The title says it all. Albums that I have listened over and over again and still enjoy after years. I will occasionally present them in random order from now on but I start with the favourite album of mine of all time. After 24 years it still sounds fresh and fails to annoy me. Also, it's a real rarity as none of the songs is a filler but each and every one are good enough to stand on their own. Park Hotel. Alice.
This album was a turning point for Alice's career and musical direction and shaped her future as much as it did mine. It was her 8th album and 2nd change of style. I listened this album over and over again. I know all the songs by heart. I remember I bought it in Stockholm for some reason and was dying to get home to listen to it... and didn't stop for weeks. It's a very autumn feel album and every fall it finds its way back to my CD-player. I knew Alice before of course and continue to follow her today. She has recorded several great albums but this one is the one for me. Besides the great melodies and timeless arrangements the lyrics are great throughout the album avoiding the banality and travel like nomads from India to Mannheim, London and other cities on avenues of loneliness avoiding magicians, martians, UFOs and spies. And on every journey you change a little but she will take you to the darkness after the setting of your thoughts, and she will wait for you even if you don't want to, like nomads resting resting their heads on a pillow of earth in search of peace.
Alice herself is involved as a writer in most tracks with Di Martino, Cosentino, Messina, Liverani, Zitello with the exception of Nomadi written by Juri Camisasca. Francesco Messina produced it and it can almost be considered as a band album as Jerry Marotta (drums), Tony Levin (bass), Phil Manzanera (guitars) and Michele Fedrigotti (keyboards) play it all with the help of Pietro Pellegrini and Allan Goldberg in the arrangements and programming. It's recorded and mixed n Lark Studio in Carimate and Logic Studio in Milan. Alice has said the title describes the two sides of modern life. Park represants the peace and quiet, hotel the busy noisy life.
Two singles were released, Nomadi and Conoscerci (or Volo di notte in different countries) but other tracks Il senso dei desideri, Volo di notte, Viali di solitudine and Luci lontane have become very popular amongst fans and got a lot of radioplay. The album is one of the best selling Alice albums making it a top-20 hit in central Europe, Scandinavia, Finland and Benelux and even Japan. Actually it was a much bigger success abraod than in Italy selling for example in Germany over 50.000 copies. Nomadi has been covered since by Franco Battiato, and Giuni Russo.
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