Does anyone still like easy listening records (Mantovani, Percy Faith, etc.)?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by BroJB, Jul 23, 2018.

  1. Defdum&blind

    Defdum&blind Forum Resident

    Earlier today I was browsing through a local thrift shop and found a classical LP placing it aside among the usual plentiful EZL LPs. A guy next to me who had rushed from the CD section when he saw me arrive thought this this odd kept showing me copies of all the Al Hirt LPs and pointed out the James Last as well. I told him I already had all the James Last and Bert Kaempfert I needed. All he took was a Nat King Cole record.
    Was it one of you guys?
     
  2. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    That was back when you could still find the gems. Much of what you find now is the schlock that we didn't want back then.
     
  3. tmwlng

    tmwlng Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denmark
    Some of the first "old" music I dug was easy listening. When I was 12 I received this compilation for Christmas:

    http://www.discogs.com/Various-Instrumental-Moods/release/2061016

    And I still often go back to it. Have also listened to some of the more obvious exotica, Les Baxter, 101 Strings, Martin Denny etc. via streaming but would love to get some CD's. As for easy listening or jazzy arrangements of pop music from the sixties I'm also a big fan of Ramsey Lewis' Mother Nature's Son. I get a feeling there are quite few Beatles songs albums out there by some of the more square elements in the business... I know there are two by Count Basie which I would love to listen to.

    I don't know if we are talking string arrangement type of things or just Hammond organ music. Jimmy Smith, Jimmie Davis, etc... A lot of great stuff in that department... Earl Grant... Would love to hear more recommendations.
     
  4. Jayson Wall

    Jayson Wall Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    So true. By the mid 90's when the boom hit, it dryed up (at least in my area of So Cal)---Can't tell you the last time I've gone into thrift store looking for LP's, but I now find even at well stocked used record stores rarely have copies of some of the key albums anymore---
     
  5. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    It varied by geographic region. In the northeast, there was a lot of variance from city to city and even from store to store in the same city. Deals could still be had, but many stores priced these albums high. Between the mid 1990s and early 2000s, I visited family in Florida several times, and the rare titles were still obtainable at good prices, at least from thrift stores and flea markets if not record stores.

    What was so great about the exotica mailing list that I referred to was that you could easily learn, for example, to pick up "Voodoo Party" by James Last but to avoid the other James Last albums. This forum is great for long, unwieldy threads on these kinds of albums, but it is hard to keep a conversation going in a thread dedicated to a particular artist. Even the threads on Les Baxter don't attract responses.
     
  6. Steve Carras

    Steve Carras Golden Retriever

    Location:
    Norco, CA, USA
    Listening to Fred Waring. I have a LOT fo his stuff.one of the most gifted, versatile, profilic, earlier,etc. 20th cent.performers. big chorus, many solosists, songs,etc.:)

    Other chorses
    Rays Charles and Conniff
    Mitch Miller
    Gordon Jenkins
    Anita Kerr
     
    MaestroDavros and RSteven like this.
  7. twistandshout

    twistandshout Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Paul Mauriat, Percy Faith are great....I also like Chad and Jeremy's "A Summer Song"
     
    John DeAngelis, phillyal1 and RSteven like this.
  8. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I love all those choral groups and Anita Kerr was one of Nashville's first great string and vocal group arrangers. She did a lot of the arrangements on Roy Orbison and Jim Reeves big hit records.

    Fred Waring's fantastic Twas The Night Before Christmas was released last year by Real Gone Music on CD with his companion album Christmas Time. It is worth it just for the beautiful Norman Rockwell cover art. I highly recommend this twofer CD before it goes out of print.

    Ray Charles Singers are highly underrepresented on CD and of course RGM put out that great Christmas collection of all of Conniff's holiday albums a couple of years ago.
     
    Steve Carras likes this.
  9. Mr Bass

    Mr Bass Chevelle Ma Belle

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    What music people on this Forum listen to is highly atypical of what the public actually listens to. Many of the albums mentioned here I would not call Easy Listening nor would they have been programmed on easy listening radio stations.

    As some posters have noted the express purpose of the genre was as a relaxing background while doing something else. When I was a kid, people didn't put on the 101 strings or Welk or Mantovani, get a drink and sit in rapt attention in front of the speakers. That was reserved for the actual Lawrence Welk TV show.

