Good Feelin's

Hey Jude

Good Feelin's
The Happy Day Choir
Arranged by Wright & Carmichael, Inc.
Produced by Lee Young for Arthur James Productions
Dunhill - ABC Records
DS 50061
1969

Here's an album with a marketing problem. The cover features what looks like the backup singers for The Dean Martin Comedy Hour. If you look at the back cover you might think that this set might be some sort of "kids" record and or even a religious record. However, when you note song titles like: "California Dreamin'," "Hey Jude," "Let The Sun Shine In" and "Mrs. Robinson." and when you read the copy a little more closely you will understand that the creators made an effort to blend pop tunes with a black gospel sound. This approach seems like a disaster brewing but, God help me... it works. The pop songs feature strong vocal leads blended with killer gospel chorus.

Some tracks work better then others, but I've never heard a pop song cover set done up this way. Even during the cover of Hey Jude, I thought the song was going "off-course" and then the arrangers somehow manage to make it work.

California Dreamin'
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Hey Jude
Little Green Apples
For What It's Worth
Son Of A Preacher Man
Green, Green Grass Of Home
Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In
Mrs. Robinson
Words
O Happy Day

Ron Baynum And The Islanders

Ron Baynum
The Islanders
Jewel Records
Rec. No 981
205431A

The Noxzema Rag

The Noxzema Rag
Auravision Columbia Specialty Products
CBS Records CSM-6820
1967

6 x 6 inch cardboard record torn out of a magazine (my best guess). Probably

I want the "Boobie" prize!

Organ Melodies

Quiet Village

Organ Melodies
From Hobby-Lesson Course For Wurlitzer Organs
Total Tone Series
Rite Records Cincinnati, Ohio

Promotional item from The Wurlitzer Company, Dekalb, Illinois. A two record set sol in a book-fold jacket that featured no printing on the inside. There is reams of copy on the back cover marketing the Wurlitzer Organ, but no real hint of how this set is supposed to help you learn to play, as a "hobby lesson course". There is no instructional material hear on the record(s).

Perhaps this set was meant to entice people to sign up for a "course" or there was additional printed material to be found package with this set that is gone now.

The Mystic Moods Orchestra - Love The One Your With

Lay Lady Lay

Love The One You Are With

The Mystic Moods Orchestra

Arranged and Conducted by Don McGinnis

Sound Effects recorded by Brad Miller

Directed by Brad Miller

Recorded at Olympic Studios, London

Re-recorded at Wally Hiedier Recording, Hollywood

Engineers: Allan O'Duffy, Keith Grant

Mixer: Ed Barton

Warner Brothers BS 2577

A Mobile Fidelity Production
1972

I Love

How Do I Love You

Living Is Giving

Lay Lady Lay

Sensuous Woman

Sweet Rollin'

Another Dawn (With You)

Warm Lovin'

Good Feelings

Love The One You're With

Soul Groove - Various

74 Miles Away

Soul Groove!
Programmed by Dave Dexter, Jr.
Creative Products/Capitol SL-6678

Nancy Wilson Uptight - Everything's All Right
Cannonball Adderley - 74 Miles Away
Lou Rawls - I Love You, Yes I Do
King Curtis - Soul Serenade
Bettye Swann - Willie & Laura Mae Jones

Nancy Wilson - West Coast Blues
Cannonball Adderley - I Remember Bird
Lou Rawls - Wee Baby Blues
King Curtis - Watermelon Man
Bettye Swann - Don't Touch Me

Music To Make You Misty - Jackie Gleason

Say It Isn't So

Jackie Gleason Presents

Music To Make You Misty

Photo by Richard Nadel, Camera Associates, Inc.
Capitol Records W 455
1955

From the back cover: Two superb instrumental soloists are featured in this album, Bobby Hackett on trumpet and Toots Mondello on alto saxophone; the tasteful arrangements are by Sid Feller and Richard Jones. Their lyrical work is a tribute to Jackie Gleason's fine musical taste. So here is Jackie conducting his orchestra in a splendid offering for your romantic listening pleasure.

