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Bo Michael Tretow, born August 20 1944 in Norrköping, Sweden, recording engineer and producer most notably for Swedish pop group ABBA 1970-1982 and subsequently work with Chess.

Michael B. Tretow was born 1944 in Norrköping, Sweden. As a youngster in the 1960s, he experimented with recording equipment in his room at home. Michael made some multi-overdub recordings of his own songs where he sang and played all the instruments himself.

The recordings led to a brief record deal, a four track EP which was a collaboration with Swedish comedian Povel Ramel's son Mikael, and released on the Knäppupp label. This led to Tretow finding employment as a trainee sound engineer at Metronome Studio in Stockholm, one the most XXX studios in the mid-sixties. In 1967 he made his first recording with one of the future ABBA members as he could be found behind the mixing desk during the sessions for the Hootenanny Singers album Civila (Civilians), which included the Svensktoppen hit "Början Till Slutet". In 1970 he started working in earnest with Björn and Benny, and the three young men hit it off right away. Michael had the patience to spend hours on getting exactly the right sound, which was a working method that suited Björn and Benny perfectly.

During the ABBA years, Michael was an invaluable source of inspiration for the group. He guaranteed a consistently high quality on the recordings, but was also keen to experiment and find new ways to acquire interesting sounds.

After the ABBA years Michael scored a couple of big novelty hits in Sweden, and he has written music for movies and commercials. During the 1990s, the continued sonic upgrading of the ABBA catalogue on CD was also one of his recurring tasks.

Discography

As artist

  • Michael & Mikael (4 track EP, 1966, with Mikael Ramel as 'Michael & Mikael')
  • This Is Our Family (Single, 1967, with Mikael Ramel as 'Michael & Mikael')
  • Let's boogie (1976)
  • Trafik-Trolle (early 1980s)
  • Caramba (1981, with Ted Gärdestad)
    • Michael B. Tretow (1982)
  • Tomteland (1985)
  • Den makalösa manicken (1986, under the pseudonym Professorn)
  • Hystereo Hi-lites (1989)
  • Greatest Hits (1999)
  • Trolles Trafikvett - Stopp (2005)
  • Trolles Trafikvett - Här Går Man (2005)

As producer

  • Lena Andersson: Det Bästa Som Finns (1977)
  • ABBA: Gracias Por La Música (1980)
  • ABBA: ABBA Live (1986)
  • Big Money: Lost In Hollywood (1992)
  • Big Money: Moonraker (1994)
  • Original Soundtrack: Bert - Den Siste Oskulden (1995)

As engineer

Sources, external links


Untitled

Broken Blossom is the fourth studio album by American singer Bette Midler, her second album release in 1977 and her fifth on the Atlantic Records label. Side A:

  1. "Make Yourself Comfortable" (B. Merrill) - 3:59
  2. "You Don't Know Me" (Eddy Arnold, Cindy Walker) - 3:39
  3. "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" (Billy Joel) - 3:02
  4. "I Never Talk To Strangers" (duet with Tom Waits (Tom Waits) - 3:39
  5. "Storybook Children" (David Pomeranz, Spencer Proffer) - 3:40
  6. "Red" (John Carter, Sammy Hagar) - 3:17

Side B:

  1. "Empty Bed Blues" (J. C. Johnson) - 3:19
  2. "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (Mack David) - 3:09
  3. "Paradise" (Perry Botkin, Jr., Gil Garfield, Harry Nilsson) - 4:15
  4. "Yellow Beach Umbrella" (Craig Doerge, Judy Henske) - 4:24
  5. "La Vie En Rose" (Mack David, Louiguy, Edith Piaf) - 2:59

Personnel

  • Bette Midler - lead vocals all tracks, background vocals tracks A3, B3, all background vocals track B4
  • Craig Doerge - keyboards tracks A1, B4, piano track A2
  • Russ Kunkel - drums tracks A1, A2
  • Alan Estes - congas track A1, percussion tracks A5, B3, B4
  • Lee Ritenour - electric guitar tracks A1, A2, A3, B3
  • Leland Sklar - bass guitar tracks A1, A2
  • Jim Horn - baritone sax track A1
  • Donny Gerrard - background vocals track A1
  • Brian Russell - background vocals tracks A1, A3
  • Chuck Higgins - background vocals track A1
  • Jimmy Haskell - arranger strings & horns track A2
  • Brenda Russell - background vocals tracks A2, A3, A5
  • Clydie King - background vocals tracks A2, A3, A5
  • Diane Brooks - background vocals tracks A2, A3, A5
  • Bobby Rozario - musical arranger track A3
  • Artie Butler - piano tracks A3, A5 B3, arranger tracks A5, B2, B3, arranger strings and horns track B4, arranger strings track B5
  • Jim Keltner - drums tracks A3, A5, A6, B1, B3, B4
  • Jack Jennings - percussion instruments track A3
  • Chuck Rainey - bass track A3
  • David Latman - background vocals track A3
  • Bob Alcivar - arranger track A4
  • Tom Waits - lead vocals, piano track A4
  • Frank Vicari - tenor saxophone solo track A4
  • Jim Hughart - bass tracks A4, A5, B5
  • Shelly Manne - drums track A4
  • Thom Rotella - guitar tracks A5, B3
  • Ira Newborn - arranger tracks A6, B1, guitars track A6
  • Don Randi - keyboards track A6, organ track B1
  • Fred Tackett - guitars tracks A6, B1
  • Jerry Scheff - bass tracks A6, B1
  • Steve Porcaro - synthesizers track A6
  • John Barnes - piano track B1
  • David Walker - electroc guitars track B1
  • Steve Douglas - saxophone track B1
  • Plas Johnson - saxophone track B1
  • Don Menza - saxophone track B1
  • Marshall Royal - saxophone track B1
  • Gene Goe - trumpet track B1
  • Don Rader - trumpet track B1
  • Bobby Shaw - trumpet track B1
  • Lew McCreary - bones track B1
  • Bill Watrous - bones track B1
  • David Hungate - bass track B3
  • Ellie Greenwich - background vocals track B3
  • Mikie Harris - background vocals track B3
  • Howard Roberts - guitar and ukulele track B4
  • Max Bennett - bass track B4
  • Mike Melvoin - arranger & piano track B5

Production

  • Brooks Arthur - record producer, sound engineer
  • Bob Merritt - sound engineer
  • David Latman - assistant sound engineer
  • Ivy Skoff - production coordinator
  • Bones Howe - producer track A4 for Mr. Bones Production
  • Management: Aaron Russo, Hollywood, California
  • Bob Defrin - cover design
  • George Hurrell - photography:
  • Primary recording location: The Record Plant, Los Angeles. Additional recording at Studio 55, Los Angeles.

ALICE

Alice (a.k.a. Alice Visconti, born Carla Bissi in Forlì, Italy on September 26, 1954) is an Italian singer/songwriter, active since 1971. Alice had her breakthrough after having won the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Per Elisa" in 1981, followed by European hit singles like "Una Notte Speciale", "Messaggio", "I Treni di Tozeur", "Prospettiva Nevsky" and "Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli Rubati, Park Hotel and Il Sole Nella Pioggia charting in both Continental Europe, Scandinavia and Japan. In her more recent career Alice has explored a wide range of other musical genres including classical, modern 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.

Biography

Early career

Alice started her career in music at the age of seventeen as she won the 1971 Castrocaro Festival under her birth name Carla Bissi, with an interpretation of the song "Tanta voglia di lei", originally composed and recorded by classic Italian rock band Pooh. The following year saw her winning another music award, La gondola d'argento in Venice, with the song "La festa mia" as well as making her debut in the important Sanremo Music Festival performing "Il mio cuore se ne va" in the Newcomers category, her song did however not qualify for the finals. Two further singles released as Carla Bissi followed in 1973 and 1974, both faring relatively unnoticed by the Italian audiences.

In 1975 she quit her dayjob at a design studio and took the stage name Alice Visconti as she got signed by the Italian subsidiary of CBS Records and released her debut album La mia poca grande etá. The album mainly consisted of material composed by the singer herself and producer Giancarlo Lucarielli. Among the musicians contributing to the album were members of Pooh. The singles "Piccola Anima" and "Io Voglio Vivere" , both in the fairly traditional melodic Italian ballad genre, became minor Italian chart successes and "Io Voglio Vivere" also became a modest hit in France.

