This is our eighth “Top Of The Pops” Album bringing together, as usual, twelve hits of the day onto one LP, a presentation virtually impossible for the original (single) versions. We get letters asking how it can happen that these Hallmark recordings can be as good as – and, indeed at times better than – their counterparts on the charts. Well, let us tell you for sure that it ain’t easy! If there is a secret it has many parts the care and attention paid to every bar of every number prior to sessions; the choice of vocalists and musicians; their skill and application at the fall of the baton; the use of the best studios and engineers; and the endless trouble taken in the Mixing Room where up to eight separate tracks are blended into a Stereo Master. And this is how you come to enjoy endless hours of pleasure for as long as you like.
Ravers! Here’s our fourth and greatest Pop Album. Bend back your ears and listen to a dozen of today\’s hottest numbers, all furiously scrambling for the Top Spot. Like “Boom, Bang-a-Bang”. Like “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”. Like “Sorry Suzanne”.
Specially recorded in London by Hallmark Records, our fabulous vocalists and instrumentalists make sounds that will send you rocketing into Outer Space. So, Groovies, grab this L.P., rush back to your Pads, and move, move, move to the hot, sweet sounds of this album. GROOVY BOY
You’ve twisted our arm again! So many thousands and thousands of you groovy babies grabbed our last “Top of the Pops” album from the counters that we’ve had to take the hint. Here, then, is our third Rave Album, packed with current chart-smashers, that will send you jumping straight through the roof of your pad. So drag out your record players, try out this fab disc, and go, go, go with the swinging sounds of Hallmark’s third (and greatest) “Top of the Pops” L.P.!
“According to Greek tradition, may your drinking glasses be good and plentiful and may you expertly throw them one by one on the floor, so that they shatter into one hundred tiny sparkling particles, to the happy laughter of a beautiful woman!“ These final notes on the cover of this album convey a philosophy of life that’s hard to argue against.
Sleeve Notes:
This album is for those who love and appreciate Greek Laike Moussike. It’s an album for all those who wish to have in their collection an LP with twelve songs each one of them a best seller in its time; music written by prominent Greek composers, songs interpreted by famous Greek singers, and accompanied by top bouzouki players of Greece.
This is a rare collection indeed; and it covers a wide range of themes and tempi; from slow, nostalgic, soulful ballads, to fast, colourful and sometimes amorous, song-dances, brimming with gaiety and pulsating with rhythm and vitality. Let’s look at the contents. On Side One, E KYRA (The Lady) is an evergreen by Manos Hadjidakis for all addicts of the Hassapiko dance. CHRYS-SOPRASSINO FYLLO, is a nostalgic song about Cyprus, which likens the island to a golden-green leaf floating on the blue waters of the Mediterranean. PAI-PAI (Gone is the night) is one of those gay, irrepressible songs for which its composer George Zambetas has become famous. APANO STO MANDILI SOU (On your handkerchief) is another catchy melody with the inimitable Bithikotsis as vocalist. EPOMONI (Patience) is an unusual duct between Grigoris Bithikotsis, the top male singer of Greece and the charming star of theatre and cinema, Alikee Vouyouklaki. Finally, NYHTERINOS HOROS (Dance in the night) an instrumental by Manos Hadjidakis, taken from his successful musical “Street of Dreams”. Zarnbetas plays the bouzouki on this striking melody in 5/8 measure, with his usual vigour and skill.
Side Two begins with another Zrunbetas top hit TA THAKRIA (Tears) sung by Vicky Mosholiou and which for months was number one in the Greek hit parade. MATIA VOURKOMENA (Tearful Eyes) is a new song by Stavros Xarhakos, the youngest of the talented composers to join the new movement of Laike Moussike. TO GHELASTO PETHI is the Greek version of Brendan Behan’s “The Smiling Boy”, and Maria Farandouri, the interpreter is a young singer for whom the composer, Mikis Theodorakis has written many new songs. Bands four and five are strictly for the afficionados of Laike Moustike and I’ll bet six bottles of Retsina to a glass of Ouzo, that the voice of Bithikotsis and the lyrics will send their pulses galloping. The last band is a Theodorakis instrumental in strict Zeibekiko tempo, for those who can’t help dancing to this zestful 9/8 rhythm. According to Greek tradition, may your drinking glasses be good and plentiful and may you expertly throw them one by one on the floor, so that they will shatter into one hundred tiny sparkling particles, to the happy laughter of a beautiful woman
GEORGE ANGELOGLOU
Xavier Cugat was married five times. What we might describe as eternal hope over experience. He also lived to 90 years of age so it clearly agreed with him.