It All Depends On You

The Man I Love

Mickey

I Hadn't Anyone Till You

When You're Lover Has Gone

Tenderly

I'm Thru With Love

Dark Is The Night

Say It Isn't So

I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan

It Happened In Monterey

You Were Meant For Me

Prelude To A Kiss

You're The One I Care For

Jealous

Thinking Of You

Blooming Hits - Paul Mauriat

Penny Lane

Blooming Hits

Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra

Photo by Malinowski/Prokop
Philips PHS 600-248
1968

From the back cover: Paul Mauriat is an original, a young master, filling his musical masterpieces with a kaleidoscope of amazing sound variety. It is one thing to take an evergreen and shape it into a slick modern arrangement. But it is an entirely different matter to take the "now" music of today, considered by critics to be the most imaginative and creative in the history of pop music, and orchestrate it in such a way that it emerges entirely new and vital and from that day forward the property of Mauriat. It's like seeing an especially favorite film suddenly and unexpectedly presented in radiant technicolor.

For this album the exciting Mauriat Orchestra presents a wonderful pop-pourri. There are songs from the Top Ten, familiar and at the same time distinctfully different. "A Kind Of A Hush," is a softly rocking symphony, featuring, of all unusual instruments, a harpsichord. "Somethin' Stupid," originally sung by the Sinatras, pere et fille, is transformed into a Latin melody, a wonderful combination of the lyrical and the dramatic.

The top beat music composers are well represented. The songwriting Beatles, Lennon and McCartney, by "Penny Lane," and Cher's Sonny by "Mama." The former emerges as a musical distillation of the composition. Again the harpsichord is pleasantly evident, but there is also an incredible horn solo complete with scat riffs. "Mama's" muted horn slices through an intricate counter melody, with the harpsichord keeping the beat. Hardly as Mr. Bono imagined, but nonetheless extremely successful.

There are other surprises: the first prize winner in the Eurovision, 1967 song contest, "Puppet On A String," as bright and happy as a street band sprinkled with the confetti of circus music; two from the films. The wistful and haunting "This Is My Song," from Charlie Chaplin's THE COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG. Chaplin's music is almost old-fashioned in concept, but Mauriat has endowed it with such subtlety and nuance that it forms a nostalgic, lasting impression. "Goodbye To The Night," is one of the themes from the suspenseful THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS. Here suspense is not stressed. Instead, voices and piano join forces, violins soar, and the melody becomes truly majestic.

There are other songs. The powerful "Inch Allah," the incurably romantic "Seuls Au Monde," "L'Amour Est Bleu," where rock-beat is combined with chamber music styles.

A recent quote states: "The Paul Mauriat Orchestra is the one to watch for innovations in modern sound." But watch, is not the word. Mauriat's artistry is on an entirely different sensory wave length. Listen! And you'll hear the new sound for the now generation.

Dick Lochte

Somethin' Stupid

Penny Lane

This Is My Song

Seuls Au Monde (Alone In The World)

Inch Allah

(There's A) Kind Of Hush

Puppet On A Strings

L'Amour Est Bleu (Love Is Blue)

Adieu A La Nuit (Adieu To The Night)

Hawaiian Paradise - Leo Addeo

Aloha Oe; Hawaiian Paradise

Hawaiian Paradise
Leo Addeo His Orchestra and Chorus

Produced by Ethel Gabriel
RCA Camden CAS-853
1965

From the back cover: The distinctive flavor and flair of Leo Addeo's musical touch are evident in everything he arranges and records, whether it's enchanting pop ballads, light and scintillating novelty tunes, or the music of Hawaiian Addeo specialty. Perhaps it's his deep background of arranging experience with such luminaries as Larry Clinton, Frankie Carle, Gene Krupa and Hugo Winterhalter that enables him to find a delightful freshness in songs old and new. Here again, in a musical return to Hawaii, Leo Addeo adds something different to his traditional treatment of Island melodies. For the first time, he combines instrumental and Hawaiian-style choral arrangements, and the combination is outstanding. Instruments and chorus create a new Addeo atmosphere in which you can almost hear the soft wind rustling the palm trees and the warm Pacific gliding up and down the glistening beaches.

There's authenticity in Hawaiian music by Leo Addeo. He uses all of the Hawaiian percussion instruments from steel guitars and tom-toms to native feathered gourds. (Although the feathers probably don't actually contribute to the "sound," if you use your imagination you can picture the movements of the colorful instruments and there's a certain authentic flavor that adds to your listening enjoyment.)

