Paul Mauriat was a hugely successful easy listener purveyor on a par with those other giants of the easy listening genre Bert Kaempfert, James Last and Herb Alpert. His canvas was popular hits of the time and on many of his albums he covered many Beatles songs. In fact one such album, released in Japan, was devoted exclusively to Beatles songs and the cover was a pastiche of the Fab’s “Let It Be” cover. Japanese audiences loved Mr Mauriat, he was the only international artists to sell out the Budokan stadium twice in one day.
Sleeve Notes:
For those who are perhaps having their first taste of Paul Mauriat in this LP here are some tips for catching the full flavour. Try it tonight with your coffee after dinner, relaxing in a softly lit room. First let the warm romantic bouquet of the music drift round you before you sip at the individual tracks and savour them, for they have subtle gradations of flavour – each one excitingly different, yet all unmistakably vintage Mauriat. You will find, as in all fine liqueurs, that the basic sweetness is counterbalanced in every number by a special piquancy which lingers warmly long after the track is over. Like Mauriat himself, it is something very French yet as completely international as fine champagne or cognac. A lot goes into the fine blend of a Mauriat arrangement for the Mauriat orchestra. The connoisseur, who recognises Mauriat’s music as something unique in the world of popular music, can sense ingredients that have been maturing for a lot longer than Mauriat’s lifetime. This dual element in his arrangements, for instance – this element of contrast with a small group of instruments such as guitars, piano and harpsichord in the foreground adding the piquant element to the larger body of strings (hear it on the first track “A taste of honey”; – has roots in the concerti grossi of the seventeenth-century composer Corelli and of Handel and in the Brandenburg Concertos of Bach. Surprising?
Not really, for Paul Mauriat is one of a handful of creative men in the world of music who might be described as total musicians. It is a handful that includes such names as Leonard Bernstein and Andre Previn. Each is a classical musician who is completely conversant also with the music of our own time-with jazz and popular music. They do not see music divided up into superior and inferior types. For them there is only good music and bad music of whatever kind. But things being what they are, each has had to have a base camp. Bernstein and Previn have made their base camps in classical music. On the other hand Mauriat, a conservatoire graduate at 14 who seemed then to have an assured future as a classical concert pianist or conductor, decided to settle in the field of popular music. How much popular music has benefited from Mauriat’s classical background becomes apparent when you examine his arrangements closely. Take that harpsichord in “Michelle,” for instance. Mauriat is well aware of the unique texture of the sound of the harpsichord (which is not as many people think a kind of primitive piano but instrument which produces its sound by plucking strings instead of hammering them) And he knows how to use a to best effect. Merely using it at all tells us something about the mastery of Mauriat’s orchestral writing. One might think the delicate sound would be lost in the sound of a big orchestra, but the mark of good orchestration is that every part that is written, down to the tiniest triangle tinkle, should make a positive contribution – and be heard. That is the kind of principle that marks Mahler’s brilliant orchestral writing in his vast symphonies, it is the kind of principle that applies in a Mauriat arrangement – this is a test he never fails. But there is lot more to his blend than that. Mauriat puts to full use his long experience and wide knowledge Jazz and Pop music. The way he can make a big orchestra swing when he wants to suggests an intimate knowledge of the work of the big bands in the swing era of the ‘thirties and perhaps some keen listening to the way Count Basie uses his piano, guitar, and drums tightly and efficiently to generate swing. Nor is Mauriat too proud to learn from the younger generation’s pop styles Listen to the hypnotic electronic beat in “Capri c’est fini” and the clever electronic effects in his piano presentation of another “slow rock” number “Il silenzio”. Listen, too, to the way Mauriat uses his instruments like human voices, particularly his ever-singing strings And listen. too. to his vividly delicious -Long live love-this is part of the essence of Mauriat. It is, in fact, very much the music of today and in all these things we can recognise the touch and feeling of a master musician. But analysing Mauriat’s music is a little like analysing a fine wine chemically On this record we could mention the fact that he has brought together an international blend of melody from various periods, memorable themes by leading composers in France, Italy, Germany. America, and Britain-and, of course, those most international of popular composers. Lennon and McCartney, for whom Mauriat has great respect. But that, in its tum. is like identifying the vineyards and the vintage when what really matters is that he has made them into something very specially his own for our lasting pleasure. It is after all the final quality of the finished blend that counts, and whether you are sampling for the first time or have already developed a connoisseur’s palate for Mauriat’s music, this collection has the kind of quality that is sure to make you want more of the very special taste of Mauriat.
Frenetic Latin-esque sounds in the style of Juan Garcia Esquivel (known usually as just “Esquivel”, see this excellent page for more about him). This album whose title translates approximately as Downtime in Latin America is quite rare and we’re mighty pleased to have a copy in the Cover Heaven vault.