Sleeve Notes:
THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC For thirty years Xavier Cugat has remained the world-wide king of the Latin-American beat. It is almost entirely due to him that we have received the thrilling tempo of the Afro-Cuban world in our own continent. In the early 1930’s, in a historic radio series in the States “Let’s Dance” which also featured the swinging Benny Goodman, Cugat swept the country with the rumba, a rumba that was adapted by him from the complicated Cuban steps to something more suited to the American world.
From then onwards, Cuban rhythm after Cuban rhythm swept the world. In the late Thirties came the Conga; the Forties produced the Brazilian Bombshell Carmen Miranda and the Samba; to be followed by the Mambo, and then the Cha-Cha in more recent times. Over the years, as stars have risen and fallen with persistent regularity, Xavier Cugat has soldiered on, resisting all attempts to dethrone him “the King of Rumba” Mr. Latin-America himself. Yet way back in the Twenties it would never have seemed possible that the cafe fiddler in Barcelona would achieve such a position. One day he was heard by Caruso and was invited to tour the States with the world-famous tenor. In the course of their joint travels, the two men discovered a mutual interest in drawing and amused themselves on their long journeys by drawing caricatures. Cugat’s talent for this has become well known and his drawings have appeared in many leading magazines. In fact when Caruso died, Cugat decided that his own future as a violinist lacked the horizons of greatness he had hoped for and he joined “The Los Angeles Times” as a cartoonist. However, the call of music was too great and Cugat started out with a small combo, specialising, of course, in the rumba. The rest of the story is history.
THE SOUNDS AND THE SONGS Possibly no other music lends itself so well to the Perfect Presence Sound recording technique as the Latin American, and particularly when it is in the hands of an expert like Cugat. This LP presents twelve great songs of the last three decades all of which receive the Cugat treatment. Mama Inez, which opens Side One is considered by many to be one of the greatest of all Cuban rumbas. It was a great hit in 1931 and one of the melodies which really established the rumba rhythm. Tea For Two needs no comment as to its history, merely gratitude from everyone concerned with music that Vincent Youmans wrote it for our delight, a delight that has remained constant since 1924. More up to date is Tequila, which first attracted attention in California in 1958, and over here in Britain very soon afterwards. Taboo is a melody of the early Forties written by Margarita Lecuona, a lesser known but worthy bearer of the name. Sway has recently been revived by Bobby Rydell for the teenage generation, the older ones will remember it from around 1950; this Cugat version is for every generation. A breakdown of the arranging gives a perfect example of the supreme Cugat execution. The basic pattern is set by a question and answer colloquy between brass and saxes in the introduction. The scratcher is followed by an upward chromatic run on the marimba which leads us to the first chorus, taken by the brass with answering figures by saxes tagged by low trombones and bongos. The release is played by saxes in unison. The second chorus is taken first by jazz-oriented saxes, then by trombone-led brasses with figuration by flutes and piccolos. The release is shared by the flutes and marimba. The brasses swing the last eight to answers by the saxes. The ending is on high trumpet to a descending figure by the saxes. Just before the war we heard Amor as well as that great melody “Frenesi”. Amor took a long time to establish itself but here to end the first side is a Cugat up-to-date cha-cha version of what is now an established favourite. Side Two opens with a song that broke through because of a dispute over radio music in 1941. Everyone was forced to revive the oldies and Jimmy Dorsey came up with Amapola from the 1920 era. It is followed by El Cumbanchero. Whenever a fast, Latin-flavoured number is needed by dancers, you can be certain that they will find this up-tempo rumba-guaracha a show piece for bands as well as performers. Equally danceable to is Ba-Tu-Ca-Da, a sambo from Brazil possibly not as well known as the other numbers on the record. When you listen you will probably join us in wondering why. Finally comes three of the all-time standards to complete The Best Of Cugat. These three tracks serve a dual purpose: evocation of old memories and admiration for new approaches to their melodies. .Misirlon from the Forties, It Happened In Monterey from the Paul Whiteman”King of Jazz” movie of the Thirties, and finally a haunting melody from the great Ernesto Lecuona”Always In My Heart.