The eleven melodies Leo Addeo has selected for this album reflect the true musical moods of Hawaii. Most are familiar, and all contribute to an over-all musical portrait of this languid, enchanting isle of romance.

Love and romance are, of course, synonymous with Hawaii, and the Addeo orchestra and chorus are tender as the evening breeze with such musical love potions as Love Song of Kalua, Love Song of Hawaii and Love Letters in the Sand.

Love and sadness ofttimes go hand in hand, and Leo captures the full heart tug of such unforgettable Hawaiian melodies as Aloha Oe and To You Sweetheart, Aloha. The latter is another gem from the pen of Harry Owens, famous for his Hawaiian music.

The incredible beauty and magic spell of the fabled Hawaiian Islands are reflected in Sing Me a Song of the Islands, Sleepy Lagoon, On Treasure Island. Then, too, there's Leo's interpretation of Pearly Shells, a very recent popular hit.

Here is the music of a HAWAIIAN PARADISE by a musical talent who responds to the magic, moods and melodies of these enchanting islands. Hawaii's 630,000 citizens can't be wrong. They rate among Leo Addeo's most enthusiastic fans.

Intro: Aloha Oe; Hawaiian Paradise

Pearly Shells

Love Letters In The Sand

Love Song Of Hawaii

Sleepy Lagoon

Sing Me A Song Of The Islands

Hawaiian Memories

On Treasure Island

Love Song Of Kalua

Medley: To You Sweetheart, Aloha; Aloha Oe

Claudine - The Look Of Love

The End Of The World

Claudine
The Look Of Love
Arranged by Nick De Caro
Album Design: Perter Whorf Graphics
Engineer: Bruce Botnik
Producer: Tommy LiPuma
A&M SP 4129
1967

The Look Of Love
Man In A Raincoat
Think Of Rain
How Insensitive (Insensatez)
Manha De Carnaval
Love How You Love Me
Creators Of Rain
When I'm Sixty-Four
Good Day Sunshine
The End Of The World

Tahiti Dances

Vahine Anamite

Tahiti Dances
Authentic Tahitian Chants, Drum Rhythms and Songs

Featuring Eddie Lund and His Native Tahitians
Actually Recorded in Papeete, Tahiti

Back photos: Matson Line
HI-FI Tahiti Records TR-201
1961

From the back cover: Eddie Lund, in this album, has given the world its first discs of authentic Tahitian music as recorded in the islands themselves. He has studied the music ever since his arrival in Papeete in 1936 and is one of the leading authorities in this field. To insure absolute authenticity in these recordings, Lund traveled to some of the most remote of the Society Islands to assemble talent. Many performers never before had seen a microphone.

Eddie Lund is an interesting character. He formed a band, which is featured on this LP called Eddie Lund and his Native Tahitians. It would seem that he played with the local musicians, although it is not at all apparent what the role of his "band" had in the project. This is his fourth record of Tahitian music. He stayed in Tahiti permanently and became know as the Irving Berlin of Island music and the father of modern Tahitian folk Music. He died in 1973.

Patautau

To Oh Here Iau (Your Love For Me)

Vahine Anamite

Ute

Tiare Maori

Taire Pahu

Tangi Tika

E Tupiti

Vahine Paumotu

Hiro E

Te Maru Tafano

Arutu Te Pahu

Raisins & Almonds Cha Cha Cha & Merengues - Johnny Conquet

Sher Cha Cha

Raisins & Almonds 

Cha Cha Cha & Merengues
Johnny Conquet, His Piano and Orchestra

Producer: Eddie Heller
RCA Vicrtor LSP-1789
1958

Raisins And Almonds Cha Cha

Freilach Merengue (Happy Merengue)

Shein Vi Di Lavone Cha Cha (Beautiful As The Moon)

Merengue Mania (Roumania-Roumania)

Searching

Mambo A Bisel

Sher Cha Cha

Mazel-Tov Merengue (Wedding Merengue)

Dates And Figes

Meanwhile Back At The Harem

Matzoh Ball Merengue

Sirocco

Hungarian Folk Songs

Why Must I Not Love You?

