Country Capers - Buddy Merrill At The Steel Guitar

Colors And Lines

Country Capers
Buddy Merrill At The Steel Guitar
Featured Guitarist On The Lawrence Welk TV Show
Produced by Buddy Merrill and Scott Seely
Recorded at Annex Studios, Hollywood
Engineer - John Anderson
Distributed by arrangement with Accent Records
Cover Designe and Photographs: Studio Five
Ranwood Records R-8099
1972

Country Capers
Spanish Harlem
Proud Mary
Colors And Lines
Jambalia
One Toke Over The Line
Okie From Muskogee
Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain
Steel Strike
Last Date
Dream Baby If I Were A Carpenter

Jackie Gleason Presents The Gentle Touch

How High The Moon

Jackie Gleason Presents The Gentle Touch
Produced by Dick Jones
Capitol Records SW 1519
1961

From the back cover: This album offers a real contrast in sound for Jackie Gleason fans, for here the familiar complement of Gleason strings has given way to a superb blend of woodwinds, mixed and matched with wonderful effect by the inventive writing of arranger George Williams.

From Billboard - March 13, 1961: Here's the first Jackie Gleason mood album in a long spell, during the time the maestro has been occupied with the legit theater scene and TV. This one features George Williams arrangements for woodwinds, rhythms and two trumpets. The moody danceable selections include "Cheatin' On Me," "Looking For A Boy," "Moonglow" and "Will You Still Be Min." Strong wax for dealers and jocks.

Cheatin' On Me
Looking For A Boy
Will You Still Be Mine
Until The Real Thing Comes Along
By Myself
Moon glow
I Went Out Of My Way
I Remember It Well
How High The Moon
I Don't Want To Cry Anymore
Oh! Look At Me Now
Everybody Loves My Baby

Music At Midnight - Carmen Cavallaro

I Didn't Know What Time It Was

Music At Midnight
Carmen Carallaro
Piano Solos With Rhythm Accompaniment
Decca Records DL 8115
1955

The above sample I selected for this post demonstrates that Cavallaro knew how to creatively arrange, in this case, a jazz-flavored cover of a popular tune of the time. Most of the tracks on this set, however, fall back into his "comfort zone" of more traditional-sounding piano lounge numbers. None-the-less this package features dynamic cover design for the moment and a lisenable collection of tracks.

Tenderly
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
All Through The Night
It's The Talk Of The Town
I Concentrate On You
Little Girl Blue
Amour
Some To Watch Over Me
I'll Follow My Secret Heart
The Nearness Of You
When Your Love Has Gone
It's All Right With Me

Flamenco - Mantila Dancers

La Alhambra

Flamenco
By The Mantila Dancers
Wyncote W 9178

Flamenco Andaluz
Solea Canasterea
Sones Gitanos
Fiesta Trinara
Ecos Del Rocio
La Alhambra
Bolero Clasico
Noches Malagueñas
Recuerdos De Huelva
Guajira Flamenca

Hollywood Cha Cha - Edmundo Ros

High Noon

Hollywood Cha Cha Cha
Edmundo Ros And His Orchestra
Decca SKL 4045, LK 4298 & LL3100
1959

From Billboard - February 9, 1959 (reviewing the London LL 3100 release): Another in the Latin rhythm series by the popular maestro, "Hollywood," in the album title, refers to the fact that numbers have been culled from top-drawe films – several of them Academy Award winners. Cha-Cha dance adherents are in front rank of potential buyers. Melodic, rhythmic, it's altogether an attractive album.

The Moulin Rouge Theme
It's Magic
Tammy
Theme From Picnic/Intro: Moonglow
The Harry Lime Theme
Around The World
Love Is A Many-splendored Thing
High Noon
Fascination
Three Coins In The Fountain
True Love

Twist With Cugat - Xavier Cugat

Twist With Cugat
Xavier Cugat
Mercury Records MG 20705
1962

Available from your usual online vendors so I will not be posting a sample.

