Attila (album)

Attila is a studio album by Italian singer Mina, released on October 1979 by PDU.

Overview
The album, unlike other previously released double albums, is an absolute novelty: it does not consist of two stand-alone albums, independent and unrelated to each other, like the "doubles" that preceded it since 1972, but is a unitary project consisting of eighteen songs divided into two discs.

"Anche un uomo" was the ending theme of the TV quiz show Lascia o raddoppia? written by Mike Bongiorno, Anselmo Genovese and the famous "Mr. No" Ludovico Peregrini.

"Don't Take Your Love Away" is a cover of a song written by Isaac Hayes. The song is also the longest track recorded by Mina. The track "Un po' di più" was originally sung by Patty Pravo and included on her album Sì... incoerenza in 1972. The songs "Rock and Roll Star" and "Anche tu" were also recorded by Mina is Spanish under the titles "Estrella del rock" e "También tù", respectively. At just sixteen years old, Mina's son Massimiliano Pani made his debut as a songwriter with two tracks entitled: "Sensazioni" and "Il vento".

The album cover is signed by Luciano Tallarini, on photographs of Mauro Ballets reworked with the airbrush by Gianni Ronco. The album cover won the prize for best cover of the year and is displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Released in October of 1979, Attila was an immediate success, rising to the second place of the Italian chart and entering the top ten most successful records of the year. It is one of the best-selling albums of the singer's career.

In 2024, in honor of the forty-fifth anniversary of the album's release, Warner Music released a limited edition of the album on colored vinyl. Also in this edition there is an unpublished additional illustration of Mina by Gianni Ronco.

Critical reception
Claudio Milano from OndaRock noted that Attila was positioned as an ambitious project, but in the end it turned out to be weak. It was from this album, in his opinion, that the decline in Mina's creative path began. Milano called the songs "Don't take Your Love" and "Shadow of My Old Road" the most worthy on the album.

Personnel

 * Mina – vocals (all tracks)
 * Beppe Cantarelli – arrangement (A1, A3, A4, B3, B5, C4, D1), vocals (C4)
 * Giulio Libano – arrangement (A2)
 * Rudy Brass – arrangement (B1, D5	)
 * Shel Shapiro – arrangement (B2, B4, C1, C2)
 * Mike Logan – arrangement (C3)
 * Erich Bulling – arrangement (D2)
 * Teddy Randazzo – arrangement (D2)
 * Massimo Salerno – conducting (D2)
 * Celso Valli – arrangement (D4)