A Pauper in Paradise

A Pauper in Paradise
Studio album by Gino Vannelli
Released	1977
Studio	AIR Recording Studios, London, England EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England
Genre	Pop rock
Length	40:53
Label	A&M
Producer	Gino Vannelli Joe Vannelli
Gino Vannelli chronology
The Gist of the Gemini (1976) A Pauper in Paradise (1977) Brother to Brother (1978)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992)	[2]

A Pauper in Paradise is the fifth studio album by Italian-Canadian singer Gino Vannelli, released in 1977. It was notable for including contributions by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the second side, ^[3] including a fifteen-minute title track symphony that took Gino five months to write, ^[4] and which led A&M to offer a warning to Gino to expand his appeal or face rapid declines in album sales that since Powerful People had been a steady 300,000 albums per release. ^[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Gino Vannelli.

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Mardi Gras"	3:28
2.	"Valleys of Valhalla"	4:23
3.	"The Surest Things Can Change"	4:36
4.	"One Night with You"	4:19
5.	"A Song and Dance"	3:40
Total length:		20:26

Side B

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Black and Blue"	4:23
2.	"A Pauper in Paradise: 1st Movement [a] "	4:46
3.	"A Pauper in Paradise: 2nd Movement [a] "	2:39
4.	"A Pauper in Paradise: 3rd Movement [a] "	4:22
5.	"A Pauper in Paradise: 4th Movement [a] "	4:20
Total length:		20:27

Detailed personnel

• Art Direction – Fabio Nicoli, Roland Young (3)
• Backing Vocals – Jay Stone, Joanie Bartels
• Backing Vocals, Design, Artwork – Joanne Jayde
• Drums – Casey Scheuerell
• Engineer – John Kurlander (tracks: 7 to 10), Norm Kinney
• Engineer [Assistent] – Steve Prestage
• Engineer [Re-mix] – Jon Kelly
• Keyboards – Chris Rhyne
• Leader – Barry Griffiths (tracks: 7 to 10)
• Lyrics By, Music By – Gino Vannelli
• Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
• Orchestra – The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (tracks: 7 to 10)
• Orchestrated By, Conductor – Don Sebesky (tracks: 7 to 10)
• Percussion – Dido* (tracks: 6), John J. Mandel
• Photography By – Beth Kelly
• Producer, Arranged By, Keyboards – Joe Vannelli
• Saxophone – Dick Morrissey
• Synthesizer, Synthesizer [Bass], Piano, Backing Vocals – Bill Meyers
• Vocals [Choir] – The John McCarthy Choir (tracks: 7 to 10)
• Vocals, Producer, Arranged By – Gino Vannelli

Technical personnel

• Jon Kelly – Remixing
• Norm Kinney – Engineer
• John Kurlander – Engineer
• Steve Prestage – Assistant Engineer
• Fabio Nicoli – Art Direction
• Roland Young – Art Direction

Musicians

• Gino Vannelli – lead vocals
• Joe Vannelli – Fender Rhodes, piano, programming, synthesizer, synthesizer arrangements, synthesizer string arrangement, backing vocals
• Bill Meyers – piano, synthesizer, synthesizer bass, backing vocals
• Nyboma Mwan Dido – bongos, congas
• Jay Graydon – guitar
• Casey Scheuerell – drums
• John J. Mandel – percussion, timbales
• Chris Rhyne – keyboards, synthesizer bass
• Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – orchestra on "Black and Blue" and "A Pauper in Paradise"

Technical personnel

• Jon Kelly – Remixing
• Norm Kinney – Engineer
• John Kurlander – Engineer
• Steve Prestage – Assistant Engineer
• Fabio Nicoli – Art Direction
• Roland Young – Art Direction

Charts

Chart (1977)	Peak position
Canada (RPM Magazine) [6]	29
US Billboard 200 [7]	33

Notes

1. On some issues of the album, the last four tracks were combined into a single track titled “A Pauper in Paradise (In Four Movements)”

References

1. Bil Carpenter. "A Pauper in Paradise – Gino Vannelli". All Music Group.
2. DeCurtis, Anthony; George-Warren, Holly and Henke, James; The Rolling Stone Album Guide – Completely New Reviews: Every Essential Album, Every Essential Artist, p. 733 ISBN   0679737294
3. Perkins, Don (1977-11-25). "Gino Vannelli – A Pauper in Paradise". The Star-Phoenix . Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. p. 6.
4. Dunkin, Zach (1977-12-06). "Vannelli Repays Public". Indianapolis News . p. 22.
5. d‘Agostino, John (1991-04-13). "Vannelli: Pop and Soulful". Los Angeles Times . p. F5.
6. "Gino Vannelli - A Pauper in Paradise" (PDF). RPM . Retrieved 2016-07-31.
7. "Gino Vannelli Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2021.