A second album on CBS followed in 1977, Cosa resta... un fiore, recorded with the same team of producers and musicians as the debut, including the singles "...E Respiro" and "Un'isola" which also met with moderate commercial success.

Commercial breakthrough

In late 1978, shortly after her contract with CBS had expired, Bissi met a man with whom she would go on to collaborate with for the next three decades with great success, the experimental and unconventional composer and singer Franco Battiato who was just on the verge of having his Italian breakthrough in the pop genre with the album L'era del cinghiale bianco (The Era of the White Boar), released in early 1979. Battiato assured Bissi a contract with his label EMI Music and the two began working together with his producer Angelo Carrarra on what was to become her first proper hit single, the dark and despairing "Il Vento Caldo Dell'Estate" ("The Warm Summer Wind") and the following album Capo Nord (North Cape). Co-written and arranged by Battiato, the album saw Bissi making a dramatic change in musical direction as it combined influences from contemporary rock and New Wave and a musical landscape with prominent use of synthesizers and distorted electric guitars. At this time Bissi also dropped the Visconti part of her stage name and the Capo Nord album was the first to be credited simply as Alice.

In early 1981 she returned to the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Per Elisa", composed by Battiato and his longtime co-writer, classical violinist Giusto Pio. The song was both lyrically and musically a modern paraphrase of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Für Elise" but it was by no means an archetypal sentimental San Remo ballad. The rough rock track had lyrics which dealt with jealousy, betrayal, anger and revenge and included lines like "With Elisa you don't mind windowshopping for hours but when you're with me you can't even be bothered to pick up the morning paper. - - She's taken everything from you, even your diginity. - - Alive, alive, alive, you're no longer alive. - - You can't even fake it anymore, you can't even breathe without her - and she's not even beautiful." For the live performance at the contest Bissi made full use of her extraordinary vocal strength and range (partly sung in falsetto and thus covering close to four octaves), and the uncharacteristic Sanremo entry managed to make a strong impression on both the juries and the TV audiences. "Per Elisa" won the contest, becoming one of the very first up-tempo rock tracks to do so and it became Bissi's commercial breakthrough not only in Italy but also in the rest of Continental Europe, topping the charts also in Germany, Switzerland and Austria as well as becoming a Top 10 hit in most other countries including Scandinavia. An album followed a few months later, titled Alice (released as Per Elisa outside Italy), including follow-up single "Una Notte Speciale" ("A Special Night") and the same year Bissi set out on her first European tour.

The following years saw the release of the albums Azimut (Azimuth) and Falsi Allarmi (a play on the expressions 'false alarm' and 'crocodile tears'), again mainly co-written by Bissi herself, Battiato, Giusto Pio and produced by Angelo Carraro. The albums included further popular single releases like "Messagio" ("Message"), the nonsensical French/Italian/German/English language "Chan-son Egocentrique" ("Self-centred Song", a duet with Battiato), "La Mano" ("The Hand"), "A Cosa Pensano" ("What Are They Thinking"), "Notte A Roma" ("Night in Rome") and "Il Profumo Del Silenzio" ("The Perfume of Silence"). Bissi became especially successful in West Germany, resulting in her recording the German/Italian language duet "Zu Nah Am Feuer" with the singer Stefan Waggershausen in late 1983 (also recorded in English as "Close to the Fire"). The single which sold nearly a million copies in Germany alone was also a number one in both Switzerland and Austria. The duet made her one of the best-selling Italian artists on the German-speaking markets of the mid-eighties and it has been said that she actually sold more records in these countries, the Benelux and Scandinavia than in her native Italy.

