Analisi 91: The forgotten band who perfected Italo-disco
From its sweat-soaked origins in the underground nightclubs of New York City, disco soon enmeshed the entire globe in its ever-expanding mirror-ball, and thousands of miles away from the dancefloor of Studio 54, at the foot of the Alps, those infectious grooves took root in the airwaves of Italy.
Italy has always fostered a rather distinct music scene, whether you’re talking about the experimental compositions of Umiliani’s giallo soundtracks or the gibberish pop of Adriano Celentano. Crucially, though, the nation fostered an incredibly strong lust for soul and R&B, going right back to the 1960s when the likes of Rocky Roberts and The Airedales waltzed into Rome.
Inevitably, then, when disco transcended the Atlantic during the 1970s, Italy immediately took its grooves to heart; after all, the Italian Giorgio Moroder had no small part to play in establishing the sounds of disco in the first place, lending his talents to the likes of Donna Summer for her disco classic ‘I Feel Love’.
Italo-disco became such a phenomenon, however, that it largely outweighed the American disco scene as the 1980s dawned, with their Yankee counterparts having succumbed to the racially-motivated horrors of Disco Demolition Night. While Americans quickly looked to move on to ‘the next big sound’, the underground nightclubs and dance halls of Italy were bursting with some of the most innovative, infectious music to ever be put to tape.
As with any emerging music scene, certain artists quickly floated to the top of the Italo-disco scene, but given the fact that its commercial power struggled to reach surrounding nations, the movement was largely dominated by the obscure and niche. Virtually every city across Italy had its own distinctive take on Italo-disco and, towards the north, in Turin, it was the now long-forgotten outfit Analisi 91 leading the way.
For those who weren’t lucky enough to be in and around Turin back in the late 1970s, Analisi 91 are now something of an obscurity. Outside of the fact that 91 was their collective age when they first formed, very little is known about the group, and their only surviving artefact is their 1978 single ‘Disco Magic’ – one of Italo-disco’s greatest hidden gems.
With an incessant bassline courtesy of Pino Racca and the incredible vocal tones of Patrizia Piazzi at the helm, ‘Disco Magic’ certainly lives up to its name. Even today, nearly five decades on, sitting still while this track plays is a virtual impossibility. What’s more, when you compare its composition to the kind of disco populating the US charts at the same time, Analisi were leagues ahead.
While the keyboard stylings of Piero Arlotto hark back to the Hammond organs of R&B yesterday, there are also the unshakable electronic influences which appear to predict the later development of Eurodance years later. Seemingly, while America’s disco output was becoming increasingly watered-down and commercialised, the likes of Analisi 91 in Italy were driving the style further into the depths of all-night dance euphoria.
Tragically, and rather bizarrely, ‘Disco Magic’ was the sole release by the short-lived group, and the world never got to hear any full-length releases before the group faded into ultimate obscurity. Despite featuring on a 2019 compilation by Mondo Groove, the wider world has yet to wake up to the timeless appeal of Analisi 91 and their masterful Italo-disco grooves, but surely it is only a matter of time before that Pandora’s box of mirrorballs and sweat-soaked dancing is opened once again.
