Monthly Archives: September 2004

Glorious looking day here. Here’s some more recent purchases.

Alan Tew: 'Don't look at me, listen to the music' (LP; Pye; 1973)
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Alan Tew is another famous name in British arrangers, but this is my first record by him. The title is an amusing observation on the trend of having attractive women on album covers.

This LP takes a little while to sink in, but it's really very good indeed.

The first track is funny because it’s ‘Flamingo’, one of my favorite standards, but arranged so that it sounds a bit like the Grange Hill [UK school drama] theme – all bouncy and jaunty. ‘Tom Hark’ turns out to be a familiar tune that everybody knows. Some kind of a children’s melody. In fact, most of the tunes on this LP are very familiar, even though I didn’t know their names before. ‘I wish I knew...’ is the old theme to ‘Film 8x’ with Barry Norman. This version is nice, with a strong but very minimal beat. ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ is a cool 60s Laurie Johnson style theme that was featured on one of those Sequel ‘Loungecore’ compilations.

Side 2 opens with a cool ‘Ironside’. This was also on a compilation. I looked for my copy and then remembered either selling it or giving it away when we left America. Oh well! Looking at the tracklisting of that compilation, I picked up a LOT of this stuff on vinyl in this batch. ‘Pink Panther’ is the next cut. It starts off as you would expect, and then breaks into a cool funk version. Very slow funk, but funk! This would work well on a ‘Mancini Funk’ compilation, perhaps alongside Mancini’s own version of ‘Lujon/Slow Hot Wind’ on the Symphonic Soul album. I’ll have to uncover funk versions of Moon River and Charade. They must be out there somewhere! This Pink Panther track is really very cool. Wicked spooky strings and percussion. The LP’s production is excellent throughout, but the funk effect doesn’t work so well on 'Wimoweh'! On ‘The Odd Couple’ he plays it straight. It’s a nice version, but he uses flutes instead of harpsichord, so it was never going to really cut it for me. The bongos also seem kind of superfluous on this occasion. The final track is interesting – a version of Horst Jankowski’s ‘A walk in the black forest’. Alan tries to fit it into the big funky drum template, but the tune doesn’t really fit; at least not in the main melody section. In the bridge sections it works a bit. So the track is fun, but winds up sounding slightly like a cheesy classical adaptation.

Overall, this is a very inventive album.

Alan Tew: 'This is my scene' (LP; Decca Phase 4; 1967)
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The cover of this record is extremely cool! It's a nice LP of reasonably straightforward mid-60s easy listening with a few twists.

Winchester Cathedral is as you would expect. ‘Detroit City’ is quite cool - funky with a twangy guitar. Nothing else really grabbed me until ‘Yeh yeh’ (an ok version, but the girly vocal bits are done on violins and trumpets, so nothing special really). The version of ‘these boots are made for walking’ is familiar from the Dig It compilation from a few years ago. It’s silly, but fun.

The musicians are all the usual suspects, including Jim Sullivan, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins and Alan Parker.

BBC Radiophonic Workshop: 'The Radiophonic Workshop' (LP; BBC; 1975)
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'Geraldine' by Roger Limb is a decent poppy one. The rest is all cool moogy farty noises. Nice stuff to have!

BBC Radiophonic Workshop: 'Fourth Dimension' (LP; BBC; 1973)
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An interesting LP. Everything here is by Paddy Kingsland, who did a lot of library work at the time. This album features lots of themes for regional radio shows. They have a very strange 70s electronic sound. ‘Vespucci’ is a nice slow funky number and the standout track.

Brian Fahey and his Orchestra: 'Classics Go Latin' (LP; EMI; 1972)
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I couldn’t leave this one there. I nearly did, actually, until I heard the monster bongo breakbeat at the beginning of ‘Toreador’s song from Carmen’.

There are actually quite a few very nice tracks. ‘Overture from Marriage of Figaro’ has a nice insistent beat, and ‘solveig’s song from Peer Gynt is done in a very pretty way. These LPs are never quite as wonderful as I would like, but there are a few nice tracks that make this one worthwhile.

