Love it. Especially the quadraphonic SACDs from Dutton Vocalion, and those by Ray Conniff in particular. Meticulous arrangements. Excellent recording. And wonderful engulfing quad mixes. There're plenty of top notch stereo LPs too from Billy Vaughn, Joe Harnell, Bob Crosby & His Bobcats, Bernard Herrmann with the Northern Dance Orchestra, Simon Park, Sounds Orchestral, Bert Kaempfert - the list goes on.
Mr. Faith's version of "Theme from A Summer Place" is one of the first songs I can remember hearing on the radio. I still enjoy hearing it.
I enjoy quite a bit of this music. I'm 49, so I can't speak to the motivation of the original buyers, but my guess is that the bulk of these records were originally purchased back in the 60's and 70's by people who enjoyed the music, not as some ironic statement.
I'm going to come out of the easy listening closet and admit that I do enjoy this music once in a great while. I'm particularly fond of Ray Conniff's first three (I think) LPs: 'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous and "S Awful Nice. Just a touch of swing to them. With a couple of exceptions, his later stuff gets too corny for me. Also like Percy Faith: Bim! Bam! Boom! is quite lively and fun. Shangri-La! and Exotic Strings are wonderfully lush and make for great listening with Sunday morning coffee. Easy listening Christmas music is my absolute fave; totally takes me back to my childhood. Plus it's hard to beat the sound of a Columbia 6- or 2-eye. There, I'm out and I'm not going back.
Theoretically, yes. I used to have quite a bit of this stuff. But then I pared my collection down and don't actually own much anymore, though I do have a huge folder of mp3s of it. But I don't listen to mp3s anymore, so... But yes. Especially when it verges on exotica. Particularly fond of this one, as well as others with a 'sea' theme:
It's funny that a few people mentioned Herb Alpert. I guess my perception has shifted enough over the years that it never even occurred to me that Herb was considered easy listening. Sure, Mauriat, Last, Faith, Nero, etc. but Alpert? Yeah, okay, I guess so. In any case, if Herb is in, then I should also mentioned how much I love Burt Bacharach's albums, especially the cinematic, driving-the-Pacific-Coast-Highway glory of "Futures," "Monterey Peninsula," etc.
I remember listening to a radio documentary on a Sam Phillips all female radio station in the 50's called, KHER, i think. In the interviews one of the DJ's in Memphis in the 50's was speaking about interviews that came through and Montovani was there. He flirted with the female DJ and after it was over asked her to escort him to see some real Rock n roll. Loved that.
Anyone who claims that they “appreciate and enjoy all types of music” would be disingenuous if they could not find anything at all redeeming in Easy Listening Instrumental Music (or Muzak).
To be clear, I wasn't implying that people bought it for ironic purposes back then. Rather, I was wondering whether people listened with a musical ear to it or whether it was just interchangeable nice relaxing background music. The ironic comment referred to people who might buy the records at thrift shops today because they enjoy the covers or get a kick out of how deeply uncool it is.
Yes indeed, Herb Alpert is really quite a diverse instrumental artist and even sang once on a big hit song (This Guys In Love With You). I really dig his What Now My Love album from 1966. I grew up listening to this great album while cruising San Diego Harbor with my family. We had a portable cassette player and my dad bought like two or three cassettes to have on our little cabin cruiser and this was one of them. I spent years trying to track it down and finally it was remastered on CD by Herb's record company in 2006 I believe, and it sounds fabulous. I mean that album can put you in a great mood no matter what type of day you are having.
I was listening to the local Oldies station (on the AM band) the other day and was surprised when this came on and I was actually enjoying it. My Parents didn't really listen to this kind of music but it was everywhere (stores, tv, etc.) that it seems kind of familiar, and yes, relaxing.
Same here. My parents always had WGAY (yes that was the station’s name) playing in the background while my grandparents were partial to Herb Alpert and Don Ho. So there is a nostalgia element for me. Lounge or Space Age Pop is a bizarre, multifaceted genre. It runs the gamut.
Wonder what the numbers are on Ray Conniff sales. He has as many or more albums in the thrift-zone as Herb Alpert, albeit spread over many more different albums.
My brother used to get record company catalogues and James Last used to put out a couple of albums a month. He had the Beach Party series, Non Stop Dancing, the Au-Go Go series etc etc.
My dad didn't really listen to it either - he preferred classical music but my vivid memories of Theme From A Summer Place are of the song emanating from the AM radio speaker of our '63 Plymouth as we headed up to our cottage. Such good times. I will never forget that.
I sure do..have tons of 'em on my playlists..Mantovani, Melacrhino (died 1965, way too young), 101 strings, and many others.
Ray Conniff sales were pretty remarkable for his day. He has four platinum album awards and seven gold album awards. All three of his iconic Christmas albums earned platinum status as well as his well known Somewhere My Love album.