In May 1984 Alice and Franco Battiato represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest with the highly unconventional song "I Treni di Tozeur" ("The trains of Tozeur"), again composed by Battiato, Giusto Pio and lyricist Rosario Cosentino. The mid-tempo synth-driven ballad was based around a very brief excerpt from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Magic Flute and was performed on stage in Luxembourg with three classically trained mezzosopranos. Despite being tipped to win and rapturous applauds from the audiences on the night as well as receiving the coveted "twelve points" from countries as diverse as Spain and Finland Alice and Battiato found themselves beaten to the trophy by the Swedish song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley", and finished 5th out of 19 entries. "I Treni di Tozeur" however became that year's bestselling entry in Continental Europe - and paradoxally enough also a Top 20 hit in Sweden. Both Alice and Battiato have since recorded several interpretations of the song, and in 2005 it was included in the Eurovision 50th anniversary CD/DVD box set Winners and classics.

In 1985 Alice followed up the success of the "I Treni di Tozeur" single with a full-length tribute album entitled Gioielli Rubati - Alice canta Battiato (Stolen Jewels - Alice sings Battiato), including nine of the composer's best-known songs. Angelo Carrara's production of the album, recorded in both Milan and at The Power Station Studios in New York, accentuated Battiato's influences from composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Mozart and Johannes Brahms by juxtaposing modern sequencer-programmed synthesizers and drum machines against a classically arranged string section, just like in the case of "I Treni di Tozeur" courtesy of the opera La Scala in Milan. The album's opening track, the ballad "Prospettiva Nevsky" ("Nevsky Prospekt") became Alice's best-selling single in Continental Europe and Scandinavia since her breakthrough with "Per Elisa" and was followed by "Summer on A Solitary Beach", "Il Re Del Mondo" ("The King of the World") and "Luna Indiana" ("Indian Moon", based on Mozart's Moonlight Sonata) and introduced Battiato's music to a wider European audience. In Italy the Gioielli Rubati album won Alice the prestigious award Premio Tenco for Best Interpretation.

In 1986 Bissi changed musical direction as she returned to the charts with the album Park Hotel, her first project with keyboardist, arranger and producer Francesco Messina, with whom she was to collaborate extensively over the next two decades. The album which included material co-written by Bissi herself, Messina, as well as prolific Italian lyricist and composer Juri Camisasca was also Bissi's first proper international venture as it was entirely recorded with a four-piece band consisting of Italian keyboardist Michele Fedrigotti plus three internationally acknowledged and highly influential musicians: American bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel Pink Floyd, Yes, Lou Reed etc.), American drummer Jerry Marotta (Orleans, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Tony Levin Band etc.) and British guitarist Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Pink Floyd etc.). The album was notably different to the preceding "I Treni Di Tozeur" and Gioielli Rubati as it mainly focussed on melancholy and suggestive ballads with airy soundscapes giving plenty of room for the musicians to display their respective talents and for Bissi to use her vocal skills in a new musical environment. Park Hotel was promoted by the lead single "Nomadi" ("Nomads"), an epic ballad by Camisasca, followed by "Il Senso dei Desideri" ("The sense of desire"), "Viali di Solitudine" ("The alleys of the lonely") and "Volo di Notte" ("Fly by Night"). Park Hotel was a resounding success both critically and commercially, reaching the Top 20 in most parts of Continental Europe, peaking at #13 on the Swedish albums chart and it also became her breakthrough on the Japanese market - despite the fact that all lyrics still were entirely sung in the Italian language. (The song "Nomadi" was however only moderately successful in Italy, it was later covered by none other than Franco Battiato on his 1988 album Fisiognomica and then became a hit in Italy for him.)

A tour in Continental Europe and Scandinavia followed on which Bissi performed tracks from the Park Hotel album alongside reworked arrangements of songs from her earlier repertoire; the romantic "Una Notte Speciale" became an up-tempo rock track, debut hit single "Il Vento Caldo Dell'Estate" was given a updated syntesizer and drum-machine treatment while songs like "La Mano", "Rumbarock" (retitled "Hispavox") and "Notte A Roma" were performed unplugged with acoustic guitars and sparse percussion. After the completion of the tour six of these interpretations were recorded in studio and released on the 1987 album Elisir (Elixir) which also included two previously unreleased songs, the opening track "Nuvole" ("Clouds") and a cover version of Lennon/McCartney's "The Fool on the Hill", released as the lead single. Elisir was later awarded the prestigious prize Goldenen Europe for sales on the German speaking markets. In Japan the album was released under the title Kusamakura and then included another unreleased track, "Le Scogliere di Dover" ("The reeves of Dover").