David Snell: 'Harp Transplant' (LP; Pye; 1971)
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A fun pop-harp album. David Snell is one of those names I've been looking out for carefully, because I love the sound of the harp, and the era in which he recorded, along with his library music connections, seem promising. I once had an LP by him from the mid to late 60s that sounded great.

This later LP has some beautiful Bacharach arrangements and pop hits of the late 60s on one side, and pop arrangements of classical stuff on the other. The first side is better. I’m all for pop-classical, but wouldn’t have chosen pieces like ‘eine kleine nachmusik’ and ‘fur elise’. Still, it's all quite tastefully done. My LP is Quad; shame I don't have the system to check that out!

Mike Leander: 'Migration' (LP; MCA; 1969)
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This seems quite nice, if slightly bombastic. I had heard of Mike Leander before, but had never actually seen his record. This is the later of the two I have. There’s a reasonable version of ‘the letter’ and a fun ‘Let the sunshine in’ that has a nice funky beat when it gets going. There’s also a nice rich arrangement of ‘wichita lineman’. Definitely an interesting record that is worthy of further listens.

Pete Moore: 'Everybody's Talkin'' (LP; Rediffusion; 1971)
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Pete Moore was clearly a very solid arranger, but without meaning to sound fickle, nothing I've heard as ever quite matched up to the wonder that is 'Catwalk' from The Exciting Sounds of Tomorrow (featured on the legendary In-flight entertainment compilation).

This LP is quite nice, but even when it's upbeat and funky, it lacks the good taste and classy feel of 'catwalk. ‘Everybody’s talkin’ is a rather goofy arrangement that uses a bassline like the riff from ‘Day Tripper’. Fun, but not really my thing. ‘Honey come back’ is funky and a bit more straight ahead and appealing. ‘Downhill racer’ (the theme to the film, which I watched the beginning of the other dayl; nice photography; very slow moving; fell asleep after half an hour) is rather plain, slow and unmemorable. ‘Come Saturday Morning’ is a more memorable theme, but I’d rather hear it as a vocal. ‘Return to Montana’ is kind of cheesy without being that interesting. ‘Midnight Cowboy’ is always a banker for me, and I like this version, with its tasty electric piano and strings. There's nothing really remarkable about it though.

'True Grit' is a nice mid-tempo orchestral big band thing with a funky beat. ‘Leavin on a jet plane’ is quite fun too. Nice organ work, although I’m not sure this one was ever meant to be funked up; it sounds very ‘easy cheesy'...‘Bridge over troubled water’ gets a similar treatment. The beat is quieter, but it’s there in the background.

Overall I think this will take a few listens to get into.

The Sound Symposium: 'Paul Simon Interpreted' (LP; Dot; 1967)
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Overall, this is only an 'OK' record. There are nice, quite full arrangements with drums and harpsichord. But it's rather middle of the road, and there's nothing that's really going to set the world on fire. As is often the case with Simon/Garfunkel covers, 'Scarborough Fair/Canticle works best. ‘Homeward Bound’, with a sitar, is quite interesting too. 'Mrs Robinson' is quite hip, but you get the feeling they're trying too hard.

Xylos Inc: 'Pretty Percussion' (LP; Polydor; 1971)
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A very nice LP in the Polydor 'circles of sound' series, a group of easy listening records from the early 70s that featured incredibly ugly sleeves and some interesting music.

The album has extremely nice orchestrations, and the layered percussion and recording date give it a similar feel to Les Baxter’s Que Mango. It's a nice mix of contemporary pop and older standards, all done in the same neo-tropical style. There's no standout groovers like Que Mango's 'Tropicando', but it's very pleasant stuff anyway.

I’m still buzzing from last week’s record haul. I’ve listened to maybe 20 or 30 or the 80 records I picked up, and the overall standard is excellent. Here’s the first batch of reactions. The reviews might be a little insubstantial; hopefully I’ll revisit them in the future.

