Ferrante & Teicher - In A Soulful Mood (1974) & Killing Me Softly (1973) (2013 reissue)

A typically fine-sounding twofer remaster from Dutton Vocalion, focusing on piano tricksters Ferrante & Teicher.  Like the recent Chaquito post, these two albums come from a period in the 60s-70s when the easy listening industry turned to the more contemporary hits of the day to update its mass appeal.  So if Chaquito featured tunes like Aquarius and Light My Fire gone cod-Latin, the two records here include the likes of Ain't No Mountain High Enough and My Cherie Amour gone Philly Soul-lite with liberal amounts of piano.

Yep, these two albums are both stone-cold crate-digger gold, with abundant sampling potential in their funky backing - and it's not all covers, as evidenced by the smoking original blues Hong Kong Soul Brother.  Other highlights of In A Soulful Mood (placed first on CD) include a lovely slow-grooving version of Duke Pearson's Cristo Redentor, made famous by Donald Byrd, and two Stylistics songs, Stone In Love and Betcha By Golly.  Released the previous year, Killing Me Softly was the album with that striking cover painting above - it's not a legit Margaret Keane, just an imitation.  Here we get a bit more of a films & shows focus, with the likes of Also Sprach Zarathustra (modelled after Deodato's version) and Last Tango In Paris, as well as two more F&T originals, See Saw and Night Sounds.

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Teddy Stauffer Und Sein Orchester - Holiday In Acapulco (1964)

Returning briefly to the 'authentic Latin' vs 'ersatz Latin' contrasts of previous weeks, here's an interesting example.  Teddy Stauffer (1909-1991) was a Swiss-born bandleader who enjoyed success in 1930s Germany until the Reichsmusikkammer's crackdown on 'degenerate' swing music.  After unsuccessfully trying to secure a visa in the US, he wound up in Mexico and spent most of the rest of his life based in Acapulco.  So in Stauffer's case, the "Holiday" of this album's title ended up lasting more than four decades.

Holiday In Acapulco was originally released on Telefunken in West Germany, having been recorded in London.  In strictest terms, sure, it's faux-Mexicana - but at least under the direction of an artist who'd rebuilt his life and career "south of the border".  These fourteen beguines, sambas and rumbas all burst into life with the genuine verve of a bandleader immersed in the music of his "spiritual home", with great arrangements underpinned by lively percussion.  As per previous Dutton Vocalion CDs posted here, the remaster is a top-notch job.  Cover art above from CD is a bit washed-out looking (best I could get), so here's a decent-res image of the original LP cover.

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Chaquito - The Great Chaquito Revolution (1970) / Latin Colours (1972) (2010 compilation)

Couldn't resist posting some more 'ersatz Latin' from John Gregory aka Chaqutio, mainly because this twofer reissue from Vocalion just sounds so good.  All the superbly arranged brass and organ, funky percussion & bass guitar and odd vocal effects make for a particularly satisfying pair of top-flight fauxotica LPs from the early 70s.

By this time, as in the wider easy listening industry, the pop and rock hits of the day had started to appear in an effort to maintain wide appeal.  So here we have a stab at Light My Fire, not quite up there with Jose Feliciano's original (kidding, I'm just not a big Doors fan), and a great rendering of Aquarius from Hair.  The Great Chaquito Revolution also includes a couple of trips to the movies, in an ear-bendingly bizarre version of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and a nicely produced take on The Big Country with its trippy-sounding brass introduction. (anyone else always expect Chris Squire to come thundering in after they hear that theme?)  Latin Colours is a similar mix of classic tunes and more contemporary covers, all superbly arranged and great fun to listen to.

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Previously posted at SGTG: Latin Classics Vol. 1

The Great Chaquito Big Band - Latin Classics Vol. 1 (1990 compilation)

From the late 1950s to mid '70s, a series of budget LPs appeared first on the Fontana label then on Philips, marketed as "the authentic sound of Latin America" and credited to bandleader Chaquito.  What wasn't widely known outside the easy listening industry (and I didn't know this until about 20 years ago, having grown up with this stuff around the house as long as I can remember) was that "Chaquito" was actually the London-born John Gregory (1924-2020), and the players responsible for this "authentic" Latin sound were all British session musicians.

