Search - Gino Vannelli :: Ultimate Collection

Molto grato (almost three hours of pleasure)

Torquemada | Atlanta, Georgia USA / Madrid, Spain. | 07/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is probably the most complete compilation of all the "best of" collections of Vannelli songs released up to now.



Vannelli's career can be sliced in three pieces. The first era goes from his debut record Crazy life to his mega seller Brother to brother. It is the better known one, where he was releasing an album every year (6 from 73 to 78), hitting the charts and being considered as a sex-symbol by many ladies. "Felicia", "Love of my life", and mostly "I just wanna stop" are in fact still played every now and then on the radio.



Slice number 2 goes from Nightwalker to Unconsolable man, a period where there is more time space between each release, where Gino has problems with record labels (he wanted to release his stuff and the companies wanted to get more juice out of the Vanelli product after the success of Brother to Brother), and where he goes into an introspective phase. Even with the poppy Black cars, there is a clear musical shift.



Phase number three includes three albums in ten years : Yonder tree (a jazz album), Slow love (almost all ballads) and Canto (opera oriented, with songs in Spanish, French and Italian, and not featured on this collection). Vannelli now makes music the way he wants it, for a minority (by that meaning a reduced and specific audience), and he is practically retired from public life (last time I saw him in concert was in 95).



All that being said, this triple cd contains all the songs mentioned above, practically distributed in the three periods described (one per cd). The sound is sensational. Even the "old" Crazy Life is completely revamped (the original recording sounded so outdated...) making it a terrific journey, even for people like me who have almost everything he released (I kept out of my collection Big dreamers never sleep, despite the songs "Wild horses" and "Persona non grata"). Note that you get an extended version of "Black cars" and several cuts from his Live in Montreal cd. The only song unfairly left out is "Put the weight on my shoulders".



So, as often said in these cases, this release is what you need if you don't have anything from Vannelli and want most of his best cuts, OR if some pieces are missing in your collection, OR if you are a big fan of Gino Vanelli. Once you get this, despite the price, I would recommend you to get A pauper in paradise; side "B" (the album was first released in vinyl format, 1977) is played with the London Philarmonic and that is worth the ticket by itself."

Gino Vannelli Ultimate Collection--is pretty close to the ul

J. Anderson | Ridgeland, MS United States | 07/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great CD for the true Gino Vannelli aficionado. It hits many of the highlights of his musical career from 1973 to 1998. For me it is a nostalgic walk through the decades highlighted by his music. I'm very pleased that it has so many tracks from his early 70's albums (Powerful People & Gist of the Gemini) AND that it also includes tracks from the 90's albums (Yonder Tree & Slow Love) as well because so many people think Gino's music ended after Black Cars in the 80's. At some point it will need to be updated again to include the albums from this decade as well."

The Dutch Do It Again

J. Whitney | New York | 08/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"By far this has to be the best compilation of Gino Vanelli's work to date. Two CD's filled with the hits and some nice tracks that should have been hits and a bonus third CD with a cool danceable version of "Black Cars" included . Why is it that the Japanese and the Dutch can release the best compilations while the US puts out crap usually filler songs and rarely the original version of the song. I for one do not like remakes of a song once I hear it unless it is a live performance."