... LP, Vinyl record album

A surprisingly nice reworking of the Gershwin score – and Ray and Cleo are a surprisingly nice match on vocals! CD

... CD

A surprisingly nice reworking of the Gershwin score – and Ray and Cleo are a surprisingly nice match on vocals! LP, Vinyl record album

Special guests include Gerry Mulligan, George Shearing, and Joe Williams. CD

... CD

Some great soundtrack work by Johnny Dankworth – as the best tracks on the score have a mod 60s Brit approach! The best tracks have some heavy use of electric guitars, but mixed with the jazzy touches you'd expect from Dankworth – flute riffing around, tight scatting drums, and a nice use of organ at times. Wife Cleo Laine sings vocals on two cuts – "Empty Arms & Empty Heart" and "Won't You Believe Me" – but the best tracks are the instrumentals, like "The Houseboat Set", "The Idol", "The Party", and "The Seducer". LP, Vinyl record album

A set that's dedicated to the famous Beatles producer George Martin, and which seeks to bring together a whole host of sounds and styles that not only influenced his work in the studio – but which also represent maybe the odder aspects of the British scene, in a way that really helps create a greater understanding of the more offbeat sounds of The Fab Four themselves! CD1 is titled In All Directions – and brings together jazz, skiffle, vocal tracks, and plenty more – in a nicely varied lineup that includes work from Basil Kirchin, John Dankworth, Bert Weedon, The Vipers, Christopher Logue, Temperance Seven, Ray Cathode, Ron Goodwin, and Cleo Laine. CD2 is titled Experiments With Pop – and has a bit of comedic moments mixed with more musical selections – in a lineup that includes Peter Sellers, John Dankworth, Flanders & Swann, Matt Monro, The Goods, Bernard Cribbins, and Ron Goodwin. CD3 is titled Comedy Surrealist, and continues that spirit – with more Goon Show material, Beyond The Fringe, The Alberts, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, and other important pre-Monty Python acts from the UK – who often brought a lot of creativity to the production of their work in the studio. CD4 features straighter classical influences, but in a range of modes – tracks that begin with Bach, and move through Chopin, Ravel, Debussy, Holst, and even Gershwin. As always with these unusual sets on El Records, there's a lot of thought that goes into the choice of material – drawing lines between sounds that we really didn't expect! CD

Includes 6 recordings of Pachelbel's Canon performed by Paillard Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jean-Francois Paillard, James Galway with orchestra conducted by Glenn Spreen, The Canadian Brass, Cleo Laine and James Galway, Concord String Quartet, and Baroque Chamber Orchestra conducted by Ettore Stratta. LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal spy sounds from the 60s – a treasure trove of spy-themed tunes, and one that features loads of material you might not hear otherwise! The set doesn't feature the big hits from the James Bond films, and instead includes all the great little records that sprung up in the wake of those movies – cool jazz, vocal, and instrumental records that sometimes feature weird reworkings of more famous soundtrack numbers, sometimes lesser-known cuts from b-grade films, and sometimes fresh new spy numbers on their own! The style ranges from groovy guitar numbers to blaring jazzy tracks to slinky steppers that find a very cool balance between suspense and swing. Titles include "Dr Goldfoot & The Bikini Machine" by The Supremes, "The Last Of The Secret Agents" by Nancy Sinatra, "Theme From Danger Man" by Red Price, "A Man Alone" by John Barry, "Deadlier Than The Male" by The Walker Brothers, "Burke's Law" by Wynton Kelly, "We Should've" by Cleo Laine, "Our Man Flint" by Billy Strange, "Theme From Where The Spies Are" by Jimmy Smith, "The Liquidator" by Shirley Bassey, "I Spy" by Roland Shaw, "Come Spy With Me" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and "High Wire" by Brian Fahey. CD