Golden Age of American Popular Music: Hits with Strings and Things

by N/A

Overview

The point's been made elsewhere, but hit radio of the 1960s wasn't only devoted to rock and soul music, as dominant as those forces were on both record sales and youth culture. You could also hear non-rock hits slip into the playlist on a more or less constant basis. Golden Age of American Popular Music: Hits with Strings and Things - Hot 100 Instrumentals has 28 such hits -- some mild, some huge -- from the decade (with a couple from the mid- to late '50s slipping in) that fit into the easy listening instrumental category. The "easy listening" label, though it's the one used more than any other, is a little deceptive. Some of these tunes are pretty forceful (though some are admittedly lush and meek), and quite a few of them borrow from aspects of rock, jazz, and even sometimes folk/country/world music in their arrangements, though at heart these are usually pretty smooth productions targeted toward an all-ages audience. Some of the biggest, and some of the best (the two are not necessarily the same) such smashes are here: Kai Winding's "More," Paul Mauriat's massive number one hit "Love Is Blue," Percy Faith's much-derided "The Theme from a Summer Place," Lawrence Welk's "Calcutta," the Village Stompers' folk-Dixieland hybrid "Washington Square," Bent Fabric's jazzy piano outing "Alley Cat," Henry Mancini's "Moon River," Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore," Bill Pursell's "Our Winter Love" (with its mesmerizing low fuzzy blasts), Al Caiola's rendition of the "Bonanza" theme, Sounds Orchestral's interpretation of jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," and the Bob Crewe Generation's archetypal swinging bachelor anthem "Music to Watch Girls By." Also here are a bunch of instrumentals that didn't quite make it to the Top 20 (and sometimes charted much lower than that), though some of them are of notable fame as well, especially Walter Wanderley's effervescent bossa nova "Summer Samba (So Nice)." ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	05/12/2009
Label:	Ace
UPC:	0029667035224

Tracks

1. More  - Norman Newell  - Riz Ortolani  - Kai Winding
2. Love Is Blue  - Pierre Cour  - Paul Mauriat  -  Mauriat  - Andre Popp
3. Washington Square  - Bob Goldstein  - David Shire  -  Village Stompers
4. Mexico  - Boudleaux Bryant  - Bob Moore  -  Moore
5. Our Winter Love  - Johnny Cowell  - Bill Pursell
6. Fly Me to the Moon  - Joe Harnell  -  Harnell  - Bart Howard
7. Flying Circle  -  Slay  - Fray Slay
8. Image, Pt. 1  - Larry Greene  - Hank Levine
9. Alley Cat  - Frank Bjorn  - Bent Fabric  - Bent & His Piano Fabric
10. Beautiful Obsession  - Sir Chauncey  - Ernie Freeman  - Joe Saraceno  -  Sir Chauncey & His Exciting Strings
11. Java  - Freddy Friday  - Al Hirt  - Allen Toussaint  - Alvin "Red" Tyler
12. The Enchanted Sea  -  Islanders  -  Islanders  - Frank Metis  - Randy Starr
13. A Walk in the Black Forest  - Horst Jankowski  -  Jankowski
14. Calcutta  - Heino Gaze  - Lawrence Welk  -  Welk
15. Moon River  - Henry Mancini  -  Mancini
16. Cast Your Fate to the Wind  -  Sounds Orchestral
17. A Swingin' Safari  - Bert Kaempfert  - Billy Vaughn  -  Vaughn
18. Stranger on the Shore  - Acker Bilk  -  Young
19. Summer Set  - Acker Bilk  - Monty Kelly  -  Kelly
20. Baby Elephant Walk  - Henry Mancini  -  Miniature Men  -  Miniature Men
21. Lost Love  - H.B. Barnum
22. Soul Coaxing (Ame Caline)  - Raymond Lefevre  -  Lefevre  - Michel Polnareff
23. The Dis-Advantages of You  -  Brass Ring  - Mitch Leigh
24. Summer Samba (So Nice)  - Marcos Valle  - Walter Wandereley  - Walter Wanderley
25. Canadian Sunset  - Eddie Heywood  - Hugo Winterhalter  -  Winterhalter
26. Music to Watch Girls By  -  Crewe  - Percy Faith
27. The Theme from a Summer Place  -  Crewe  -  Faith  - Max Steiner
28. Bonanza  - Al Caiola  - Jay Livingston

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Raymond Lefevre & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Joe Harnell   Primary Artist
Acker Bilk   Primary Artist
Fray Slay   Primary Artist
Sir Chauncey   Primary Artist
Walter Wandereley   Primary Artist
The Miniature Men   Primary Artist,Primary Artist
Sir Chauncey & His Exciting Strings   Primary Artist
Bob Moore   Primary Artist
Bob Moore & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Monty Kelly & Orchestra   Primary Artist
Bent Fabric & His Piano   Primary Artist
Horst Jankowski & His Orchestra & Chorus   Primary Artist
Percy Faith   Primary Artist
Hugo Winterhalter   Primary Artist
Kai Winding   Primary Artist
The Village Stompers   Primary Artist
Raymond Lefevre   Primary Artist
Al Hirt   Primary Artist,Trumpet
Hidle Brown Barnum   Primary Artist
Monty Kelly   Primary Artist
Al Caiola   Primary Artist,Guitar
Hank Levine   Primary Artist
Henry Mancini   Primary Artist
Sounds Orchestral   Primary Artist
The Islanders   Primary Artist
Billy Vaughn   Primary Artist
Islanders   Primary Artist
The Leon Young String Chorale   Primary Artist
Henry Mancini & His Orchestra & Chorus   Primary Artist
Frank Slay Orchestra   Primary Artist
Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Paul Mauriat   Primary Artist
Bob Crewe Generation   Primary Artist
Bent Fabric   Primary Artist
Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Bill Pursell   Primary Artist
Lawrence Welk   Primary Artist
The Brass Ring   Primary Artist
Horst Jankowski   Primary Artist
Walter Wanderley   Primary Artist
Percy Faith & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Joe Harnell & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Eddie Heywood   Primary Artist,Piano,Soloist
Hugo Winterhalter & His Orchestra   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Ernie Freeman   Composer
Eddie Heywood   Composer
Mitch Leigh   Composer
Acker Bilk   Composer
Allen Toussaint   Composer
Marcos Valle   Composer
Bart Howard   Composer
Frank Metis   Composer,Photography
Bob Goldstein   Composer
Johnny Beecher   Photography
Johnny Cowell   Composer
Freddy Friday   Composer
Frank Bjorn   Composer
Pierre Cour   Composer
Norman Newell   Composer
Randy Starr   Composer
Michel Polnareff   Composer
Hidle Brown Barnum   Composer
Heino Gaze   Composer
Rob Shread   Audio Restoration
Henry Mancini   Composer
Max Steiner   Composer
Alvin "Red" Tyler   Composer
Bert Kaempfert   Composer
Andre Popp   Composer
Dr. Warren Nadel   Photography
Niall McCormack   Package Design
Boudleaux Bryant   Composer
Joe Saraceno   Composer
Horst Jankowski   Composer
David Shire   Composer
Rob Finnis   Cover Photo,Liner Notes,Photography
Riz Ortolani   Composer
Larry Greene   Composer
Frank Slay   Photography
Jay Livingston   Composer