Anche questo disco appartiene alla “Serie Night-Clubs” e si prefigge come unico scopo quello di far ballare e di divertire portando nella casa quella speciale atmosfera del “Night” in cui i cantanti, l’orchestra e “la gente” si fondono in una atmosfera particolare. Su di esso non abbiamo raccolto le voce e gli strumenti di una singola orchestra, ma abbiamo scelto alcuni fra i complessi piu noti da Marcellos Feria!” a “Franco Vicini”, da Beppe Cordite” a “Nini Rosso”. Come avviene in ogni locale notturno, abbiamo intercalato balli gia affermati – e sempre graditi – a novita, siamo partiti dallo slow per concludere in un crescendo di ritmo del hully-gully e del twist. Un disco che naturalmente e dedicato al giovani e che pertanto raccoglie quei motive e quelle canzoni che essi hanno mostrato di preferire canzoni che parlano dei loro problemi dei loro sentimenti che talvolta possono essere piu facilmente espresso nell’ascolto di un “successo” che non con frasi e parole ormai fuori moda. “VUOI BALLARE CON ME?” vuol anche dire: “ascolta con me questa canzone e stammi vicino perche ti senta piu mia.
Buona serata.
[English translation of VUOI BALLARE CON ME?] This record also belongs to the “Night-Clubs Series” and its sole purpose is to make dancing and entertaining in your the house similar to that special atmosphere of the “Night” in which the singers, the orchestra and “the people” come together in a special atmosphere. We have not collected the voices and instruments of a single orchestra on it, but we have chosen some of the most famous ensembles from “I Marcellos Ferial” to ” Franco Vicini “, from Beppe Cordite” to “Nini Rosso”. As happens in every nightclub, we have interpreted already established dances – and always welcome – to new, we started from the slow to conclude in a crescendo of rhythm of the hully-gully and of the twist. A record that is naturally dedicated to young people and therefore collects those motives and songs that they have shown to prefer songs that talk about their problems of their feelings that sometimes can be more easily expressed in listening to a “success” and not with phrases and words now out of fashion.” DO YOU WANT TO DANCE WITH ME?” can also mean: “listen to this song with me and stay close to me because you feel more like me”.
By 1969 the phase4stereo series was well established and somewhere north of 180 albums had been released in this format. Titles included “The Spectacular Trumpet of Kenny Baker” (stop giggling at the back), “Sputniks for Orchestra”, “Bongos from the South”, and “Strictly Oompah”. But what exactly is phase4stereo? Let Decca Records explain:
I think that pretty much explains it in a nutshell but for those of you hungry for more here’s a description of the phase4stereo process:
“Phase 4 stereo” can only be described as a marvel of sound, a radically new and dramatically potent concept in the art of high fidelity reproduction. It is Decca’s trademark for the most advanced and flexible of all stereo recording techniques; it stand for motion and an uncanny sense of spatial realism unapproached by conventional disc standards; it is your assurance of unmatched quality control, rigorously applied from studio to finished disc, throughout every single step of the manufacturing process. perhaps the most remarkable innovation of “phase 4” is the use of Decca’s custom built 20 channel console mixer. this complex and forbidding-looking machine permits sounds from no less than twenty separate sources to be combined and blended in precise perspective. Each instrument can be pinpointed to exact locations from extreme left to extreme right along a horizontal plane, or forward and back through an astonishingly large depth of field. This, of course, is only part of the “phase 4” story. The making of the master tape, the cutting of the master lacquer disc, production of the final copy for the consumer-all are done with custom equipment, under the constant supervision of both engineers and musicians. the state that the 500,000th record produced is identical in sound performance with the very first copy pressed is no boast; it is part of the unique and proud redo of “phase 4 stereo”.
Of course that’s all very interesting. But it doesn’t address the attention paid to creating such an attractive cover.
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.
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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.
George Shearing had quite a life, successful in many ways despite being born blind. An Englishman, he later became a US citizen but retired in part back in Gloucestershire, UK in his later years. This album is typical of many from this period, very relaxing to listen to, to look at and to enjoy. George released several “Latino” records based mainly on sambas, cha-chas and boleros.
Sleeve notes:
“Authentic” seldom describes Latin rhythms played by a non-Latin musician. But it has correctly applied to George Shearing’s stylings in three previous hit Latin albums for Capitol, and so it does here. George’s is a sunny, danceable, now-famous brand of Latin that he applies not only to these exciting mambos and cha-chas, but to the subtle, insinuating boleros, as well.
“These boleros,’ George explains, “bear no resemblance to the famed Ravel composition. The bolero rhythm we play here is the Latin ballad tempo. Latin with mild seasoning, if you like, it’s distinctly an Afro-Cuban style — as distinctly as Armando’s.
The bongo and conga playing of Armando Peraza is indeed distinctly Afro-Cuban, and it must be described with such contradictions as “controlled” and “frenzied,’ Armando has served as the percussion mainstay in each of the Shearing Latin albums to date, and joining him as important additions to the Quintet in each of these numbers are several other Latin percussionists and a flutist.
The flute, by the way, adds an exciting first-time element to the Shearing sound — new scope to the Quintet’s Latin mood. And “Mood Latino” promises to add a new scope to your enjoyment of Latin music. There’s enough variation in tempo — from the smooth to the tempestuous — to satisfy any listener’s ear or dancer’s feet. There’s an even mixture of standards in Latin translation and fiery Latin originals. There’s … but to say more would spoil the mood you’ll soon be in.