Hungarian Folk Songs
Qualiton Recording
Hungary 1978

The cover model? This would be a Komondor, the largest of the Hungarian dog breeds... Known as the "King of the Working Dogs" the Komondor are perhaps one of the most unusual looking dogs in the world. After a bath this dog can take three days to dry.

Why is there a dog on the cover? I have no idea. The song titles, thankfully, are translated on the back cover (although the number of tracks on the record and the song title number do not match). One song, on the B side is titled "Little dog, big dog". That's it for the dogs songs. Other song titles are humorous. Titles include: My sweetheart is chic, Who knows why you have gone away?, Crying is not worthwhile, Maidens, maidens, maidens in the village, You are my woman, There is a ditch and there is a pit, The snow has covered the road, I don't need that, My boots are wrinkled and The raven is croaking... yes... My boots are wrinkled and The raven is croaking.

Three's A Crowd When It's Intimate Jazz

Alone Together

Three's A Crowd When It's Intimate Jazz
The Phil Moody Quintet

Cover Photo: George Pickow

Cover Art: Will Dressler

Recorded at Master Recording Studios, Hollywood, California under Direction of D. L. Miller
Somerset SF-10400
1960

Body And Soul

I Only Have Eyes For You

Romeo Digs Juliet

All Of Me

Two Sleepy People

Alone Together

Let's Fall In Love

The Way You Look Tonight

Rachmaninoff Sits In

You Do Something To Me

Bwana ã - Arthur Lyman

Blue Sands

Bwana ã
More Exotic Sounds Of Arthur Lyman
HIFI Record R808
1958

From the back cover: Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, with its face of civilization, attracts thousands of tourists, many of whom crowd the Shell Bar at Henry J. Kaiser's Hawaiian Village Hotel to see and hear Arthur Lyman's group. They listen spell bound to the exotic sounds and music that have made Arthur Lyman's first album Taboo a best seller everywhere.

The Lyman group "fits" together, each member instinctively knowing what the other will do – the success key to a successful group. As before, Arthur Lyman plays 4-mallet vibes with feeling and finesse, doubling on marimba, guitar, and often percussions. Allen Soares builds piano and celeste rhythm and harmonies. John Kramer keeps the string bass beat, sometimes taking off on flute. Harold Chang provides unending excitement and suspense with accurate, imaginative percussive excursions – in other words, he plays drums but good! Some of the less usual percussion heard are wind chimes, cow bells, castanets, tambourine, guido and all manner of bongo, conga, samba, snare and other drums. Assisting the group for this recording are Japanese vocalist Ethel Azama, pianist Paul Conrad and Chinese Chew Hoon Chang, who plays the rare butterfly, or moon harp, which must be re-tuned for each change of key. Chew Hoon Chang also plays a Chinese bamboo flute. Bird sounds heard are both real and imitative.

Also from the back cover: Once again, through the courtesy of Mr. Henry J. Kaiser, we have recorded in the Kaiser Aluminum Dome outside the Hawaiian Village Hotel. The dome is as nearly perfect acoustically as any place we have found in which to record. It's an auditorium in the shape of a half sphere, seating about 1,200 people, has no "peaks." Reverberation decay time is ideal – about 3 seconds. A pleasing sound phenomenon is that the sound reflective properties of the aluminum sections from which the dome is fabricated accent the 3kc to 5kc range, giving a particularly clean and accurate sound. The group was miked with three Austrian made AKG microphones and recorded with a custom built 3 channel stereophonic Ampex magnetic half-inch tape recorder. The three tracks were later mixed in cutting the master disc from which this record was made. 

Bwana ã

Moon Over A Ruined Castle

Waikiki Serenade 

La Paloma

Otome San

Canton Rose

Blue Sands

Malaguena 

Vera Cruz

Pua Carnation

Colonel Bogey's March

Orienta - The Marko Polo Adventures

Orienta

Orienta

The Markko Polo Adventures

Arranged and Conducted by Gerald Fried

Producer: Simon Rady

Associate Producer: Michael H. Goldsen

Recorded in Hollywood, California, May 15, 21 and 31 and June 6, 1958

Recording Engineer: Thorne Nogar
RCA Victor LPM-1919
1959

From the back cover: There is really nothing with which to compare the music of ORIENTA. One might say it resembles the dreams of an imaginative person who has fallen asleep during a "Dr. Fu Manchu" movie on television. For these incomparable musical vignettes combine the sounds of the East with the wit of the West; the charm of the Orient with the humor of the Occident. They are the adventures of a sensitive traveler who wears glasses which are slightly out-of-focus and who is irrepressibly irreverent of Asiatic saws and clichés.

