Tremendous stuff – an ultra-groovy 70s album from Nelson Riddle – with a sweet style that's very much like his two classics for MPS at the time! The songs are all Michel Legrand numbers – more than enough to entice our ears – and Riddle handles them with a nice mix of lush instrumentation and tighter rhythms – so that there's usually a nice gentle groove to the music, which works perfectly for Legrand's tunes! Titles include "Pieces Of Dreams", "I Will Wait For You", "Mon Amour", "Amy's Theme", "My Paris Friend", "Watch What Happens", and "Picasso Summer". LP, Vinyl record album
Easily the best album we've heard from Homer Dennison and his Night Strings – a slinky, sexy set of grooves that has some of the best touches of the European soundtrack scene of the time! As you'd guess from the name of the group, the strings are in the lead – but there's lots of nice electric bass grooving at the bottom, and some heavier piano over the top – creating the kind of soulful juxtaposition that we love in the best MPS easy/Snowflakes mode! The album sports a few original tunes that are worth the price of the album alone – and titles include "Black Sand & White Stars", "Blue Stoned Eyes", "Sagittarius", "On The Road To The Blues", and "On Days Like These". LP, Vinyl record album
Fantastic work from Riddle – a bandleader who always did great work with other singers, but who could really be sleepy on his own, until the late 60s, when he started to change his groove a lot, and really open up his sound! This album's a perfect example of that move – as it's got organ, electric guitar, and Fender bass mixed with Riddle's already well-arranged horn sextion – creating a lilting groove that really kicks the best tracks along nicely, giving them a slightly funky sound that's similar to the work that Riddle later did for MPS. Titles include "Gentle On My Mind", "Tell Someone You Love Them", "Don't Rain On My Parade", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Where Do I Go", and a great cover of "Light My Fire". LP, Vinyl record album
Sweet and easy grooving from The Jerry Ross Symposium! Jerry was a successful producer for Motown and Mercury – and was stepping more into the limelight with The Jerry Ross Symposium – a mostly instrumental group dedicated to exploring the hipper side of easy listening – aided heavily by Claus Ogerman, who arranged the set! Some cuts have dreamy chorus vocals in the background – but the main sound comes from Ogerman's masterful way of smoothing together the horns and giving the record a rolling bass at the bottom – using the electric instrument in a mode that he'd picked up from European easy of the 60s, and which emerges here with the voices in a cool style that's almost got an MPS easy sort of feel. Titles include "Superwoman", "Too Late To Turn Back Now", "How Can I Be Sure", "Day By Day", and "Too Young". (Soul, Now Sound)LP, Vinyl record album
A very cool record that we might well put right up there with Mel Torme's "California Suite" as a musical tribute to the west coast – or the "Manhattan Tower" of Gordon Jenkins as some sort of tribute to a city! The album's a long piece on the glory of San Francisco – with lots of differently-themed tunes that refer to aspects of the city in mid-century – composed by the team of Libby and Stephen McNeil, set to music by David Rose –a nd featuring vocals by Ray Goman, Shepard Menken, Bob Grabot, Bill Thompson, and others. Titles include "Fog Over Frisco", "Meet The Press", "When You Call It Frisco Smile", "Around The Town Sequence", andee "Mission Dolores". Side two features "Four Moods In Memory" – a suite of themes played by Rose, with narration by Don Sherwood. (Soundtracks, Now Sound)LP, Vinyl record album
(Cover has light ringwear and some spotty aging in back.)
6
Slaney/Warren/Mawer/Raymond —
Classical Guitar ... LP De Wolfe (UK), 1967. Very Good ...
Just Sold Out!
(Blue & red label pressing in the flip-back pinstripe cover. Cover has some aging, lightly bent sides and corners, small tear at the opening, and some ink stamps and notes in pen in back. Labels have large side notations in marker and an ink stamp.)