NICE 'N' EASY
PHASE 4 STEREO SPECTACULAR
Decca 478 6769 (40 CDs) / ****1/2
Listeners
of a certain vintage (and their parents) will remember with fondness Decca
Phase 4 long playing records from the 1960s and early 1970s, which prided on
state of the art sound using then new-fangled stereophonic technology.
This 40
album box-set relives free and easy sounds of that swinging era, when
classical, jazz, swing, traditional and popular music found a happy confluence
without dumbing down.
Nine discs are devoted to Ronnie Aldrich and his Two
Pianos. He performs on one piano but the parts are fed through into two
speakers, a clever gimmick. For sonic spectaculars of that era, listen to Stanley
Black (pseudonym of Solomon Schwartz) conducting the London Festival Orchestra
in film scores and Jewish music.
For
nostalgic value, the singing strings of Frank Chacksfield & His Orchestra
in the music of the Beatles, Burt Bacharach, Jerome Kern, Simon & Garfunkel
truly have a special place. Ted Heath leads in big band arrangements of The
Sound Of Music, Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey, while Edmundo Ros provides
a Latin beat for five records.
Vocal highlights include the booming voice of
Ethel Merman and Wright & Forrest's musical Kismet (using melodies by
Russian composer Alexander Borodin) accompanied by Mantovani's Orchestra.
Finally, there are two discs of James Bond and spy movie themes from Roland
Shaw and His Orchestra, which define the zeitgeist of an unforgettable
age.
No comments:
Post a Comment