music
October 1964
SMALL WONDER / RITA PAVONE
Poignant - - Powerful - - Pavone !
Produced by Joè Renè and Hugo & Luigi
Recorded at RCA Victor's Studios in Rome and New York City-
October 1964
LSP -2996 Stereo - RCA Victor -
The “ small wonder “ is really a big wonder.
Last year, just as we heard fabulous reports about the Beatles in England, so we kept receiving fantastic flashes about this Rita Pavone in Italy. Within thirteen months after cutting her first record, she was # 1 on the Italian hit parade. It was March of ’63 when the disc hit the million mark. As her succeeding records appeared, sales kept mounting and soon showed three million.
Unbelievable . considering the size of the Italian recode market.
But then the Pavone pasta began working its magic in other countries.
Soon there were reports of record.breaking reactions in Japan, Germany, the Benelux countries, Spain and South America.
Well , if you saw her on her first appearance before American audiences – she was a “first “ on the Sullivan show, as were the Beatles – you understood in a flash what the shouting was about.
She’s small – tiny, in fact. Only five feet. She’s young, only eighteen and looks younger. She’s light. Only eighty pounds. She’s bright. She slings English words and phrases around like old songs. Words like elf, gamin, imp, kitten come to mind when you want to describe her.she has been called “ a small bird of a girl with a power voice “ and “ a sparrow with Jackie Coogan eyes “.
Just say she’s unique. In an Italian movie version of our comic-strip character “ Dennis the Menace “, she plays a boy. And her startling work costume makes her look like the Coogan kid once did – black pants, suspenders, man’s shirt, boots and close- cropped haircut.
The style and sound are as unique as the get-up. The voice- strangely reminiscent in its vitality snd metallic thrust of that other sparrow, Edith Piaf.
Also, the sincerity, conviction, feeling and sheer excitement.
Listen to this album and you’ll see why they “ luve” the “ Keed”, as she would Say. This is an anthology of teen-age hits of the past years – from Splish Splash and Lipstick on Your Collar to recent twisters. And the “ Keed’s” got heart as well as spirit, as you’ll hear Wait for Me and It’s Not Easy. In fact, few people here realize that Rita Pavone is thought of principally as a ballad singer in Italy.
It’s really no wonder that the “ small wonder “ is the singing world’s new wonder.
From the back cover notes
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