James Last: 'Well Kept Secret' (LP; Polydor; 1975)
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This is a really nice album from 1975. Everything is in a nicely arranged gentle funky style, and the arrangements are quite spare and appealing. ‘Bolero '75’ was featured on one of the Mojo club compilations from Germany. My favorite track so far is ‘Slaughter on 10th Avenue’. ‘Question’ is bizarre – at the beginning, it has a strange fast-strummed chord sequence that makes it sound just like My Bloody Valentine (but without the distortion!). It turns into a pretty dippy vocal, although the instrumentation is still cool. The final track ‘Theme from Prisoner of second avenue’ is a fun, bouncy track with strings. Kind of a bridge between early 70s easy listening and disco.

Jimmy Jacobs and The Nite Spots: 'Swingin Soho' (LP; Gargoyle; 1961)
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Described as ‘Surely one of Britain’s most exciting rhythm and blues groups’, this actually sounds like quite average pleasant small combo piano jazz. Vibes and stuff. Then ‘rock’n’roll’ comes into play. ‘Write myself a letter’ is a vocal with sax. ‘Whirlwind’ is a fun fast latin style piano number. An unusual record, but not in the way I wanted it to be (I would have preferred smokey/bluesey early rock'n'roll).

Compilation - John Gregory: 'Gregory Conducts' (LP; Philips; 1967-1972)
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This is an early 70s 'sampler' compilation of lots of different John Gregory albums.

It actually contains some very nice material indeed. ‘Fire and Rain’ is a very cool early 70s instrumental with strings, beats, etc.

Hawaii 5-0 is so-so. Onedin Line is a pleasant enough slow stringy romantic theme. The version of ‘Sunny’ is very nice – upbeat and jazzy. A face in the clouds is a Gregory original. Very nice beaty, vibey track; the rhythm at the beginning reminds me of ‘bubbles’ by The Free Design. Shaft is nice. Somehow cooler than lots of takes on this tune. 'Softly whispering I love you' is a breezy and rather twee pop song with wordless vocals.

Aquarius is absolutely outstanding, with a huge breakbeat and a very imaginative arrangement. La Mer is a bit of a letdown after that, but it’s actually quite a nice version of Trenet’s tune. ‘Spies and dolls’ is a nice original (kind of a 12-bar blues actually) in the style of a detective theme with bongos and blaring brass. Meditation is a homely adaptation of a Massenet theme. ‘Softly Softly’ is the only track on here that I’d heard before; I think it’s on the ‘detectives’ LP that I have. It’s a cool theme with big brass and bongos.

I've seen dealers attempt to hype this up, but still fail to sell it on ebay for a few pounds. Although not as rare as some of his other albums, I think this is well worth getting hold of, particularly in light of that irresistable take on 'Aquarius'.

Compilation - John Gregory: 'Spotlight on Chaquito' (LP; Philips; 1962-1972)
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This is a 2 LP set compiling Chaquito recordings from 1962–72. It's quite pleasant, with a mixture of Latin American and Brazilian stuff, plus some standards (‘it’s magic’) etc, all played in blaring brassy style with lots of bongos. I've had some of these albums before, and while they're quirky, they're not as outstanding as some of Gregory's other work as an arranger. The highlight for me on this set is the 1972 version of ‘Upa Neguino’, which is excellent. I wonder if the original album it comes from is as good.

John Gregory: 'A Man for All Seasons' (LP; United Artists; 1974)
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This is a weird one. A concept album featuring classical/hymn music, with a bizarre cutout new-agey looking cover. Also included are three absolutely storming upbeat hybrid easy listening/funk tracks of the highest order: jetstream, jaguar, and earthshaker. Jaguar in particular has it all – really cool chord changes, heavy drums, organ, brass, thick sheets of smooth strings. Jetstream and Jaguar are both on the ‘sound gallery’ compilation, but I had never heard the beaty ‘earthshaker’ before; cool stuff!