HI-FI INFORMATION This collection was recorded during three different sessions. Instrumentation in the first and second sessions included reeds, bass guitar, percussion, trumpets, trombones, marimba, xylophone, rhythm guitar and bass; third session, female voices, violins, rhythm guitar, bass, bongos and jawbone, male voices, cello, reeds, bass guitar, conga and maracas and marimba.
The LP was recorded both stereophonically and monaurally at Fine Recording Studios with George Piros handling the controls. Microphones utilised were: reeds, Telefunken U-47; bass guitar, RCA 44BX; percussion, BK 5; trumpets, RCA 44BX; trombones, RCA 44BX; marimba, Telefunken U-47; rhythm guitar, RCA 44BX; bass, RCA 44BX; female and male voices, Telefunken U-47; violins, Telefunken U-47; bongos and jawbone, RCA 44BX; oelli, RCA 44BX. The sessions were recorded on Ampex tape recorders at 15 inches per second.
“Manuel and The Music of the Mountains” was the pseudonym of prolific musician/arranger and composer Geoff Love. We have another Geoff Love album cover here which was released under his own name rather than Manual. The Studio2 Stereo series of albums from the 1960s and 1970s was EMI’s dedicated label for serious music consumption.
Do you know the song of wood thrushes as dusk begins and the coolness of an early autumn air holds their warbling between high trees? That is the question posed by this record. So, do you? These words and much more (see the back cover of “Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops – Embraceable You” below) were written by Clare W Van Ausdall. Not much is known about her except that she was commissioned to write for many record releases, back cover notes, booklets and across a range of genres. That’s the kind of job I’d like. Just a shame there are no vacancies any more.
Sleeve Notes:
Do you know the song of wood thrushes as dusk begins and the coolness of an early autumn air holds their warbling between high trees? Or do you know the little murmur of a thousand night moths near the river’s edge, their wings luminous like milky dust in the violet light of evening? Can you summon up the echo of rain or the trees’ sighing, the transformation of a seashell held against your ear or the rustle of a brocaded skirt on a pebbled walk? Remember these things, for they can be the sounds of Love.
Have you seen the yellow sunlight lying suddenly on a pink cheek, the arch of elms in some springtime meadow, a pair of playful smiles coming together like the winking image of goldfish seen through the surface of pond water? Or the gleam of ripe grapes picked together in clusters, or the blue-outlined, ivory-centered flame of a candle, or the elaborate fancy of a garden spider’s web, serene, immaculate on an early morning? Remember these things, for they can have the look of Love. Perhaps you recall the scent of emperor poppies at midnight, or the tang of wet hickory logs in a country fireplace, the clear bitey smell of pine needles rimed with frost, the natural perfume of the skin fresh from salt water and the froth of the sea. Remember them; they can be the fragrance of Love.
If you know the sounds of Love, the looks of Love, the fragrances of Love – the splendors of Love, we might call them – then you know the music of Love, the music of shadows and dews, starlight and sunshine, of cool woodland flutes, of violins in various colors of repose.
When two people love each other, the things they see together, hear together, become aware of together are precious for all time. Those are the things the music of Love immortalizes. Nightingales sing about them, poets write of them. The songs you will encounter in this album, for instance, are longs of Love for Love’s sake, full of Love’s beauty. There is the sound of nightingales and poetry to them. And the sound of splendor.
“Like the selection of drinks on the menu of a swank cocktail lounge, this selection of music for after 5 P.M. relaxation runs the gamut of pleasure“. Well who is going to argue with Richard Hayman and His Orchestra? My only doubts are the swankiness of the lounge and whether 5pm is a little too early for such a gamut of pleasure. Regardless, this example of harmonica infused Long Player joy from Richard Hayman would no doubt have lifted many a mood around 1954. The front cover model has been cut in two and placed on opposing sides. Listen to some of this smooth fifties sound below.
