I’m exhausted after staying up late finishing most of my ‘impossible music’ last night. I will post some mp3s here at some point when I’m feeling less shy. I’ve never publicized this little vanity journal beyond telling one person about it, so it’s quite possible that I’m talking to myself here. Which is absolutely fine, don’t get me wrong…
Anyway, the records from yesterday were pretty excellent. I really enjoyed ‘The soul of’ Paul Mauriat‘; it’s all fun, upbeat orchestral versions of 60s soul classics. I could tell why ‘You keep me hangin’ on’ gets the most attention though – it opens with a deliciously mod sitar go-go sound which makes it just that little bit hipper…
The Francis Lai album (‘plays the compositions of….’), while on the quiet side, has some great arrangements and a very cool organ sound throughout. One outstanding track made me glad I bought it: ‘footprints on the moon‘, a superb, gently funky soundtrack piece with wordless vocals and Carpenters ‘we’ve only just begun’ style horns. The LP is from 1973, and it’s interesting to note the gradual change in atmosphere which seems to have occurred in orchestral LPs since the late 60s, when most my other favorites were recorded…I still really enjoy the sound on this one, but I am less into the mid-late 70s easy listening sound. Dig those disco LPs though…
I only took a quick listen to Walter Wanderley‘s ‘Kee-ka-roo’. It sounded excellent, with some groovy tracks like ‘canto d’ossanha’ and ‘music to watch girls by’. It turns out that this LP is from 1967, and is therefore before the ‘Popcorn’ album I mentioned yesterday. The actual track ‘kee-ka-roo’ is far less cool than the version on ‘Popcorn’, I would say. A very cool LP though; I think, bizarrely, that the only Walter LP on verve I don’t own now is ‘Rain Forest’, the most common one of all.
The Ramsey Lewis‘s ‘Mother nature’s son’ is quite superb, super-funky orchestral pop with electric piano and touches of moog. Definitely one of my favorites of the albums of his I have, and I like them all. Alas, someone outbid me in my attempt to buy 16 of his LPs in one ebay lot…
Finally, Gianni Marchetti‘s ‘The Wild Eye’ soundtrack was probably the most disappointing of my new acquisitions. Maybe I’m just pampered/bloated by the glut of ‘easy tempo’ compilations, but this didn’t really hold my interest. There were a couple of pretty nice wordless vocal soundtrack pieces, but either they weren’t so hot, or I wasn’t in the mood….
Anyway, I have to go design the cover for my silly little record.