A Night In Italy

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: RED Distribution

Notes: A Night in Italy might really have been more accurately titled One Night 40 Years Ago in Italy. The most recent track is from 1973, and most are from the 1950s and 1960s. On the relatively sedate and charming "'A Tazza 'e Caffe" (1956), Nicola Arigliano comes across something like an Italian fadisto with a mandolin; Ferruccio Tagliavini's "Non Ti Scordar di Me" features a gorgeous accompaniment conducted (and, one suspects, arranged) by the genius Ennio Morricone; and there's simply no arguing with the charms of Domenico Modugno's "Volare." But low points include Vittorio de Sica's unforgivably moist "Munasterio 'e Santa Chiara" and Nini Rosso's rather creepy "La Ballata della Tromba." Sophia Loren does acquit herself quite nicely on "Che M'e 'Mparato a Ffa," though. This disc might make for some good, ironic fun at a hipster party. ~ Rick Anderson This is one of the stranger entries in the A Night In... series. For one thing, it might really have been more accurately titled One Night 40 Years Ago in Italy. The most recent track is from 1973, and most are from the 1950s and 1960s. You have to wonder: has Italy really produced no popular music better than this since 1973? Because to be perfectly frank, this stuff is mostly pretty awful. Not all of it, of course: on the relatively sedate and charming "'A Tazza 'e Caffe" (1956), Nicola Arigliano comes across something like an Italian fadisto with a mandolin; Ferruccio Tagliavini's "Non Ti Scordar di Me" features a gorgeous accompaniment conducted (and, one suspects, arranged) by the genius Ennio Morricone; and there's simply no arguing with the charms of Domenico Modugno's "Volare." But the low points really do get pretty low, among them Vittorio de Sica's unforgivably moist "Munasterio 'e Santa Chiara" and Nini Rosso's rather creepy "La Ballata della Tromba." (Sophia Loren does acquit herself quite nicely on "Che M'e 'Mparato a Ffa," though.) This disc might make for some good, ironic fun at a hipster party, but for serious listeners it doesn't offer very much, and it doesn't reflect particularly well on Italy's popular music industry in the latter half of the 20th century. ~ Rick Anderson

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