Regardless of lack of authenticity, this music has stuck with me all my life as it's so much fun to listen to, and really well played and arranged.  Picked up this compilation because it included the Chaquito version of Guantanamera, one of my earliest musical memories from a various artists tape.  It's a great arrangement of the tune, really atmospheric in the intro and coda and in the way it builds then falls away again.  Other Latin classics given the "Great Chaquito Big Band" treatment are Brazil, One Note Samba, Desafinado, Frenesi and lots lots more.  All have superb playing and arrangements, with intricate percussion and occasional fun little vocalisations.  More next week.

 

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Rogier van Otterloo - On The Move / The French Collection (2011 reissue of LPs from 1976)

All of one album and almost all of another by Dutch conductor and film composer Rogier van Otterloo (1941-1988).  These records date from the start of van Otterloo's time on Polydor in the 70s, when he was styled as something of a Quincy Jones-like arranger of both smooth and funky orchestral jazz, and were exquisitely remastered by Dutton Vocalion for this reissue that saw On The Move receive its first digital release.

On The Move was recorded in the UK in late 1975 and released the following year.  Not only furnishing these eight tracks with sumptuous arrangements, van Otterloo also composed seven of them.  The opener, Go On Forever, is an extended arrangement of the Dutch hit song We Zullen Doorgaan by Ramses Shaffy that sounds absolutely gorgeous, with new lyrics sung in English at the end.  Otherwise, from Rogier's pen we alternately get exquisite slow numbers like Alfie's Lullaby, Alone At Last and The Eternal Triangle, or funky grooves like the title track, My Dearest Fluffie (with vocals again) and the slowly-building closer The Flattened Tenth.

The French Collection, recorded in London in September 1976, is an album of interpretations by French writers as per its title.  There's a track missing from the LP, Cent Mille Chansons - perhaps for reasons of space, although Vocalion often do 2-CD releases when paired LPs top 80 minutes, so who knows.  The eight tracks here are mostly on the high-quality easy listening side, superbly arranged, and Les Gars De Rochechouart gets a catchy light funk groove going with great drums, wah'ed guitar and electric piano.  In fact, every track on this CD just sounds so damn good I can't stop listening to it at the moment - wish more van Otterloo albums were reissued.  He did a few more with Polydor, then took up the Metropole Orkest baton in 1980 (they're currently conducted by Jules Buckley), before he sadly died of cancer at age 46.

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Esquivel And His Orchestra - Infinity In Sound (1960)

Zippy, zesty fun from Mexican bandleader Juan Garcia Esquivel (1918-2002), at the height of his powers as an ear-bending arranger.  All of Esquivel's sonic delights and little quirks are on display across 11 classic tunes: punchy brass and nifty percussion, slide guitar, "zu zu" vocals, cool little breezes of flute (as on Harlem Nocturne and Autumn Leaves, to name but two favourites) and more.  All of it pristinely rendered in RCA "Living Stereo", "New Orthophonic High Fidelity Recording" and suchlike marketing terms of the era; it's transferred to CD very well.  Esquivel became known as the king of "Space Age Pop" when this stuff came back in vogue in the 90s, but it's just great fun to listen to in any decade.

For fellow aficionados of obscure formats - an RCA Tape Cartridge release; note sides swapped compared to original sequence. (Pic: discogs.)

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Ted Heath & His Music - Big Band Percussion, Big Band Bash, Satin Saxes & Bouncing Brass (3 albums on 2 CDs, 1961-63)

To go into the new year with, it's party time with Ted Heath.  Not the classical music-loving UK Prime Minister of the early 70s, but the big band leader who lived from 1920 to 1969 and received a late-career boost from his association with Decca's Phase 4 Stereo imprint.  Ted Heath & His Music were officially formed in 1944, with Heath taking inspiration from wartime big bands such as Glenn Miller's.

By the early 60s, Ted Heath & His Music were hugely successful UK household names, and Decca-London Records had launched their new imprint to maximise on the emerging stereo technology, recording through a then cutting-edge ten (later twenty) channel console onto four-track tape.

Big Band Percussion was the first Ted Heath & His Music album to be released on Phase 4, taking full advantage of the stereo mix (check out the percussion solos on Drum Crazy) and featuring a neat selection of jazz standards and other well known and other big band and more exotic selections.  On this 1988 CD reissue, tracks 13-18 are taken from Side 2 of a later LP, Satin Saxes & Bouncing Brass.  But before that LP came out in 1963, there was Big Band Bash....