Musically and vocally versatile and unwilling to be categorized or defined 1988 saw Bissi setting out on a low key tour at smaller venues and classical concert halls in Italy and Switzerland accompanied solely by keyboardist Michele Fedrigotti and performing not her pop hits but works by classical composers Gabriel Fauré, Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel. The partly instrumental concert was later recorded in studio and released as Mélodie Passagère - Alice canta Fauré, Satie & Ravel (Fleeting Melody - Alice sings Fauré, Satie & Ravel) on EMI.

In 1989 Bissi returned with another pop album Il Sole Nella Pioggia (The Sun in the Rain] which was proof of further musical development as it was clearly influenced by contemporary British artists in the experimental and alternative rock genres such as Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and David Sylvian and among the all-star line up of musicians contributing to the project were in fact several who previously had collaborated with these: drummer Steve Jansen and keyboardist Richard Barbieri (Japan, David Sylvian, Holger Czukay etc.), guitarist Dave Gregory (Peter Gabriel, XTC, Porcupine Tree etc.), trumpetist and multi-instrumentalist Jon Hassell (Brian Eno, David Gabriel, David Sylvian etc.), Turkish flutist Kudsi Erguner (Peter Gabriel, Jean Michel Jarre, Didier Lockwood etc.) as well as renowned Italian trumpet and flugelhorn jazz player Paolo Fresu. The album closes with the English language track "Now and Forever", a duet with British progressive rock singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. The mainpart of the songs were collaborations between Bissi herself, Juri Camisasca and pianist, violinist and composer Marco Liverani [5] including the lead single "Visioni" ("Visions"), follow-up single and title track "Il Sole Nella Pioggia", "Tempo Senza Tempo" ("Time Without Time") and "Le Ragazze di Osaka" ("The Girls in Osaka"). Side two of the original vinyl album however opened with a multilayered accapella interpretation of the medieval French folk song "Orléans" on which Alice again showed her vocal capability by singing all harmonies covering four octaves, followed by the acoustic "Anìn A Gris" sung in the Friulian language. Il Sole Nella Pioggia also included a reworking of the track "Le Scogliere di Dover", originally released on the Japanese Kusamakura album, provided with new lyrics and retitled "I Cieli del Nord" ("The Skies of the North"). The album was another critical and commercial success followed by another sold-out European concert tour.

The 1990's

After a three year abscence from the music scene Bissi returned with the album Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi (Noon in the Alps) in 1992, her most experimental and mature work to date, again recorded with am impressive number of prestigious international musicians, mainly British, such as Richard Barbieri, Dave Gregory, Jon Hassell, Paolo Fresu as well as double bass player Danny Thompson (Kate Bush, David Sylvian, Richard Thompson etc.), drummer Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson etc.) and bassist Jakko Jakszyk (Dave Stewart, Tom Robinson, Level 42 etc.) The album displays Bissi's effort to steer away from being a commercially oriented Mediterranean pop act to a much more ambitious performer. Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi marked an increasing expansion into electronics, expressed in colorful synth sounds, occasional drum loops and subdued ambient passages as well as influences from contemporary jazz. The material was mainly co-written by Bissi and producer Francesco Messina with contributions from Richard Barbieri, Paolo Fresu and Rosario Cosentino, but the album also included an English language cover version of Tim Buckley's "Blue Melody" and the single track "In Viaggio Sul Tuo Viso" opens with the Hungarian folk melody "Istenem Istenem". The album also saw Bissi interpreting more complex lyrics, such as on the track "La Recessione" ("The Recession"), originally a poem by controversial Italian cinematographer, intellectual and writer Pier Paolo Pasolini set to music by Mino Di Martino. Despite receiving generally positive reviews from music critics and a following sold-out European concert tour the Mezzogiorno.. project wasn't as commercially successful as Bissi's previous efforts and this would eventually result in both artistic and legal complications with her record label, the Italian subsidiary of EMI Music (see EMI aftermath).

