Gino Vannelli

[Synthaholic]

One of the greatest artists of our time.

THE greatest voice of our time.

Musical genius, lyrical genius.

Singer, writer, arranger, conducter, pop, orchestral, jazz, R&B, quasi-opera. He does it all, and very well.




I always liked the lyrics to this one:


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27fz-X3mGvw"]YouTube - Gino Vannelli/Rhythm Of Romance/Inconsolable Man[/ame]





Coke machines on the Ho Chi Minh trail
Russian spies shopping at Bloomingdale's
Killer bees swarming up the Rio Grande
Hey baby where did you get that tan
Rome burns as we dance cheek to cheek
Titanic's sinking but oooh do we look chic
New York City's got the Hong Kong flu
And I can't take my eyes off you

MX GI Joe
RSVP UFO
ABCIA
I still want to know who shot JFK

Let's dance
To the rhythm of romance
Let's swing
'neath the stars above
C'mon let's dance
To the rhythm of romance
Let's kiss
Let's fall in love

Johnny woke up from his American dream
Rich man poor man and a desert in between

Crystal chandeliers hangin' by a thread
We're in the pink baby just two trillion in the red
And I hear Gabriel blowing his saxophone
Through a great big hole in the ozone
Who cares it the sun don't rise
When I look in to your ultraviolet eyes

That's life, this is war
I took it on faith, can't take it anymore
Old, young, yin and yang
We'll all go together in the next big bang
Boom shug a lug a lug a boom

Let's dance
To the rhythm of romance
Let's swing
'neath the stars above
C'mon let's dance
To the rhythm of romance
Let's kiss
Let's fall in love

Rock me, 'round the doomsday clock
Roll me, right over the top
Waltz me, stop - please don't stop
Let's make love, multiply, keep on dancing til the day we die

 

[Synthaholic]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVpEfA1HRX4]YouTube - Gino Vannelli - Canto[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

This is absolutely beautiful:


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJdZ6KEvxSs]YouTube - Gino Vannelli - None so beautiful as the brave, Live Yn Noardewyn[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsHGUIDMps4]YouTube - Gino Vannelli - The Measure of a Man (Official Video)[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsh3Aafho_A]YouTube - Gino Vannelli with Janet Chvatal - Una Sola Voce[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

This is from his performance at the Vatican, for Pope John Paul II. It's a song he wrote for his father.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0LJWe09aNU]YouTube - Gino Vannelli - Parole per mio padre (Vaticano2000)[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

Another great lyric, this one about society's decline:



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wTr9UVYRvs]YouTube - I die a little more each day Gino Vannelli[/ame]



I Die A Little More Each Day

For every just man mocked and killed
For every drop of black contagion spilled
This is my house
This is my evil

For every battle lost and won
The spangled banners flapping in the sun
This is my blood
This is my people
The black drums leaking in their graves
The tin cans rocking on the arctic waves
For every child the streets will claim
The curse that rushes through her tiny veins
For every rose that wilts away
I die a little more each day
Just a little more each day

For every field of wasted grain
The rockets standing 'neath the western plains
This is my greed
This is my glory
For every fist raised to the sky
The crimes of hate our young sons glorify
For every mouth that yearns for bread
The heart of stone proclaiming
God is dead
For every soul that lost it's way

I die a little more each day
Just a little more each day
A little more each day

For all the blessings I disown
The cruelities I condone
For every beast of land and sky and sea
That suffers for my vanity

For every sin under the sun
For all the tears from here to kingdom come
For every beast of land and sky and sea
That suffers for my vanity

For every sin under the sun
For all the tears from here to kingdom come
For every child the streets will claim
The curse that rushes through her tiny veins
For every rose that wilts away
I die a little more each day
Just a little more each day
A little more each day
Each day

 

[Synthaholic]

This one features the great Toots Thielemans on harmonica:


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAXo5eUK90E]YouTube - Gino Vanneli - Walter Whitman Where Are You[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

Some very early Gino, circa 1975.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp_GOi0q04I&NR=1]YouTube - Gino Vannelli - Father and son[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

Mr. Charm! This is the title track from his debut 1970 album, played live in 1991.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbxpvVr3z48]YouTube - Gino Vannelli in Montreal - Crazy Life[/ame]

 

[Synthaholic]

One of his most dynamic songs, with superb musicianship, especially Enzo Todesco on drums. Brother Joe Vannelli, as always, is on keyboards.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YYSKY_VBL4]YouTube - Gino Vanelli-Brother to Brother-Live in Montreal[/ame]

 

[Rogo]

Don't you mean Bob Dylan is the greatest voice of our time?