    Like any genre, occasionally something was created of real excellence and in rare instances it would cross over to the mainstream music charts.
     
    mahanusafa02 likes this.
  10. dude

    dude Senior Member

    Location:
    milwaukee wi usa
    69 I think
     
    Paully likes this.
  11. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    As I did last night, I found a nice German Polydor of "Let's Go Bowling" on Sunday, paid $.25 for it. Scored 3 still sealed 101 Strings LP discs also, 2 copies of "Spectacular Brass, Fantastic Reeds" and Nelson Riddle arrangements and conducting, And 101 Strings Plus Trumpet. Monty Kelly arrangements. I have many of the 101 Strings records by the better arrangers.

    Tips: Signs you have a 101 Strings LP worth taking home!

    Is the music contemporary to the era?
    Is exotic themes involved?
    Are there one or more original compositions?
    Are certain arrangers credited? Signs you have good ones!

    Monty Kelly
    Jack Dorsey
    Nelson Riddle
    Les Baxter
     
    RSteven likes this.
  12. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    If I see clean copies of these, I bring them home.
     
  13. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    And when I've had a rough day, and I want to zone out, that's why I own so much fine lounge music. It's also well recorded, often superbly arranged, and everybody would feel better if they'd let some of it into their lives, and chill out!!!
     
  14. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    I love their best. This is one of the nicer of the series.
     
    RSteven and notesfrom like this.
  15. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    So fine, I wish I could score a nice copy. A rare bird!!!
     
  16. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Several of the Bud Shank LP output are nice, Michelle is a favorite of mine. Paid $.25 for my near mint example. Bought it on a hunch. I have access to a nice honey hole, and rarely have to pay more than $1 for nice lounge records, and some of them are even still sealed.
     
    phillyal1 and notesfrom like this.
  17. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Have a Near Mint original 45, and own the LP in Stereo in Near Mint. Have several Chris Montez A&M LP discs, they're nice. Rarely do I have to pay more than $1 for a nice copy.
     
  18. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    I like both labels, Phase 4 the best of the two. Some of my all time favorites of the genre are Phase 4. I like Enoch Light's Command output best. Time pre 1962 was great, especially their Series 2000. Lots of very nice Al Caiola and Hugo Montenegro mood records in that series, early pressings the best ones.
     
  19. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    [​IMG]

    I've got an Aussie copy :D
     
    mahanusafa02, RSteven and McLover like this.
  20. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    You know how to make McLover Drool!!!! Very nice record.
     
  21. hifidelitea

    hifidelitea Senior Member

    Location:
    Singapore
  22. hifidelitea

    hifidelitea Senior Member

    Location:
    Singapore
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Some of my favorites.
     
  23. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Paul Mauriat's Love Is Blue and Percy Faith's Theme From "A Summer Place Place" are probably the two biggest and best instrumental hits in the history of the Billboard music charts.
     
  24. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    No irony here. My favorite example of a group who loved to play and had a subliminal sense of humor was Julius Wechter's Baja Marimba Band. He fed into the Mexican stereotype that boss Herb Alpert was getting into with the Tijuana Brass,with the sombreros,cigars, phony moustaches & filthy clothes. The group came onstage like they just came on break from their slaughterhouse jobs(indeed, the LP Fowl Play has them on the job) or getting up from last night's binge. They approached their instruments like it was the first time they handled them but in a few seconds,some quaint Mexican village sounds started. Then some Dixieland. Then some hootin' & hollerin'. And then back to the sleepy theme. These guys,made up of some L.A. great studio guys and big band members,were great musicians! And Wechter often had outrageous puns for original material(Gnu Bossa Nova from a pun-filled tribute to animals,In A Vera Cruz Vein). Add to that,the running gag on the covers of one sleepy sombrero,back turned,appearing to be relieving himself. Even a cartoon cover of the group had the guy. Another had the group(nine players and the guest) on a boat,a la Washington Crossing the Delaware;yeah,there he was. Added to this one:a player who forgot his Dramamine,seated over the dirtiest part of the boat. The music inside:covers of past hits(there seemed to be an unwritten law that any A&M EZ LP had to have one Beatle cover and a Bacharach tune) and those originals.
    Irony?
     
    HappyFingers and RSteven like this.
  25. Brian Doherty

    Brian Doherty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    for those in or near palm Springs CA FM dial has a station dedicated to this rough genre, alas rather limited playlists given how huge this body of work is, and a fair amount of pure 'modern muzak" versions of pop tunes of 70s-90s, but i love it anyway; 92.7 fm in Palm Springs. Also half actual vocal pop of the rough great american songbook style.
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine