Ciao Bella Italian Girl Singers / Various

The 1960s girl-pop compilations on our occasional Ace International and Big Beat International imprints rank among our most popular releases of recent years. Having hit upon a winning formula by hopping over the Channel to France for C est Chic! and Tres Chic! , and by venturing further afield to Japan for two volumes of Nippon Girls , we now turn the spotlight on Italy

The collection opens with Brunetta s prized dancefloor-filler Baluba Shake and closes with Cuore , a dramatic beat ballad by petite dynamo Rita Pavone. Star of the show is the prolific Mina queen bee of Italy s female singers with three tracks: No (a wailing folk rock nugget), Più Di Te (a cover of the Tracy Dey/Bob Crewe classic I Won t Tell ) and Se Telefonando (a sophisto-pop epic courtesy of maestro Ennio Morricone)

Other highlights include the sitar-embellished Il Mio Posto Qual È by Ornella Vanoni, a convincing cover of Baby Please Don t Go by beat girl Caterina Caselli, Gigliola Cinquetti s superbly orchestrated Eurovision-winner Non Ho L Età (Per Amarti) and breathy-voiced actress Catherine Spaak s bossa-imbued La Notte È Fatta Per Rubare