Big Band Percussion
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Big Band Bash is probably my favourite Ted Heath album, with tight, punchy performances throughout, a great tracklisting, and superb arrangements.  Check out the mellow I Don't Know Why and a cool Harlem Nocture for starters, enjoy a pleasingly bonkers take on Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance and much more.  I used to have a vinyl rip of Big Band Bash from an old easy listening blog - wish I could find those files now, it blew this CD master out the water.  But the CD does have Side 1 of Satin Saxes & Bouncing Brass as the bonus tracks (12-17).

Big Band Bash
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Anyway, that's enough of that terrible late-80s cover art from the CD reissues: below are the original LP covers of the three albums, in all their Phase 4 Stereo glory.  Any Nurse With Wound fans (specifically, fans of NWW vinyl EPs circa 2008) recognise the picture on Big Band Bash?

 

Klaus Wunderlich - Jingle Bells (1987)

Well, I did say on Friday that George Winston's December wasn't just some scholcky record for the holiday season... couldn't resist some nice festive schlock today though.  It's the best kind of festive schlock though, that comes in an almost fully segued suite of Wersi digital organs and synthesizers, in the capable hands of organ-botherer Klaus Wunderlich (1931-1997).

It's hard to explain the appeal that this album has to me; think it must just be the sound of the keyboards.  There's something beyond just mere cheese, something woozy and uncanny, almost a hallucinatory quality.  Like having the cold for Christmas and drinking too much cough syrup, and the Christmas tree dolls on the album cover start to come to life. Enjoy the ever-so-slightly-uneasy listening oddness.

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Sweet People - Summer Dream (1981 compi, rec. 1978/81)

Another nice little charity shop oddity, which I picked up suspecting it had a bit of the James Lasts about it.  Wasn't actually far off; Alain Morisod's Sweet People are a Swiss easy listening/instrumental pop outfit that have been on the go since the 70s.  This release compiles the highlights of their first two Polydor LPs from 1978 & 1981, with such minor European hits as Et Les Oiseaux Chantaient featuring wordless vocals, birdsong and a gentle background.  Elsewhere, there's bits of whistling, lapping waves, and more birds.

Oddly enough, several Sweet People albums on discogs have been given the 'Downtempo' tag, as if they were Boards Of Canada records or something.  To modern ears, I suppose there is a certain strange, odd appeal to this stuff in places, and it could be highly sampleable in the more chilled corners of today's electronic world.  Enjoy just under an hour of pure musical diazepam.

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Richard Hayman & His Orchestra - Waltzing Cat - The Music of Leroy Anderson (1989)

Something nice and light & relaxing for Boxing Day - this was a charity shop find that I grabbed right away due to that title and cover, thought it would at least be worth a giggle.  It's actually a very good recording of the most well-known tunes by light music composer Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), performed by pops-orchestra bandleader Richard Hayman and his orchestra.  Lots of fun to be had in the way that Anderson wrote and arranged, with plenty of these tracks falling on just the right side of novelty.  Reminds me of music for old-time cartoons in places.  BBC Radio 4 listeners will also recognise 'The Typewriter' as the theme tune from The News Quiz.  Lovely stuff.

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Arp Life - Jumbo Jet / Z Bezpieczną Szybkością (2014 compilation, rec. 1975-78)

In 1975, library music composer Mateusz Święcicki (1933-1985) teamed up with film soundtrack composer Andrzej Korzyński (b. 1940) to start off a studio ensemble for Polish Radio.  The name given to the project, which Święcicki had been using a couple of years earlier, was Arp Life: he'd liked how the Arp Odyssey synthesiser sounded much more refined compared to the rougher Minimoog.

For the next three years, additional musicians associated with the radio studios, most of their names lost to history, would come and go to add strings, brass or percussion as desired.  And ironically enough, Arp synths were scarcely, if ever, used - pretty much everything electronic here is either Fender Rhodes or Minimoog.  The best known artefact to emerge from this arrangement, and a mainstay of crate-digger blogs for as far back as I can remember, was the Jumbo Jet LP, released by Polskie Nagrania in 1977, and featuring new core member Maciej Śniegocki as writer and arranger.