But most important: these impressions are excellent music and hi-fi Fun with a capital "F"! Here are sounds and effects to gladden the tweeters and woofers of the most critical hi-fi addict, coupled with interesting melodies, exciting rhythms and adventurous, harmonies. ORIENTA is not without its serious moments. Indeed, it is primarily a serious artistic effort. Impeccably written, performed and recorded, the album is a study in mood and sound, delightfully combining music and sound effects to tell stories of humor, romance, intrigue and life in the Orient.

Arranger-conductor Gerald Fried has accomplished these ends by skillful writing and the use of a wide assortment of woodwind and rhythm instruments. During the recording sessions the studio was virtually filled with percussion instruments, as many as twenty-five of them at one time. These were played by five of the nation's top per- cussionists, each of whom "doubled" on several instruments. This astounding array of paraphernalia prompted one of the musicians to quip: "Why don't they hire that Oriental god with six or eight arms?" Many hours were spent in preparing, recording and editing the music and authentic sound effects to insure the finest high fidelity repro- duction.

Rimsky-Korsakoff's Song of India finds the ancient music of the Beg- gars' Procession vying for attention with the sounds of a country strug- gling to become modern. A light jazz inflection underlines the contrast. Yokahama Ferryboat takes the listener on a picturesque journey in an antique boat. Gulls, whistles and milling passengers accompany the musical tourist as the boat huffs and puffs into the slip, pouring the commuters into the teeming city.

Rain in Rangoon was composed for the album by Vernon Duke and depicts a Burmese maiden whose reveries in the garden are interrupted by a tropical storm. She seeks refuge indoors until a final clash of thunder marks the end of the storm and the resumption of her placid dreams.

When an American sailor wanders into the Singapore hot-spot called Madam Sloe Gin's, he finds Oriental honky-tonk jazz, booze and girls. Getting his fill of the first two, he leaves with the latter to seek further adventures.

When The Girl Friend of a Whirling Dervish asks a touring jazz group to accompany her dancer friend, the poor Dervish has a rough time catching the beat. He finally gets "hip," however, and turns out to be a swinger

The Raymond Scott composition, Mountain High, Valley Low, is used to frame the story of a Princess who periodically descends from her mountain sanctuary to address her Chinese subjects. Having intoned her benediction, she returns to the hills. Marni Nixon provides the voice of the Princess.

Scheherazade is music for dancing girls. The Arabian setting would not deceive the well-traveled American. Burlesque is burlesque even in a Sultan's court.

Limehouse Blues is an Oriental ballet version of the American classic, "Frankie and Johnnie." Frankie is now called Chin and Johnnie is Chan but the result is the same: Chin stops Chan, Chan stops a bullet, the police stop Chin.

The Night of the Tiger takes the listener to the interior of India where a festival is in progress. The roar of a tiger throws the celebrants into a panic which lasts until the "swish" of a hunting spear and the death cry of the big cat announce that the festival may continue in peace. In the Harry Warren song Nagasaki, humor runs rampant. The listener envisions the selection being played by a traditional Japanese orchestra, the members of which are gradually replaced by modern jazz and rock-'n'-roll enthusiasts.

Train to Ranchipur takes the listener on a hectic ride past dense jungle, through a tunnel and triumphantly into Ranchipur. The odor of the packed coaches defies even hi-fi description.

Runaway Rickshaw is a Leon Pober composition depicting the plight of a rickshaw boy pulling an overweight tourist. The going is bad enough uphill, and the downhill ride is brought to a wild end amid flying merchandise from a peddler's cart.