The years 1993 and 1994 saw Bissi embarking on the tour project Art et Decoration with the Arturo Toscanini Symphony Orchestra, performing works by classical composers such as Reynaldo Hahn, Charles Ives, Maurice Ravel, Xavier Montsalvatge, Geni Sadero, Gabriel Fauré, Ivor Gurney, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Unlike Mélodie Passagère the Art et Decoration project was not recorded and still remains unreleased.

1995 saw Bissi signing a five-year contract with the WEA/Warner Music label and the release of another pop album, the contemplative and instrospective Charade featuring contributions from musicians like Trey Gunn, violinist Stuart Gordon (Peter Hammill and the California Guitar Trio

Sono lontani i tempi dei successi di classifica: l'artista ha scoperto un equilibrio che le permette di produrre musica di qualità mantenendo un discreto numero di ammiratori senza farsi contagiare dallo show-business. A maggio del 1994 è protagonista di alcuni concerti con l'orchestra sinfonica di Arturo Toscanini per il progetto “Art & Decoration” che comprende musiche di Ives, Sadero, Montsauvage e altri: un progetto tuttora rimasto estraneo alla sua discografia.

Dopo aver lasciato la EMI (che aveva pubblicato un remix di "Chan-son egocentrique" senza la sua approvazione), Alice approda alla Wea con l'album Charade (1995) mantenendosi sulla scia dei lavori precedenti: testi particolarmente introspettivi (i singoli "Non ero mai sola" e "Dammi la mano amore" portano la firma dell'artista nuovamente in veste di autrice), melodie essenziali, suoni curatissimi e parecchi musicisti di fama internazionale () che nel ’96 la accompagneranno per un'ultima grande tournée europea.

Nello stesso anno partecipa come interprete e co-autrice all'album di Trey Gunn The third star, per quanto concerne il brano omonimo. Il 1997 è un altro anno di collaborazioni, con Francesco Messina e altri nel progetto Devogue, e nell'album Metallo non metallo dei Bluvertigo ("Troppe emozioni").

Lascia la casa discografica EMI e approda alla WEA per la quale incide Charade nel 1995, a cui segue un altro tour. Nel 1998 esce un altro album, Exit, da cui viene estratto il singolo Open your eyes in duetto con Skie dei Morcheeba. Del brano viene fatto anche un bellissimo video girato in un parco di Londra.

Nel 1998 esce Exit, album in cui viene dato ampio spazio all'elettronica, dove non mancano comunque pezzi degni di nota. Alice firma il brano d'apertura "Dimmi di sì", e alcuni altri sempre in collaborazione con Francesco Messina, mentre "Open Your Eyes", cantata in duetto con Skye dei Morcheeba, è firmata Juri Camisasca e Peter Hammill. Subito dopo nasce il progetto “God Is My Dj”, un percorso attraverso cui l'artista intende ricondursi al sacro tramite la musica: molti concerti sono stati tenuti direttamente nelle chiese. Nel ’99 God Is My Dj diventa un album.

Il 1999 la vede alle prese con un altro progetto live God is my DJ a cui segue il disco. Il progetto mira alla ricerca del sacro nella musica ed ottiene un discreto successo di pubblico e critica.

Recent career

Nel 2000 dopo 9 anni di assenza torna al Festival di Sanremo con il brano Il giorno dell'indipendenza di Juri Camisasca, ed esce l'album Personal Juke-Box con brani inediti e rifacimenti di vecchi successi.

Gli anni Duemila [modifica] Nel 2000 Alice partecipa al Festival di Sanremo con un altro brano di Juri Camisasca dal titolo "Il giorno dell'indipendenza" ed esce il cd Personal Juke-box in cui vengono inseriti alcuni brani storici riarrangiati unitamente a incisioni più recenti, con tre inediti.

Tra il 2001 e il 2003 è la volta del progetto LE PAROLE DEL GIORNO PRIMA che si arresta per problemi di casa discografica, i quali si risolvono nel 2003 e il progetto si trasforma nel disco Viaggio in Italia con brani dei migliori cantautori italiani e poesie di Pasolini e Joyce. All'album segue un tour e partecipa a varie manifestazioni.