Sleeve Notes:
Like the selection of drinks on the menu of a swank cocktail lounge, this selection of music for after 5 P.M. relaxation runs the gamut of pleasure. If you’re the straight highball type, enjoy the plait and simple relaxation offered by Spring Is Here. If you delight in the creamy luxury of a Grasshopper, try the richness of Port of Spain. For those who delight in vintage, there is Alt Wein. Melody for every taste and temperament, designed to wear off the day’s tensions, is Haymon’s “Mission Accomplished.” Richard Hayman’s harmonica is interwoven into many of the melodies like the tinkling, cooling ice chips that put that extra sparkle into an evening’s drink.
New England born and bred, Richard Hayman is a self-taught harmonica player and musical arranger. At 18 he joined Borrah Minnevitch’s world-famed Harmonica Rascals. At 21 he became a member of the Vaughn Monroe group, doing a specialty novelty harmonica act. After several years, he joined the Horace Heidt troop, which eventually brought him to Hollywood. Here he played bit roles in a score of musical films, and gained further experience arranging under the expert tutelage of George Stoll. Hayman, himself, has composed such outstanding instrumentals as Skipping Along and No Strings Attached, Huckleberry Finn and Carriage Trade which were also composed by Hayman are part of this WING Long Play album.
The extensive sleeve notes for this Immortal Pas De Deux record were written by Pigeon Crowle (Eileen Georgia Beatrice Crowle) artist, sculptor, authoress and ballet-composer 1903-1960. Not much else is known about her but that she wrote a lot about ballet. In 1959 you not only got a tasteful and attractive cover you also got an essay to read while you listened.
Sleeve Notes:
The pas de deux is the love song of the ballet, a duet of unspoken words, expressed in gesture, line, and harmonised movement. In the great classical and romantic ballets it is the high-light of an act, a coloratura passage in which the grace and beauty of the ballerina is contrasted with the chivalry and strength of her partner, the danseur noble.
“How light she is!’ he seems to say as she soars from his arms into the air; or, as he supports her in an arabesque — “How graceful” and as, with her hand laid on his, he slowly sums her poised on one elegant leg —”How beautiful!” The art of the classical ballerina is one of great beauty, but in the pas de deux, if aided by a partner of understanding and artistry, it shines with increased brilliance. But it depends to an extent, not generally realised, upon the ballerina being supported with knowledge and skill, and if these attributes are missing his performance will inevitably suffer. Her partner must watch for the slightest sign of insecurity, and be able to adjust her balance in all supported steps without any appearance of effort or strain, and without drawing audition to himself.
She must assist him with her response and timing, her taut springiness. In this way, working in complete unison and with subtle interplay of emotion, the pas de deux performed by two great artists is an exciting theatrical experience. As all emotions and feelings may be expressed in ballet, so they are reflected in the pas de deux. Those recorded here vary from the poetic to the flamboyant, from the light-hearted to the tragic, but all are set within the beautiful framework of the classical ballet. The pas de deux of the first act of Giselle in which Giselle dances with her lover Albrecht, has never been equalled for its delightful expression of youthful loss and happiness. The choreography is simple and devoid of all acrobatics or sensational lifts, but the gay and tender atmosphere of the scene is beautifully portrayed in its light and lilting movements. The love theme, given by strings and woodwind, recurs throughout the ballet — later, most tragically. Giselle was first performed in Paris in 1841, but still provides the most coveted of ballerina roles. Alicia Markova has become almost legendary in a part which she endows with her own unique qualities of romantic and remote fragility, while Anton Dolin, virtuoso of the art of partnering, has never been excelled as her Albrecht.