Whether on a vinyl rip, or a remastered CD like this, the sampling appeal of Jumbo Jet is undeniable - wah-wah guitars, funky Rhodes and nifty bass & percussion riffs are everywhere, along with a handful of great fuzz guitar leads and melancholy disco strings.  Vocals are either wordless or limited to the track title; only the title track has more than that.  Only two tracks top the four minute mark - Jumbo Jet is basically a library LP par excellence, and a few tracks saw use in film, with Baby Bump and the gorgeous Hotel Victoria featuring in Andrezj Wajda's Man Of Marble.

original cassette cover, 1978

The following year, the Wifon label released a series of cassettes specifically promoted for in-car use, with the titles encouraging Poland's motorists to 'have a nice journey', 'don't dazzle [with your headlights, presumably]', and 'drive at a safe speed'.  That last one - in Polish, 'Z bezpieczną szybkością', was effectively Arp Life's second and last album.  Three tracks on the tape were taken from Jumbo Jet (Motor Rock was presumably a no-brainer to open the tape with), and the remaining ten were never released in any other format until this 2014 CD, which was followed by individual vinyl reissues.  The sound of these tracks is much the same as on Jumbo Jet, although Korzyński is the dominant writer rather than Śniegocki, leading to a bit more brass in the arrangements.  A couple of non-album singles and an unused signature jingle written for the Tonpress label round out this great compilation.

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Manuel and the Music of the Mountains - Reflections/Carnival (1998 compi of LPs from '69 and '70)

Don't know about you, but I could do with some more rest & relaxation... and a nice bit of escapism.  So here's a twofer reissue from one of my favourite easy listening-bordering-on-exotica bandleaders, the mysterious and exotic Manuel, and his Music Of The Mountains band.

Well, only mysterious and exotic for a few months at the end of the 50s - the Manuel persona was intended to be kept secret, but as soon as his popularity took off 'Manuel' was quickly unveiled as Geoff Love (1917-1991) from Todmorden, West Yorkshire.  The next 20 years saw the release of dozens of these beautifully arranged, sumptiously recorded (the EMI Studio Two sound has aged well) albums, including Reflections in 1969, and one of my all-time favourites in this genre, Carnival from 1971.


Disc 1
Disc 2

James Last - Träum was Schönes (1979)

So... how to round out a week in which I've been posting Luigi Nono at his most harrowing, and SPK at their most extreme?  It is, of course, time for Träum was Schönes (Sweet Dreams), a late 70s collection of Hansi's best work in his 'Classics Up To Date' mode.  Just look at him on the cover of this album, released outside of Germany as 'Classics For Dreaming' - he'll make sure your romantic reveries go undisturbed.  Or maybe he just likes to watch...

I promise I'll only be posting easy listening albums once in a while - for those who do want more, there's a couple of my favourite easy listening blogs in my blogroll down the right hand column.  But since music like this has been hardwired into my DNA from a very, very early age, I make no apologies for occasionally indulging it here - especially when it's top-notch stuff from the master.

What always drew me to James Last's pop-medley music was the texture of the sound; it's really difficult to describe, but it has a unique aural quality that gives a sense of time and place like no other - like discovering grainy, washed-out Super 8 footage from a 60s/70s holiday camp, or cruise ship.  The 'Classics Up To Date' stuff adds another dimension, and still sounds to my ears like some of the most transcendent, otherworldly elevator music ever recorded (without going into the exotica realm of course).  Just check out Schumann's Träumerei with the shimmering electric piano up front (might even be a Fender Rhodes).  The image I always get from this sort of stuff is of being a child, at Christmas, walking around a shopping mall whilst coming down off a dental anaesthetic.  Beautiful music indeed.

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Stanley Black - Cuban Moonlight/Tropical Moonlight

Stanley Black (1913-2002), born Solomon Schwartz in Whitechapel, London, has been one of my favourite easy listening bandleaders for the past few years since discovering the likes of 'Exotic Percusssion' on some of the classic easy listening/exotica blogs that have come and gone.

 I found Tropical Moonlight (1957) in a charity shop for about 50p (the early 70s Decca Eclipse reissue above) in 2005, and it's been a firm favourite ever since - just a slick, stripped back percussion ensemble and Stanley on classy, languid piano.  Fourteen tracks, well-chosen repertoire, half an hour of pure escapism.  On this CD that I got hold of last year (picture at top), Tropical Moonlight is preceded by the not-quite-as-good album Cuban Moonlight (1959), but I thought I'd just upload the full twofer CD for completeness.

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