1978

London Symphony Orchestra - Spartacus

London Symphony Orchestra – Spartacus

The Decca viva! label was a popular one among classical music lovers re-packaging older recordings from the previous decades into a new format for the eighties. Most of the recordings were of a very high quality and the cover notes were usually presented in English, German and French.

Sleeve Notes:

Aram Khachaturian is one the select few twentieth-century composers whose music appeals to serious concert-goers and the general public alike. His use of colourful, exotic harmonies and stirring rhythms, together with a unique blend of romantic lyricism and modern percussiveness, contributes to the pictorial quality of music that has captured the imaginations of audiences everywhere. It is not surprising, therefore, that Khachaturian also became a successful composer of film Scores and his talent for translating dramatic situations and emotions into music served not only the celluloid world but also that of the Russian ballet.

Gayarieh (a reworking of an earlier ballet, Happiness, and first staged in 1942), is set in the composer’s native Armenia, on a collective farm; it tells of the forces of good and evil, of the conflict between the heroine, Gayaneh, and her evil husband, Ghio. The five-movement suite on this recording opens with the famous Sabre Dance, includes Gayaneh ‘s hauntingly expressive Lullaby and ends with the tanrantella-like Lezghinka.

Khachaturian ‘s love and understanding of the theatre is displayed in his incidental music to Mikhail Lermontov ‘s play Masquerade. Of the live movements that comprise the concert suite (1944), the most celebrated is the opening waltz a splendid contribution to the Russian waltz tradition of Tchaikovsky and Glazunov. Spartacus (1956) takes us back to the world of Ancient Rome. The music not only portrays the grandeur of the Roman Empire at its height, but also the troubled emotions of the slave-gladiator, Spartacus. Excitement, tenderness and passion abound but are nowhere to be found with greater intensity than in the romantic core of the work, the “Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia.

London Symphony Orchestra - Spartacus

Label: Decca (Viva) VIV 54

1978 1970s Covers

Boogie Fever on Ronco Records

Boogie Fever on Ronco Records

Ronco Records was a hugely successful label in the seventies and eighties churning out compilations with regularity. Originally a company that sold cheap household gadgets such as those you might see on late night TV after regular programming has ended, it branched out into records in the early seventies and only stopped when hit by the success of the “Now That’s What I Call Music…” series in the mid eighties. Ronco, like it’s rival K-Tel, crammed as much onto an LP as it could with the result that most recordings manifested low fidelity and volume. This particular issue states on the sleeve notes that “In order to preserve the highest quality of sound the original durations of some tracks have been changed” aka shortened. The cover itself combines sexiness with a literal interpretation of the title by use of the suggestive thermometer courtesy of photographer Jerry Mason and sleeve design team Design Machine. Strangely track 1 side 1 “Airport” by The Motors is possibly the least ‘boogie’ like song ever recorded.

Boogie Fever on Ronco Records

Label: Ronco RTL2034
Photography Jerry Mason
Sleeve design Design Machine

1978 1970s Covers

Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra

Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra

Sleeve Notes:

Over several years and many records, musicians have searched for that elusive, different – and commercial – “sound”. And one or two of them have even found it. Glenn Miller, as a notable example. He truly struck gold in the big band field with those distinctive and so individual arrangements. But that Miller Magic was born many years ago and few, if any, bandleaders have been able to emulate him since.

Few bandleaders, that is, with the exception of the remarkable Bert Kaempfert. For the Hamburg-born musician did a Miller and hit upon a unique, inspired way in which to blend and voice the instruments under his command. A way which produced an overall sound – the dominant bass line, the regimented swing of the beat, the muted brass, and the general air of quality – that quite literally grabbed the public by the ear. All of which is very evident from the many millions of Bert Kaempfert LPs which have delighted record listeners the world over.

Bert Kaempfert became interested in music at a very early age – when he was discovered trying to make tunes on the old piano in the parlour. His parents encouraged him by sending him for private lessons and later he was enrolled at the Hamburg School of Music from which he graduated with flying colours.

In addition to piano, he learned to play clarinet, saxophone, and accordian. And, before long, his talents as arranger and composer began to emerge.

His recording career began effectively in 1960 when the “single” of his own song, Wonderland By Night, topped the American charts and became a million seller. And there were to be many more successes along the way – notably his Strangers In The Night composition, which he wrote for a film and which gave Frank Sinatra a long awaited Number One hit, and Bye Bye Blues, his British chart debut record.

The Bert Kaempfert talents are all contained on this LP, with many of his own compositions, like Happy Trumpeter, The Bass Walks, Explorer and Catalania, sharing the honours with such well loved “standards as Blue Moon and Cherokee.

Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra

Label: Contour CN 2029

1978 1970s Covers

Top of the Pops Best of '78

Top of the Pops Best of ’78

Sleeve Notes:

Well, here you have it pop-pickers it’s the one you’ve been waiting for – the very best of Top Of The Pops ’78! Seventeen of the biggest hits of the year all together on one fabulous LP specially recorded by the Top of the Poppers to make your parties really rock!

Every one’s a winner from the beautiful “Mull Of Kintyre” right through to the fabulous “Summer Nights” and, as a special bonus, 13 of the 17 tracks reached No. 1 in 1978 – see if you can guess them all! And, as an extra special bonus, you have got the lovely Pickwick Calendar Girl. What more can one say? A whole host of great sounds all on one LP from Pickwick. Happy Listening!

Also available on Cassette HSC 3006 and 8-track Cartridge H8 3006

Top of the Pops Best of '78

Label: Hallmark Records SHM 3006

1978 1970s Covers Top of the Pops Collection

Top of the Pops Vol. 72 - Volume 72 of the world famous Top Of The Pops series of records. 16 smash hits taken straight from the charts on each record

Top of the Pops Vol. 72

Sleeve Notes:

VOLUME 72 of the world famous Top Of The Pops series of records has just been released, and record shops everywhere are reporting thousands of customers clamouring for their copies.
A spokesperson for Red Hot Records Ltd. said “This happens every time the Top Of The Poppers release a new LP. It’s even worse now there are 16 smash hits taken straight from the charts on each record. We are totally exhausted trying to cope with the demand. I wish they’d stop doing this to us.”

Top of the Pops Vol. 72 - Volume 72 of the world famous Top Of The Pops series of records. 16 smash hits taken straight from the charts on each record

Label: Hallmark SHM 3008

1978 1970s Covers