The Golden Age Of American Popular Music - Hits With Strings & Things Various Artists (Golden Age of American Popular Music)

£12.56

Genre:
Instrumentals
Label:
Ace Records
Format:
CD
Catalogue Id:
CDCHD 1210

The moment rock’n’roll was born, the major labels lost their grip on the market as numerous independent labels sprang up in every corner of America vying for a piece of the action in what became a commercial free-for-all.

For every small town rockabilly following in Elvis’ shadow, there was a doo wop group hoping to emulate the Platters or Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and, for a brief, glorious moment, the music business looked to the sticks or inner city housing projects rather than to Tin Pan Alley for its raw material.

The one segment of the market where the majors were able to retain their dominance (and their dignity) was the orchestral or ‘easy’ format, populated by highly-schooled music men such as Andre Previn, Percy Faith and Billy Vaughn. These baton-wielders played a crucial role, arranging and conducting backgrounds for the era’s vocalists while often recording instrumentals in their own right. Their true metier lay in the album market which expanded rapidly with the advent of stereo recording in the late 1950s, though it was very often the kids who’d bought their hit 45s.

Here are the orchestral and ‘easy’ instrumental hits, both big and small – but mostly big – that helped define the Golden Age of Popular American Music, an era spanning, roughly, 1956-1967, when Billboard’s Hot 100 brimmed with an eclectic cornucopia of sounds and styles unlikely to be repeated in today’s age of corporate, socially engineered music production.

An element of the post-modern ironic in our approach makes “Instrumental Hits With Strings & Things” extremely pleasing on the ear while avoiding the blandness that often characterises other releases in this genre. There is surprise and delight at every turn and just as many subtle mood changes. Many of the tunes feature strings or horns (or a combination of both) with intrusions from the occasional twangy guitar (‘Flying Circle’) or an ondioline, an experimental electronic keyboard (only 2000 were ever made) heard playing the lead lines on Kai Winding’s 1963 smash ‘More’. Bill Pursell’s mystical ‘Our Winter Love’ seems to transcend time and space – it’s a dream sequence set to music spun in gossamer sound.

MOJO rated “Instrumental Hits With Strings & Things” highly enough to award it 4-stars, describing some of the US-only hits (the majority) as "pleasantly alien". Three of the tunes, ‘Lost Love’, ‘Flying Circle’ and ‘Baby Elephant Walk’ appear on CD for the first time. Every selection has been mastered from tape, mostly stereo, and the muscular steroid-enhanced 28-page booklet bulges with period ephemera. The lowdown on each hit is from Rob Finnis who once led his own ‘easy’ outfit, the Marylebone Ensemble, whose radio hit, ‘Porcelain’ was covered by Sounds Orchestral.

By Rob Finnis

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Track listing

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Side 1

  • 01 Preview More - Kai Winding

  • 02 Preview Love Is Blue (L'Amour Est Bleu) - Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra

  • 03 Preview Washington Square - The Village Stompers

  • 04 Preview Mexico - Bob Moore & His Orchestra

  • 05 Preview Our Winter Love - Bill Pursell

  • 06 Preview Fly Me To The Moon - Bossa Nova - Joe Harnell & His Orchestra

  • 07 Preview Flying Circle - Frank Slay & His Orchestra

  • 08 Preview Image (Part 1) - Hank Levine & Orchestra

  • 09 Preview Alley Cat - Bent Fabric & His Piano

  • 10 Preview Beautiful Obsession - Sir Chauncey & His Exciting Strings

  • 11 Preview Java - Al Hirt

  • 12 Preview The Enchanted Sea - The Islanders

  • 13 Preview A Walk In The Black Forest - Horst Jankowski, His Orchestra & Chorus

  • 14 Preview Calcutta - Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra feat Frank Scott on Harpsichord

  • 15 Preview Moon River - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra & Chorus

  • 16 Preview Cast Your Fate To The Wind - Sounds Orchestral

  • 17 Preview A Swingin' Safari - Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra

  • 18 Preview Stranger On The Shore - Mr Acker Bilk with the Leon Young String Chorale

  • 19 Preview Summer Set - Monty Kelly & His Orchestra

  • 20 Preview Baby Elephant Walk - The Miniature Men

  • 21 Preview Lost Love - H B Barnum

  • 22 Preview Soul Coaxing (Ame Caline) - Raymond Lefevre & His Orchestra

  • 23 Preview The Dis-Advantages Of You - The Brass Ring

  • 24 Preview Summer Samba (So Nice) - Walter Wanderley

  • 25 Preview Canadian Sunset - Hugo Winterhalter & His Orch, Piano solo by Eddie Heywood

  • 26 Preview Music To Watch Girls By - The Bob Crewe Generation

  • 27 Preview The Theme From A Summer Place - Percy Faith

  • 28 Preview Bonanza - Al Caiola, Guitar & Orchestra

Delivery & Returns

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We use Royal Mail First Class for UK deliveries and standard Air Mail for all other territories, very large orders will usually be sent via parcelforce. You may cancel your order at any time prior to your order being dispatched by emailing us at orders@acerecords.com ensuring that you quote your name, address and order reference number or by telephoning +44 (0) 208 453 1311 between 9am and 5pm GMT/BST, Monday to Friday. Please note: As music downloads are dispatched immediately after purchase, there is no possibility of cancelling these orders.

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You have the right to cancel your order within seven days of purchase, or seven days of receipt of the goods (whichever is the longer). If you choose to cancel your order, full payment will be returned to you. Returned items should be sent to: “Returns” c/o Ace Records, Such Close, Letchworth Garden City SG6 1JF, United Kingdom. Music downloads should be returned to us via the email address: orders@acerecords.com including a copy of your notice of cancellation and order number.

Press quotes

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The latest volume in this excellent series. ★★★★

Mojo

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