From the back cover: The twist is not a new beat for the Cugat baton. It has been in his repertoire since well before the dance step bloomed into a national mania. Cugat had laid down that insistent, thumping beat not for the ballroom dancers, who in those days would have been bewildered by it, but for a single dancer – his dazzling wife and performing partner, Abbe Lane (cover model). Her twist a la mambo renditions are still the torrid highlights of their nightclub act.

From Billboard - May 12, 1962: Cugat serves up a tasty sampling of the Twist in Latin tempo. A top quality dance LP, with excellent orchestrations lending color to the disk.

In The Mood
Jazz Me Blues
In A Little Spanish Town
Ballin' The Jack
Johnson Rag
Woodchopper's Ball
Chattanooga Choo Choo
The Hucklebuck
Patricia
Makin' Whoopee
Hot Toddy
Fascinating Rhythm

The Immortal Ladies - George Melachrino

Laura

The Immortal Ladies
The Melachrino Orchestra Conducted By George Melachrino
RCA Victor LPM-1110
1956

From the back cover: And George Melachrino, judging from these latest musical sounds, has more than a semantic interest in girl's names. For, to his usual complement of strings he has added horns and woodwinds, brass and rhythm, as he performs delightfully, and with exciting variety, a dozen works dedicated to his Immortal Ladies

From Billboard - December 31, 1955: This LP spotlights the old, but solid commercial idea of packaging tunes with girl's names. Melachrino's lush, imaginative instrumentals add up to an excellent mood music package, which should get plenty of deejay spins. A montage photo of a curvaceous blonde in four different come-hither poses makes the cover an eye-catching display item.

Sweet Sue
Irene
Mona Lisa
Dolores
Louise
Laura
Rosalie
Liza
Marie
Sally
Chloe
Dinah

Relax With Victor Herbert - Al Goodman

To The Land Of My Own Romance

Relax With Victor Herbert
Al Goodman And His Orchestra
RCA Victor LPM 1023
1954

Absinthe Frappe
Kiss Me Again
I'm Falling In Love With Someone
A Kiss In The Dark
Love Is Best Of All
My Dream Girl
Toyland
When You're Away
Ah, Sweet Mystery Of Life
Gypsy Love Song
Sweethearts
To The Land Of My Own Romance

Colors Of Love - Hugo Montenegro

Undue

Colours Of Love
Hugo Montenegro
Arranged and Conducted by Hugo Montenegro
Produced by Jack Pleis
Cover Design: Rick Drobner, Gavin & Dom Studios
RCA Victor LSP-4273
1970

Don't get me wrong, I love and respect Montenegro's work. He was an inventive, top-notch arranger, but he went a bit crazy when on this set when he decided to do up covers of 60s pop tunes in a light pop or easy listening style. To say the least, doing something like this was a difficult sell in the early 1970s market. Furthermore, he went beyond his safe zone, which would have been arranging purely instrumental covers, to add male/female chorus into the mix.

Never-the-less and just because... this is a great set because it is so out there.

Here Comes The Sun
Didn't We
Undue
Something
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
When It Was Done
Holly Holly
Just Like A Woman
Good Morning Starshine
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

Cugat In Spain - Xavier Cugat

Malaguena

Cugat In Spain
Xavier Cugat And His Orchestra

Produced by Herman Diaz, Jr.

Recorded in Webster Hall, New York, October 15 and 16 and November 6 and 7, 1958

Recording Engineers: Ernest Oelrich and Bob Simpson
RCA Victor LSP-1894
1959

From Billboard - April 13, 1959: Cugie provides happy, rhythmic instrumental treatments of Spanish tunes – ranging from pasodobles to gypsy and classical items – but all styled with a cha cha beat. Effective stereo sound, and fine terp wax.

El Beso
Valencia
El Relicario (Dance No. 5 from "The Spanish Dances" by Granados)
Malaguena
Clavelitos
Madrid
Ritual Fire Dance
El Gato Montes
Granada
La Violetera (There Is Danger)