In the old classical ballets, the pas de deux (or grand adage as it is sometimes called) usually begins with an introduction for the two dancers, followed by one or two variations for each and a coda in which both join. Fokine, creator of modern ballet, revolted against many such conventions, and in his ballet Les Sylphides, the two principals have no sharply divided solos, but a dance that flows in an effortless continuity. Their entrance is particularly beautiful. He has begun to lift her in the wings, and she is still rising as they come into view. This creates the illusion that she might float away but for her partner’s restraining arms. Beryl Grey, with her soft, fluid line and gentle romanticism, gives a perfect performance in this ballet. When, however, Delibes’’ Sylvia was revived by the Royal Ballet in 1952, the choreography, by Frederick Ashton, included the grand adage in all its traditional glory. Tender and caressing, brilliant and exciting, soaring ecstatically with the solo violin, it is a love song designed to display the great art of Margot Fonteyn and the qualities of Michael Somes as dancer and partner. It comes as the climax of the third act, and there is a thrilling moment in the coda when, arrow-like, Sylvia flies through the air and appears to reverse her position in full flight just before Aminta catches her. The pas de deux from Casse-Noisette is one of the most beautiful ever devised. It combines a lyrical sweetness with classical virtuosity and precision, and commences in a quiet tempo quickening with the music which includes the bell-like tones of the celesta. Swiftly the ballerina runs towards her partner who takes her hand and draws her proudly through the air in a series of scintillating lifts, while the music mounts with a passionate and aching intensity unusual in classical ballet — indeed, it was adversely criticised by earlier audiences, who found it strange and disturbing. Casse-Noisette was the last ballet music written by Tchaikovsky, for he died in 1899, less than a year after its production. This adage can only be performed by artists of high distinction, and Belinda Wright and John Gilpin dance it with the delicacy and crispness of spun sugar.
Very different is the arrogant, flamboyant dance from Don Quixote, with its brilliant classical steps coloured in Spanish style. In Russia the ballet has remained in continuous performance ever since it was first produced in 1869, but in the West it is only known by this show piece for the ballerina and her partner. That dark beauty, Tamara Toumanova, and the lithe and elegant George Skibine, will long be remembered for their performance. What feats of virtuosity she displayed with no more apparent effort than a flick of her eloquent fan! With what panache he danced his variation, and partnered his dazzling ballerina in her scarlet tutu! Minkus’ music is the perfect accompaniment for this period piece.
The pas de deux performed by the dolls in La Boutique Fantastique is that lively French music hall dance, the Can Can. In their secret life whim the shop is closed, the dolls are lovers; but now they perform for the benefit of the customers, whirling their legs in the air, lifting their knees high and throwing back their heads with much jauntiness. The dance ends abruptly and, with a shake of her foaming white petticoats, the lady sinks to the ground in the “splits “, while her raffish partner runs to her side and whispers in her ear. The choreography for this dance is as sparkling and exhilarating as its music, and it comes from one of the most famous of Massine’s works. When he staged it for the Royal Ballet after the war, nineteen-year-old Moira Shearer was the gay, provocative doll and Massine her expert, agile partner.
To see Galina Ulanova partnered by Yuri Zdanov in Romeo and Juliet one of the great experiences of balIet-going. The pas de deux of the balcony scene is a symphonic picture in which the Juliet and Romeo themes are interwoven and the whole is a romantic reverie of small, gliding steps, interspersed with arabesques and — in the Bolshoi tradition — spectacular lifts. It is accomplished with an effortless ease by these two superb artists, who invest their roles with all the tragic poignancy and tender romanticism of the young star-crossed lovers.
The Aurora pas de deux from the last act of The Sleeping Beauty is the most famous of all the classical adages and of a most noble and brilliant description. The two silver and white figures make their sudden and dramatic appearance at the back of the stage and then advance with gracious yet imperious dignity to begin their breath-taking dance. This ends with a spectacular series of pirouettes and ” fish dives” to an accompaniment that mounts in excitement and finally dies on a sustained flute note and plucked strip, It is followed by a delicate solo on pointe for the ballerina and an exhilarating variation for the danseur. Every great ballerina has danced this adage, but none with more royal radiance than the lovely Svetlana Beriosova in her first great classical role at Covent Garden. For the audience it was an evening of enchantment. For her it was a wonderful yet terrifying experience, but in the assured hands of Michael Somas she triumphantly overcame all difficulties.
In all these dances the choreography owes much to its musical setting. Though so varied, all share a well-defined rhythmic line and a clear and vivid characterisation, which is inspiring to the dancers and carries the audience with them in the spell of the immortal pas de deux.