Mina: Ti amo come un pazzo — passionate new album from an Italian icon

Somewhere discreet in Switzerland lives the reclusive superstar of Italian music. Mina Mazzini, the “Tigress of Cremona”, is Italy’s most successful singer, with estimated sales of more than 150mn records since the late 1950s.

Anglophone audiences with a hazy grasp of the Bel Paese’s pop history may know her for “Se telefonando”, a forcefully sung account of a love affair that collapses in a blaze of orchestral-pop glory, composed by Ennio Morricone and released in 1966. Shirley Bassey turned her 1972 hit “Grande, Grande, Grande” into “Never, Never, Never”. But roars from Cremona’s tigress, owner of a fabled three-octave voice, have largely failed to cross the Channel.

Of course Italian pride is piqued. “But,” a Roman friend cried when I revealed my ignorance, “not knowing Mina is like me saying I don’t know The Beatles!” The singer takes a no less Olympian view of her place in the showbiz firmament. When she received a telegram from Paul McCartney congratulating her on her cover of “Michelle”, she reportedly said, “Oh it’s so kind of him!” and promptly threw the message in the bin.

Mina has always been a forthright character. In 1963, she had a child with the married actor Corrado Pani, which prompted the state broadcaster RAI to ban her from television. Unabashed, she continued having hits, and the ban was sheepishly lifted. In 1978, she retired from the stage and withdrew from public view. Yet she has continued releasing recordings at a prolific rate.

Ti amo come un pazzo (I love you like a madman) is her latest album. Its music tends towards the formulaic, with key changes telegraphed like ceremonial salutes and arrangements that keep things ticking over in the tactful manner of staff at a luxury hotel rather than the titular madman. But the songs, themed around the topic of love, also boast a vintage performance from the 83-year-old.

It would be wrong to describe her as rolling back the years. Mina sounds very much the octogenarian, huskier and lower-pitched than before. However, she also retains a startling ability to turn songs into full-throated flights of feeling. “Fino a domani” opens with a chintzy swish of chords but develops into a magnificently melodramatic ballad about seizing the romantic moment. In “Lascia”, she delivers an intensely committed performance amid a jazzy musical burble, singing as though into the glare of the spotlight: a star turn.

★★★☆☆

‘Ti amo come un pazzo’ is released by PDU Music