The rst time since 1971 that this album
has been pressed from the original master
tapes, recently discovered in Italy.
Lacquered directly from tape in an
all-analog transfer by Bernie Grundman.
Mark Fry was 19 - recently graduated from high
school and in Italy studying painting - when he
walked barefooted into RCA's Italian subsidiary,
played some songs he'd written on his guitar and
was signed to record the album
that would become legend.
The first recordings he made proved stuff, so he
was paired with members of the Scottish band
Middle of the Road, who were in Rome while under
contract to RCA Italiana. Convening in a basement
home studio with two 4-track reel-to-reel record-
ers, Mark's visions coalesced in a dreamy, airy
manner - "Nick Drake meets Dr. Strangely Strange
with a touch of Lewis Carroll" The Word Magazine
would later write.
Pressed in small amounts for Vincenzo Micocci's
RCA sub-label It, Alice remained an out of reach
masterpiece for many but its creator, who returned
to England in 1971 and subsequently traveled the
world, playing music, sometimes recording and
painting. By the time of its rediscovery, its master
tapes were assumed lost. Their rediscovery allows
this pristine transfer to reveal nuances not heard on
anything but original It pressings.