Rome 35/MM Enoch Light

Via Veneto

Rome 35/MM
Enoch Light and His Orchestra
Originated and Produced by Enoch Light

Arrangements by Lew Davies

Associate Producer: Julie Klages and Robert Byrne

Art Direction: Charles E. Murphy
Cover Art: Giusti

Recording Chief: Fred Christe

Mastering: George Piros (stereo), John Johnson (monaural)

Command Records
RS 863 SD
1964

From the inside (gatefold) cover: During the steady advance in high fidelity stereophonic recording in recent years, the name that has always been out front, leading the way at every step, has been Enoch Light.

It was Enoch Light who produced the then new concept in musical sound that was introduced on that fabulously successful record, Persuasive Percussion. This record was not only literally heard 'round the world – it actually established a new world of sound recording, the so-called "percussion" recordings, some of which attempted to follow in the musical path that Enoch Light had blazed while others simply borrowed the key word in the title and let it go at that.

The musical concept that was at the heart of Light's innovation was the use of orchestrations carefully and specifically designed to take advantage of the exciting new recording possibilities that were being made available by developments in high fidelity and stereophonic reproduction. Until then, the engi- neers had been ahead of the musicians. The engineers had developed recording facilities to a point at which they were capable of reproducing much more brilliance and more realistic musical excitement than the musicians were producing.

The orchestrations by Lew Davies, put the advances made by the recording engineers to their first real musical test. These arrangements bristled with dramatic musical effects in which, for instance, high, high piccolos were placed in quick, exciting contrast to deep tubas, trombones and baritone saxophones. These were arrangements that were not only musically valid and musically provocative but they re- vealed for the first time the fascinating results that could be obtained with the new recording and play- back systems that the engineers had created.

So quick and spontaneous was the public response to this revelation that Light and Davies plunged deeper into their experiments with musical innovations, creating greater and greater refinements of the melodic, instrumental excitement with such records as Tony Mottola's ROMAN GUITAR (RS 816) and Enoch Light's FAR AWAY PLACES (RS 822) until, eventually, their challenge became too great for even the best that the engineers could accomplish. That was when Enoch Light turned his full attention to what the engineers were doing. He wanted a cleaner, more minutely accurate and completely realistic method of recording than Command's engineers were then getting from what was conceded to be the finest system of tape recording in the world. Fine as it was, it was not good enough to accommodate and capture the glittering brilliance and all the fine intricacies of the music that Light was producing.

The result of this search for new methods was the development of stereo 35mm magnetic film recording introduced on STEREO 35/MM (RS 826) which Life magazine hailed as "the season's biggest ear- opener." Stereo 35mm recording was infinitely more demanding because the very fact that it actually did record and reproduce every note played by every instrument in a huge orchestra with such total clarity, accuracy and with distinct separation from all the other notes being played meant that even the slightest little error became glaringly apparent. Stereo 35mm magnetic film meant that, for the first time, it was possible to hear a large orchestra on records even more clearly and more accurately than it could be heard in the finest auditoriums in the world.

Command's engineers have continued to refine and improve the stereo 35mm process, producing such magnificent records as the new recorded production of CAROUSEL, starring Alfred Drake and Roberta Peters (RS 843) which is "extremely sensitive and beautifully made in every way" according to its composer, Richard Rodgers. These engineers bring to the use of stereo 35mm film an accumulation of knowledge gained through experience that no other group of sound engineers can match.

Now that the technical end of recording has been lifted to this apex of perfection, Enoch Light has once again sought out the music that will bring out all the glories of this perfection by challenging it to the ut- most. But he insists on making that challenge, as he always has, in the most exciting musical terms.

To do this properly, he required vast, soaring melodies that were big enough and bold enough and glorious enough to carry and sustain the exciting musical ideas that were to be built into the orchestrations. Light found a veritable treasure of just such melodies in the incredibly romantic music of Italy -- music whose amazing melodiousness has been sustained in a tradition that runs from O Sole Mio to Arrivederci Roma.

Here are some of the most memorable popular songs ever written, songs whose great inherent me- lodic charm make them favorites whose popularity never diminishes as the years and even decades go by. Lew Davies has dressed them in spectacular orchestrations that not only expose and expand their basic loveliness but, in the brilliance of Stereo 35mm magnetic film recording, give them a dramatic impact such as they have never had before.