Il 2006 e il 2007 la vedono protagonista di un mini tour chiamato LUNGO LA STRADA, che la porta a girare nelle chiese del nord Italia proponendo una scaletta con vecchi pezzi e qualche nuova cover tra le quali La cura di Battiato e ‘A‘cchiù bella poesia di Totò su musica di Giuni Russo, più l'inedita Ave Maria, antifona su musica di Alice.

Ma l'artista avrebbe optato per un altro album di cover allo scopo di riportare all'attenzione l'importanza della parola e della poesia nell'attività musicale, cosa che si concretizzerà successivamente nel progetto live “Le parole del giorno prima”: il programma spazia da Shakespeare a Pasolini, passando per Leo Ferrè e molti cantautori italiani.

Infatti, l'album che segue, pubblicato per l'etichetta indipendente Nun, viene realizzato nell'intento di riportare la poesia nelle canzoni e si intitola Viaggio in Italia (2003): un omaggio al meglio dei testi scritti da autori quali Ivano Fossati (che scrive appositamente "La bellezza stravagante"), Fabrizio De André, Francesco De Gregori, Guccini, Giorgio Gaber, considerando per la prima volta anche la produzione battistiana legata ai testi di Pasquale Panella: Alice interpreta, infatti, una bizzarra "Cosa succederà alla ragazza" ed "Ecco i negozi", rinnovando così anche la collaborazione con Morgan (Bluvertigo), col quale aveva reinterpretato tre anni prima "Chan-son egocentrique". Ancora la tromba di Paolo Fresu apre l'album sulle note di "Come un sigillo", già inciso nel 2002 per il cd Fleurs 3 di Battiato, in duetto con quest'ultimo, autore del brano assieme a Manlio Sgalambro.

Nel 2004 canta il brano "Sospesa" partecipando insieme a Morgan e altri artisti al progetto degli Zerouno, con la produzione artistica di Luca Urbani.

Tra il 2006 e il 2007 tiene alcuni concerti col nuovo progetto Lungo la strada, in cui attraverso il proprio percorso musicale, Alice pone l'attenzione su alcuni temi quali l'amore, la guerra, la poesia, la ricerca di sè stessi, la fede, costantemente al centro dell'esistenza. Si esibisce con Steve Jansen, Marco Pancaldi e Alberto Tafuri.

La EMI continua a ristampare i suoi vecchi album e a proporre nuove raccolte, nonostante l'ormai lunga assenza della cantante dai principali circuiti musicali.

EMI aftermath

After the comparatively low sales of albums Melodie Passagère - Alice canta Satie, Fauré & Ravel (1988) and Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi (1992) the EMI Music label declined to release or even record the 1993/1994 project Art et Decoration. Instead they released a greatest hits compilation in 1994 entitled Il Vento Caldo Dell'Estate, 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 an Italo-Disco remix of the 1982 track "Chan-son Egocentrique", originally a duet with Franco Battiato. The remixed version of the track, also released as a 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 Viaggatrice Solitaria - Il Meglio Di Alice covered tracks from all eras of her career, including selections from her more recent works Mezzogiorno Sulle Alpi and Il Sole Nella Pioggia. The remix of "Il Vento Caldo Dell'Estate" 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 Music the label and its Dutch mid-price subsidiary Disky Communications have continued to capitalise on the rights to her back catalogue, issueing 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 focussing on her early works. The year of 2006 alone saw EMI releasing no less than four of these greatest hits packages in Continental Europe and Scandinavia.

Bissi's following five year tenure on the Warner Music label has also resulted in the release of unapproved compilations. 2006 saw the label issueing a greatest hits package entitled Le più belle canzoni di Alice (paradoxally and confusingly the exact same title as an EMI compilation released the very same year) which includes six tracks recorded for the CBS label in 1975 and 1977 coupled with six of her best-known songs - the latter are however re-recordings dating from the 1999 album Personal Jukebox which the compilation fails to mention in the liner notes.

Sources and external links

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