John Gregory: 'Melodies of Japan' (LP; Fontana; 1965)
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The first track, ‘drizzling rain’ is really lovely. Very gentle with a nice melody and some tasty strings. The strings and flutes and vibes imitate the sound of falling rain very well. This is the real standout. The rest of the LP is also nice, but slightly kitchy and almost 50s sounding to my ears. I definitely need to go back and listen some more in the future though

John Schroeder: 'The Dolly Catcher' (LP; Pye; 1967)
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An interesting concept album about catching 'dollies' - birds I guess. There are some reasonable/middling tracks and a few stormers. One of these, ‘But she ran the other way’, was on the ‘easy project’ compilation. The other two winners to my ears are ‘explosive corrosive joseph’ and ‘I was made to love her’, which are both very hip almost-funky tracks with nice percussion and organ.

Keith Mansfield: 'All you need is Keith Mansfield' (LP; CBS; 1969)
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Quite a rare one I think. Very nice upbeat Swinging London style stuff with occasional vocals. Much more of a soul edge than most of the records I picked up. Still not exactly soul, but just more beaty and with more insistent basslines. Towards the end of the first side comes ‘Soul Thing’, a very cool beaty piano version of a tune I’ve heard in an organ funk version on compilations of KPM library material. The side ends with a version of ‘Moanin’ with a nice Hammond organ and some interesting vocals; the only other vocal version of this track I had heard was Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. This one is more hip, with latin percussion, organ and big brass. The second side opens with a tasty version of ‘Walk on by’ (they’re all pretty tasty for me). There’s another good original called ‘Boogaloo’. A very nice album

Tony Hatch: 'Love Sounds' (LP; Pye; 1976)
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This disco-era album is actually surprisingly enjoyable for me! What are you doing the rest of your life is very entertaining: an upbeat disco romp through this slow song, which I know best via Scott Walker’s version. The album continues very nicely with ‘Love in the Morning Sun’. It’s slightly bland proto-disco music with some nice strings. I like it! It goes off a bit, but there’s a couple of other nice disco versions of standards – ‘ebb tide’ and ‘I’ve got you under my skin’. The album ends with the funkier ‘Brazilia’. While this is the 'hip' track that would probably be picked out by DJs, it's actually kind of annoying. I'm happier listening to the bastardized disco versions of standards.

Tony Hatch: 'Downtown with Tony Hatch – The Tony Hatch Sound' (LP; Marble Arch; 1966)
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This is a cool sounding record. ‘Man Alive’ is a nice mid-60s jazzy instrumental that appeared on one of the sequel ‘loungecore’ comps. ‘Where are you now’ is a Bacharach-like instrumental. Really nice. There’s something very appealing about this record that just works well. Almost every tune is a Hatch or Hatch/Trent original, so perhaps that just helps give it a freshness that some of his later records don’t have. ‘Round every corner’ is another very cool jazzy instrumental that’s familiar to me from one compilation or other. Overall, a very tasty record that's a cut above a lot of other similar easy listening albums.

Tony Hatch: 'What the World Needs Now' (LP; Pye; 1971)
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This is an okay record, but I’m actually not crazy about some of the arrangements. Hatch tries to be clever in a way that doesn’t really appeal to me. It’s innocuous enough, but doesn't really press my button. Having said that, some of the arrangements work pretty well. 'Walk on by' is probably the best track. 'I say a little prayer' and ‘the look of love’ are nice too.

Tony Hatch: 'Brasilia Mission' (LP; Pye; 1969)
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I don’t think any Tony Hatch albums are going to live up to what my expectations once were for them. I was dreaming of something really rich – layered strings and solid percussion. I’ve known for some time that the records aren’t really like this. But they’re not bad at all.

In a nutshell, this is pleasant piano-led orchestral easy listening without much of a bite. It’s nicely arranged and can be really quite tasty when the songs are good, recalling Dudley Moore’s work on the quieter Bedazzled tracks. ‘On a clear day’, ‘Love song’, ‘The dangerous age’ all come across very well. ‘Wichita Lineman’ and ‘Light my fire’ are good too, although I’ve heard too much of these songs recently to be too impressed. ‘Endora’ is a Tony Hatch ‘original’ which bears more than a passing resemblance to Joao Donato’s ‘Amazonas’. And it’s all the better for it!

The album concludes with ‘Brasilia Mission’, a simple but very catch track with similar instrumentation to the rest of the album, but slightly jazzier piano.