Alan Sorrenti

A very important artist from Naples, Alan Sorrenti released his first album in 1972 on Harvest. He had a welsh mother and had lived in Wales as a child.

Aria is a very nice album, with two different sides: the first only contained the long title track, a dreamy suite starting with acoustic guitar and based on the marvellous instrument-like voice of Sorrenti, and exploding in the final part with a memorable violin solo by Jean Luc Ponty. Side 2 was softer, with three tracks, two of which also appeared on a single.

The album was successful, and Alan Sorrenti was one of the few solo artists to compete with prog groups in the open air festivals of the time. The album was also issued abroad, but with little success.

A second album, with the long title of Come un vecchio incensiere all'alba di un villaggio deserto was released a year later.
It was based on the same formula as Aria, but probably lacked the fresh impact of its predecessor. Again a side-long title track opposed to some shorter and softer tracks, this time with help from Francis Monkman (Curved Air) and Dave Jackson (Van der Graaf Generator) along with percussionist Toni Esposito.

Third album is usually considered the least convincing of Alan's early production, despite some very good tracks, his style slowly shifting toward straight songs. The remake of the traditional neapolitan classic Dicitencello vuje, included on the album and also released as a single, was seen by his early fans as a treason, and while it gave very good sales and chart placement, it caused the artist to be boycotted in many summer festivals.

After a two year break a new Alan Sorrenti came back in 1976, with a more commercial style, influenced by dance music, and totally closing his past avantgarde experience. The long Alan Sorrenti's career ended with a last album in 1992.

LP (up to 1974)
Aria	Harvest (3C064-17836)	1972	gatefold textured cover with inner
	Harvest (3C064-17836)	1973	as above with smooth cover
	Harvest (3C064-17836)	1982	reissue of the above with single cover
Come un vecchio incensiere all'alba di un villaggio deserto	Harvest (3C064-17878)	1973	single cover with glued 12-page booklet on front
Alan Sorrenti	Harvest (3C064-18059)	1974	single cover with inner - two different label designs exist, standard and small
CD
Aria	Mellow (MMP 191)	1994	reissue of 1972 album - now deleted
	EMI (72438 60271 2)	90's	as above
	Vinyl Magic (VM 071)	2000	as above - now deleted
	Water (WATER 180)	2006	as above
Come un vecchio incensiere all'alba di un villaggio deserto	Mellow (MMP 192)	1994	reissue of 1973 album - now deleted
	EMI (72438 60270 2)	90's	as above
	Vinyl Magic (VM 076)	2000	as above, with bonus track Le tue radici, taken from 1974 single
Alan Sorrenti	Mellow (MMP 237)	1995	reissue of 1974 album - now deleted
	EMI (72438 60268 2)	90's	as above
SINGLES (with picture sleeve - up to 1974)
Vorrei incontrarti Un fiume tranquillo	Harvest (3C006-17852)	1972	both tracks from Aria
Una luce si accende A te che dormi	Harvest (3C006-17881)	1973	both tracks from Come un vecchio incensiere all'alba di un villaggio deserto
Dicitencello vuje Poco più piano	Harvest (3C006-18017)	1974	both tracks from Alan Sorrenti
Le tue radici part I & II	Harvest (3C006-17983)	1975	both unreleased tracks
PROMO-ONLY AND JUKEBOX SINGLES (with blank covers)
Dicitencello vuje	Harvest (3C000-70028)	1974	jukebox single - backed with other artist

The Alan Sorrenti albums are not particularly rare nor expensive.
The very first issue of Aria had a textured heavy gatefold cover and is difficult to find, while much common later issues (since around 1973) had a smooth thinner cover.
Come un vecchio incensiere had a small 12-page booklet with the lyrics glued to the LP. It's difficult to find this intact.

The third album, Alan Sorrenti, has a much simpler design than the others, a single cover with lyric inner. Two different issues exist of this album, one with the usual green/white Harvest label, the other with a similar label, but much smaller in size and with different layout.
The single Le tue radici, despite having a catalogue number lower than Dicitencello vuje was released later, in 1975.

Aria was also released by Harvest in 1973 in France (and probably also in Germany) with a totally different single cover, giving much relevance to the presence of Jean Luc Ponty. The back of the cover contains a large picture of Ponty, very popular in France at the time, whose name is also on the front cover, and no picture of Alan!

As it happened with Saint Just, one of the Sorrenti singles, Una luce si accende, has on the back cover the writing "l'unico ed autentico progressive italiano" (the only real italian progressive), probably the first time that the word "progressive" was used in Italy instead of the more common "pop" during the 70's.


Aria - gatefold cover

Aria - french issue LP, front and back

Come un vecchio incensiere.... - LP - the center of the cover can be opened as a booklet

Come un vecchio incensiere.... - open cover with booklet

Alan Sorrenti - LP

Alan Sorrenti - two different label designs

Vorrei incontrarti - 7" single cover	Una luce si accende - 7" single cover

Le tue radici - 7" single cover	Dicitencello vuje - 7" single cover

Many thanks to Alos for the scans of most of the singles, and to Peppe Carrese for information on discography.