To draw out all of the musical flavor that is in the songs and also in these new arrangements... to project the excruciating musical intensity and the vast dynamic range which have been built into the arrangements in order to get the utmost in recording perfection from the Stereo 35mm process, Enoch Light has assembled and drilled a huge and magnificent orchestra made up of musicians who record under his baton regularly. Because of their specialized experience as members of Light's orchestra, these musicians, more than any other musicians anywhere in the world, understand and have the capabilities of responding to the demands that Light makes for creating the most exciting, the most unusual and the most over- whelming musical experiences ever placed on a record.

This record is the final result of years of technical and musical advances.

There has never been anything quite like it before. You, as a listener, may never be quite the same once you have heard it... once you realize what is now actually possible in the reproduction of brilliant, breathtaking musical excitement.

From Billboard - February 29, 1964: Another strong album for the stereo-conscious good music fan. The album is filled with continental charm of Italian melodies played by an large orchestra that includes strings, concertina and guitars. Close your eyes and your listening in Italy to tunes like "Solo Mio," "Anna," "Non Dimenticar" and "Arrivederrci Roma."

O Sole Mio
Via Veneto
Arrivederci, Roma
Per Tutta La Vita (I Want To Be Wanted)
Tango Delle Rose
'Na Voce, 'Na Chitarra, E 'O Poco 'E Luna
Scalinatella (Stairway To The Sea)
Parlami D'Amore, Mariu' (Tell Me That You Love Me)
Anna
Ciumachella (From "Rugantino")
Non Dimenticar (Don't Forget)
Nina

Take Me Along! The Ray Charles Singers

The Look Of Love

Take Me Along!
The Ray Charles Singers

Musical Arrangements by Ray Charles

Originated and Produced by Loren Becker and Robert Byrne

Art Director: Daniel Pezza

Recording and Mastering Engineer: George Piros
Command RS 926 SD
1968

From inside the (gatefold) cover: The threads that tie our lives together often follow strange and devious paths. Sometimes we see these threads knitting things together. Sometimes we don't even realize that the fateful is at work.

Two of the threads in Ray Charles' life come into focus in this album. One of them, he's been watching for a long time. The other – well, that was just one of those things.

The thread that he's been watching goes back to the days when Ray was a 17-year-old college student in Chicago. One of his best friends at col- lege was another 17-year-old named Norman Luboff. Both of these 17-year-olds went on to become leaders of two of the finest contemporary choral groups. Despite their professional rivalry, they remained close friends. When they married and had children, their children became friends.

The Luboffs had two children – a son, Peter, and a daughter, Tina. There were three Charles children – Michael, John and Wendy. A couple of summers ago, Mike Charles and Peter Luboff began writing songs together. They were written specifically for a trio made up of Peter and Tina Luboff and Wendy Charles.

The two fathers followed their efforts with interest but from a discreet distance ("Dad stays out," as Ray Charles says). The trio performed a few times but eventually it broke up. Then, for the first time, Ray Charles stepped in. Since the trio, which was the reason for the songs, no longer existed, would it be all right, he asked, if he recorded some of the songs?

Permission was granted by Peter Luboff and Michael Charles. And so the thread that first appeared in Ray Charles' life so many years ago is being woven into a new pattern – the joining of two great musical families in the recording debut of the team of Charles and Luboff.

The other thread dates back to a Broadway musical that Bob Merrill wrote in 1959. It was a musical version of Eugene O'Neill's play, Ah, Wilderness, and it was called Take Me Along. In the show, the title song was sung by Walter Pidgeon and Jackie Gleason in a gentle, easy, softshoe style. The Ray Charles Singers did it then on television on the Perry Como Show, following the general pattern of the Walter Pidgeon – Jackie Gleason version.

Time passed and the song fell into that limbo of good songs that nobody sings anymore. Then someone at United Airlines with a keen ear for the message inherent in the lyric picked it up as the basis for an advertising campaign. The first time Ray Charles heard the United Airlines commercial version of Take Me Along, he realized that he had overlooked the lively potential of the song when he had first done it in 1959. Now he could hear it as a totally different kind of song for his Singers.

He not only heard it – he started writing an arrangement. He wrote the arrangement that night, had the Singers in the studio the next day and the resultant record, released as a single, became an overnight hit. (You'll notice that, like most "over- night" hits, it took eight years to reach fruition).

