Hayes9:25
2."Rock and Roll Star"Lo VecchioShapiro3:29
3."Fiore amaro"Enrico RiccardiRiccardi4:03
4."Sei metà" (featuring Beppe Cantarelli)BlandiCantarelli5:18
Total length:21:55
Side D
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Anche tu"Cristiano MinellonoCantarelli4:56
2."Street Angel"
  • Bobby Hart
  • Bobby Weinstein
Teddy Randazzo4:45
3."Che volgarità"Cristiano MalgioglioCorrado Castellari3:41
4."Anche un uomo"
Anselmo Genovese4:48
5."Shadow of My Old Road"RizziniDanidy4:05
Total length:22:15

Personnel

  • Mina – vocals (all tracks)
  • Beppe Cantarelli – arrangement (A1, A3, A4, B3, B5, C4, D1), vocals (C4)
  • Giulio Libano – arrangement (A2)
  • Rudy Brass – arrangement (B1, D5 )
  • Shel Shapiro – arrangement (B2, B4, C1, C2)
  • Mike Logan – arrangement (C3)
  • Erich Bulling – arrangement (D2)
  • Teddy Randazzo – arrangement (D2)
  • Massimo Salerno – conducting (D2)
  • Celso Valli – arrangement (D4)

Charts

Chart performance for Attila
Chart (1979–80) Peak
position
Italian Albums (Billboard)[13] 5
Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)[14] 2

References

  1. ^ "La Basilica" (in Italian). minamazzini.it. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  2. ^ Attila, Vol. 1 at AllMusic. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e Dalla Vecchia, Aldo (2020). "Regina lontana". Mina per neofiti: La vita, la voce, l'arte di una fuoriclasse (in Italian). Graphe.it Edizioni. p. 38.
  4. ^ "Anche un uomo / Se il mio canto sei tu". Discografia nazionale della canzone italiana (in Italian). Istituto centrale per i beni sonori ed audiovisivi. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  5. ^ Farina, Corrado (2000). Un posto al buio. ISBN 9788886312462.
  6. ^ "Cover versions of Anche un uomo by Mina | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
  7. ^ Mina (1959). Mina En Español (liner notes). Spain: Ariola. I-204 599. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Una vita in copertina…Luciano Tallarini,il guru delle front! | Fotografi Napoli". Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  9. ^ "Un volume raccoglie le copertine di Luciano Tallarini - l'Isola della Musica Italiana". Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  10. ^ Cantarelli, Beppe. "Se Il Mio Canto Sei Tu" (in Italian). beppecantarelli.com. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Attila (Doppio Vinile Magenta e Tiffany in Edizione Limitata + Immagin". Warner Music Italy Shop (in Italian). Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  12. ^ Milano, Claudio. "Mina - biografia, recensioni, streaming, discografia, foto". OndaRock (in Italian). Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  13. ^ Ruscitto, Germano (22 March 1980). "Hits of the World – Italy" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 12. p. 71. ISSN 0006-2510.
  14. ^ Racca, Guido (2019). M&D Borsa Album 1964–2019 (in Italian). pp. 225–228. ISBN 978-1094705002.