 

[JScott]

People actually buy this stuff? No way.......

 

[Synthaholic]

Don't you mean Bob Dylan is the greatest voice of our time?

If you mean singing voice, then no.

If you mean voice as in "voice of a generation", then possibly yes.

 

[Synthaholic]

People actually buy this stuff? No way.......

Not everyone likes Sinatra, Beethoven, or The Beatles, either. No worries.

 

[Synthaholic]

Great song! This one is about illegal immigration and human trafficking.



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUkBOuFJgr4"]YouTube - GINO VANNELLI - Persona Non Grata[/ame]



Persona non Grata

Now the cry of the toucan for you, man, is history
Welcome to heaven the land of the rich and the free
The water's so clean you can fill your canteen with it cold
Please hand me your locket and I promise you pockets of gold

No soldiers to knock on your door
Now what can a man ask for more?

Persona non Grata!
Just lay your money down
Persona non Grata!
On your knees and kiss the ground

I know all the right people we will make you legal in a flash
I won't take no for an answer no credit no checks just cash
Well, it may seem like a lot but I'm really not in it for greed
As God as my witness, I have a family and mistress to feed

What price can you put on a dream?
Your fortune lies across the stream

Persona non Grata!
Just lay your money down
Persona non Grata!
On your knees and kiss the ground
Persona non Grata!
Persona non Grata!

No soldiers to knock on your door
Now what can a man ask for more?

Persona non Grata!
Just lay your money down
Persona non Grata!
On your knees and kiss the ground
Persona non Grata!
Persona non Grata!
Lay your money down
Lay your money down
Persona non Grata!
Persona non Grata!

 

[Synthaholic]

Meant to post this closer to 9/11. Gino wrote this 2 days after the 9/11 attack:


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKSLl-a5csY"]Gino Vannelli ~ Dea Speranza (Lady Hope) - YouTube[/ame]


Even if you aren't interested in listening to the whole thing, check out from 4:25. At around 4:56 he hits and holds an incredibly powerful note. I don't hear many opera singers with this much power any longer. I can't imagine Andrea Bocelli pulling this off. He doesn't have the pipes.

 

[tinydancer]

For me it's You gotta Move sp?

His voice is to die for. Weird to me that they couldn't really break him out of Quebec. I think they tried too hard in the North American market instead of taking him directly to Europe and where he would have absolutely killed them AND (especially with his looks) South America.

He would have had both men and women dying for him in Brazil.

Amazing voice. Kudos on this thread.

Edit to add: on the fly please pardon spelling.

 

[Synthaholic]

For me it's You gotta Move sp?

His voice is to die for. Weird to me that they couldn't really break him out of Quebec. I think they tried too hard in the North American market instead of taking him directly to Europe and where he would have absolutely killed them AND (especially with his looks) South America.

He would have had both men and women dying for him in Brazil.

Amazing voice. Kudos on this thread.

Edit to add: on the fly please pardon spelling.

"People Gotta Move"

His good looks have always been more of a curse than a blessing when it comes to reviewers who would never actually pay attention to his music, writing him off as a pretty boy.

Gino is huge in Europe, still. Especially the Netherlands - he plays concerts there all the time and has a house there. Check out Ginov.com - an authorized Gino Vannelli website



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQdHBoEo2Os]Gino Vannelli People Gotta Move (live) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[tinydancer]

For me it's You gotta Move sp?

His voice is to die for. Weird to me that they couldn't really break him out of Quebec. I think they tried too hard in the North American market instead of taking him directly to Europe and where he would have absolutely killed them AND (especially with his looks) South America.

He would have had both men and women dying for him in Brazil.

Amazing voice. Kudos on this thread.

Edit to add: on the fly please pardon spelling.

"People Gotta Move"

His good looks have always been more of a curse than a blessing when it comes to reviewers who would never actually pay attention to his music, writing him off as a pretty boy.

Gino is huge in Europe, still. Especially the Netherlands - he plays concerts there all the time and has a house there. Check out Ginov.com - an authorized Gino Vannelli website



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQdHBoEo2Os]Gino Vannelli People Gotta Move (live) - YouTube[/ame]

I'm thrilled some one in the end worked him in Europe. When he was first trying to break out you have no idea what the reviewers were like skewering him out of Toronto.

It bordered on bizarre. I knew the reviewers at the various news outlets like the Star. Hell's bells one of the best (movies and film) is my son's godfather.

I never could figure it. I still can't after all these years.

Ditto Mahogany Rush. Frank Marino is and always still be freaking amazing to me. I wish I could figure all of it out. Was it bad management? Was it bad agencies?

I still wonder.