12. Ci vuole poco ... S-24

C I   V U O L E   P O C O...   S-24

1. Una notte intera (Eine ganze Nacht) G. Loose- J. Last; Ital.wds.: Wertmüller-Misselvia
2. Gira gira (Reach out I’ll be there) Holland-Dozier-Holland; Ital.wds.: Cassia-Cenci
3. Qui ritornerà (Here it comes again) Reed-Mason; Italian words: Nistri
4. Fortissimo (Lina Wertmüller-Bruno Canfora)
5. Gimme some lovin’ (Steve Winwood)
6. Tu guardi lei (Lina Wertmüller-Bruno Canfora)
7. Questo nostro amore (Wertmüller-Enriquez) w/ Luis Enriquez; I Cantori Alessandroni

1. Ci vuole poco (Perretta-Corima-Franco Pisano)
2. Stop, stop, stop (Allan Clarke-Hicks-Graham Nash; Ital.wds.: Mogol)
3. Per una come me (Morina-D’Ercole-Melfa)
4. Il geghegè (Lina Wertmüller-Bruno Canfora)
5. La Svizzera (Lina Wertmüller-Bruno Canfora)
6. La sai troppo lunga (Claroni-Enrico Ciacci)
7. Dove non so (Lara's Theme) – Maurice Jarre-P.S. Webster; Ital.wds: Migliacci-Vassalo

This is the closest we get to a ‘Greatest Hits’ album in this review. Most of the songs had already been released as singles. Actually as Italians didn’t have anything resembling a ‘sound-track’ album for any of Rita's films, this album tries to catch two birds with one stone. There are 4 tracks from ‘La Zanzara’ (shot in the summer of 1966) and 6 numbers from its sequel ‘Non stuzzicate la zanzara’ (Don’t play with the mosquito) shot in the winter of 66-67.

‘UNA NOTTE INTERA’ – Eine ganze Nacht – A ballad written by Günter Loose and band-leader James Last with Italian words by Wertmüller and Misselvia. Rita sings it accompanied by Guido Relly and his orchestra with the 4+4 di Nora Orlandi.

‘GIRA GIRA’ – Reach out I’ll be there – The Four Tops tour-de-force was covered all around the globe. Rita’s cover is pretty good being close enough to the Motown original. One can see that Rita tried her best to sing as close to the Motown sound as possible but how could anyone top the Four Tops' rendition? That’s a rhetorical question only.

‘QUI RITORNERÀ’ – see ‘Rita, o Mosquito’ for comments.

‘FORTISSIMO’ – see ‘Rita, o Mosquito’ for comments.

‘GIMME SOME LOVIN’ – This Steve Winwood song is a winner.  Rita’s second cover of a  Spencer Davis Group original is pretty good. The arrangement is excellent. As in ‘Strong love’, Rita sings only the first verse repeating it many times.  As a musical number in ‘Non stuzzicate la zanzara’ it is even more impressive. In the movie Rita wears black make-up and a black wig deliberately reminding us of Diana Ross & the Supremes. Swinging London meets Motor Town Detroit.  Nothing bad for a 1967 flick when British rock and Detroit soul were kings. Rita was cool again! She should have forgotten her children fans that were after all growing up quickly and wanted to see her doing rock not kid’s stuff.

‘TU GUARDI LEI’ – You stare at her –  Beautiful ballad written by Wertmüller and wonderful Bruno Canfora. ‘Tu guardi lei’ is in league with ‘Fortissimo’ and ‘Quanto sei antipatico’ (see ‘Rita, o mosquito'). The same Bruno Canfora magic all through its heavenly melody and stylish piano part. This is the best song in the film. After watching the movie I couldn’t wait for it to be released in Brazil but by mid 1968, RCA Victor couldn’t be bothered. The movie itself played for only a few weeks and disappeared completely from view. By 1968 Brazil was a different country. Brazilian rock & pop plus Anglo-American music were on top of the charts. Italian music had vanished nowhere to be seen.

‘QUESTO NOSTRO AMORE’ - This love of ours - A powerful ballad written by Lina Wertmüller and Luis Enriquez for Cantagiro 1967, it opened and closed ‘Don’t play with the mosquito’. This would be Wertmüller’s last last colaboration with Pavone for soon after Lina became involved in serious movie-making that brought her overdue international ackowledgement. Wertmüller went for bigger and better things. 

Everyone involved with Rita then knew that she was having a secret romance with her manager Teddy Reno. She later claimed ‘Questo nostro amore’ was her and Teddy’s special love song and she would give her all when performing it publicly. Ferruccio Ricordi, Mr. Reno’s real name, was still technically married and was the father of a boy. Divorce was illegal in Italy at the so they had to hide their romance from public view otherwise they would be excomunicated by the draconian Vatican.

‘Questo nostro amore’ was released in the spring and became a big hit in the summer of ’67 when Rita sang it at Cantagiro.  Actually in hindsight it was Pavone’s last big hit. After that she had only medium sized hits at Ricordi. When she went back to RCA Italiana in 1970, the times had changed so much she could never catch up with it anymore.  

‘CI VUOLE POCO’ – It takes very little – It is a surprisingly good song but it went nowhere. It opened a TV show called ‘Il tappabuchi’. It tells the story of a girl who’s interested in two men at the same time is undecided which one to take.  It would take very little to decide which one she’d choose. 

‘STOP, STOP, STOP’ –  Such a boring song. The Hollies had so many good songs to choose from and Rita (or her producer) came up with this dud. Okay, it’s not the end of the world but it could be better, much better.

‘PER UNA COME ME’ – For one like me –  Another good ballad. Nothing really outstanding about but good enough melodically and pleasing to the ear. It has never been released in Brazil either.

‘IL GEGHEGÈ’ – see ‘Rita, o Mosquito’ for comments.

‘LA SVIZZERA’ – Swizerland – Sixth song from ‘Don’t play with the mosquito’. It makes sense in the movie due to Rita’s father be the chief brass in a military academy that trains Swiss guards, those types we usually see standing around the Pope in the Vatican. Musically mediocre... it’s hard to concede that Canfora also had his bad days... bad melodies in this case.  What can you expect from a song that begins with someone shouting:  ‘Ein, Zwei, Drei!’

‘LA SAI TROPPO LUNGA’ – see ‘Rita, o Mosquito’ for comments.

‘DOVE NON SO’ – ‘Lara’s Theme’ from ‘Dr. Jivago’ (Zhivago, in the English transliteration) – Maurice Jarre score for ‘Dr. Jivago’ is amazingly beautiful. The problem with this fragment of ‘Lara’s Theme’ is that it’s been sliced and butchered in a way that it became boring and unappealing. I love Maurice Jarre’s sound track but I hate Pavone’s cover, Ray Conniff’s, Connie Francis’ or anyone else’s. They should have not touched it. Buy the MGM sound-track album if you really want to listen to excellent music. 'Dove non so' is long, boring  and dragging all the way.