Needless to say, United Airlines was pleased that their commercial had inspired a hit record. United was so pleased that they put a plane at Ray Charles' disposal for the cover photo of this album.

It happened on a day when the Singers were recording some of the songs in this collection. They were all gathered in the studio  – Lillian Clark, Lois Winter, June Magruder, Mary Sue Berry, Elise Bretton, Peggy Powers, Linda Whit- ney, Louise Stuart on the left channel, Steve Steck, Jerry Duane, Alan Sokoloff, Jerome Graff, Robert Hartman, William Ruthenberg, Chuck Magruder, Robert Eaton, Eugene Steck, Art Lang and William Elliott on the right channel.

When the recording session was finished, several of them had other assignments to go to but those who were free climbed into a bus and trundled out to John F. Kennedy International Airport. There the girls got dressed, carefully combed their hair, touched up their make-up and went out to join the boys at the plane. They lined up facing the waiting photographer.

"Turn around," the photographer told them. "Put your hands your in the air and wave to the boys."

They did. But on the bus back to town, they were a disgruntled group of girls. All that preparation and you can't even see their faces!

Take Me Along
The Look Of Love
Summertime Sweethearts
Blame It On Me
This Heart (Paris)
I Can See It Now
Windy
Walkin' Lonely
Henry, Sweet Henry
Quiz Me
Watch What Happens
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye

Music From Monitor

Wide Wide World

Music From Monitor
ALCOA
1960

According to the jacket notes ALCOA decided that they needed to make "the home-buying and home owning public more conscious of the need for better housing (aluminum sided housing) and more willing to invest the necessary funds to obtain better housing."

As a part of ALCOA's project to make people feel uncomfortable about not living in one of their aluminum sided houses... they launched a 1959 NBC radio program titled "Monitor". The program gave "experts" a chance to sell their vision about "housing as they see its problem and its effect on American life."

Fortunately, in this set, Monitor features music to help the listener perk up from the sad feeling one experiences from living in a brick house.

That said, however, the "Aluminum Music Sphere Designed by Lester Beall for the ALCOA Forecast Collection" is a great use of aluminum! Love it!

The set is not as cool sounding as the cover looks but Wide Wide World is one awesome sounding track as is Sid Bass's How High Is The Moon.

Milva

Io Di Notte

Milva
Fiesta Records, NY/Dischi Ricordi, Italy
FLPS 1578
1967

Love the cover, don't understand the lyrics... grooving on the sound. There are many fun and varied pop tunes with a 60s flare on this set.

I found Milva on wikipeida. Maria Ilva Biolcati. She is fabulously popular and has made countless albums.

Stereo Dynamics! To Scare Hell Out Of Your Neighbors

Adolf Hitler (excerpt from Edmond De Luca's "Conquerors of the Ages") The London Philharmonic

Stereo Dynamics! 

To Scare Hell Out Of Your Neighbors
Somerset SF-11400 STEREO
1961

Adolf Hitler (excerpt from Edmond De Luca's "Conquerors Of The Ages") - The London Philharmonic

Fire Goddess - The Turfmen

Toccato in D Minor (excerpt Bach) The Luneburg Organ

La Paloma - The Stereo Scored Magnificence of "101" Strings

Richard Diamond - Skip Martin's Video All Starts

Scheherajazz – 4th Mvt. (excerpt from Skip Martin's "Symphony In Jazz")

Flamenco Candido (Buleria) Curro Amoya Dancers

Sex ...should we wait?

Sex ...should we wait?
Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Willke
Hiltz Publishing Co.
Artist Recording, Cincinnati, OH
1969

Arguably one of my more rare local recordings I've found. A two record set made during a talk at The University Of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Memo Salamanca Cha Cha Cha

La Basura

Memo Salamanca And His Cha Cha Orchestra
Cha Cha Cha
Audio Fidelity AFLP 1813
1957

Terrific cover with lots of copy on the back describing how to do the Cha Cha. However, there is no information on Salamanca.

Apparently, Salamanca's first name was actually Guillermo. He died in 2008 at the age of 83.

Nice set that is as perky as the cover art. The vocals seem to have had a little reverb added giving the record an interesting sound (for the period).