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Alice
Alice, also known as Alice Visconti (born Carla Bissi,
26 September 1954, Forlì, Province of Forlì-Cesena, Italy) is an
Italian singer-songwriter and pianist, active since 1971. Alice had her
breakthrough after winning the Sanremo Music Festival with the song
"Per Elisa" in 1981, followed by European hit singles like "Una notte
speciale", "Messaggio", "Chan-son Egocentrique", "Prospettiva Nevski"
and "Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli rubati, Park Hotel, Elisir and Il
sole nella pioggia charting in both Continental Europe, Scandinavia and
Japan. In 1984 she represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
with "I treni di Tozeur", a duet with longtime collaborator Franco
Battiato. In her more recent career Alice has explored a diverse range
of musical genres including classical, jazz, electronica and ambient
and has collaborated with a large number of renowned English and
American musicians. Her latest album Viaggio in Italia was released in
2003.
After the comparatively low sales of albums Mélodie Passagère -
Alice Canta Satie, Fauré & Ravel (1988) and Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi
(1992) the EMI label declined to release or even record the 1993/1994
project Art et Décoration with the Arturo Toscanini Symphony Orchestra.
Instead they released a greatest hits compilation in 1994 entitled Il
vento caldo dell'estate, taking its title from the artist's first
Italian hit single and mainly focussing on material recorded in the
early 1980s. The compilation was issued without the knowledge or
approval of Bissi herself. The hits package included a Eurodisco remix
of the 1982 track "Chan-son Egocentrique", originally a duet with
Franco Battiato. The remixed version of the track, also released as a
12" single, however surprisingly omitted all lines sung by the composer
himself - again this was done without the knowledge or approval of
either Bissi or Battiato. The two subsequently considered taking legal
action against the label to have the compilation and the remix single
withdrawn - only to find that they legally had no control over the use
of their respective bodies of work recorded for EMI. This subsequently
led to both artists leaving the label after a fifteen year long and
highly successful collaboration.
Bissi's contract however stipulated that she was to deliver one
final studio album to the label before the end of 1995. As a compromise
she agreed to take part in the production of another hits compilation,
this time under her supervision. Unlike the first version, Viaggiatrice
solitaria covered tracks from all eras of her career on EMI, including
selections from her then more recent works Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi and
Il sole nella pioggia. The remix of "Chan-son Egocentrique" was omitted
from the track list. Despite this, the 1994 collection - including the
unapproved disco remix without Battiato's vocals - still remains in
print, some fifteen years later.
After Bissi's parting ways with EMI, the label and its Dutch
mid-price subsidiary Disky Communications have continued to capitalise
on the rights to her back catalogue, issuing a large number of hits
compilations in various price ranges under titles like I grandi
successi di Alice, Collezione, Le signore della canzone, Made in Italy,
Studio Collection, The Best of Alice, Collezione Italiana etc., again
mainly including early 1980s hits. The year of 2006 alone saw EMI
releasing no less than four of these best of packages in Continental
Europe, Scandinavia and Japan.
Bissi's following five year tenure on the Warner Music label has
also resulted in the release of unapproved compilations. 2006 saw the
label issuing a greatest hits package entitled Le Più Belle Canzoni Di
Alice, paradoxically and confusingly exactly the same title as one of
the four EMI compilations released the very same year, which includes
seven tracks recorded for the CBS label in 1975 and 1977 coupled with
some of her best-known 80s hits such as "Per Elisa", "Prospettiva
Nevski" and "Nomadi", the latter are however not the original versions
but re-recordings dating from the 2000 album Personal Jukebox, which
the compilation fails to mention in its liner notes.
Official Homepage: www.alice-officialwebsite.com
Canta Battiato (EMI, 1997)