Paul Scott His Piano and Orchestra – The Magic of Two Pianos
“Rediffusion Stereo The best budget records in the world”
Label: Rediffusion ZS 65
Brass Strings and Beautiful Things
Sleeve Notes:
A selection from the range of TELEFUNKEN recordings. Telefunken-sound: You’ve never heard it so good.
Label: Telefunken TST 77907
The Great Disco Bouzouki Band
The Great Disco Bouzouki Band is a charming Greek release from 1978 featuring a somewhat racy cover. No doubt riding the crest of the disco boom then sweeping the world.
Label: Philips 6477 500
Recto: Photo Pictor/Aarons
Ecstacy – Various Artists – Billy Paul, Barry White (“The Walrus of Love”), Minne Ripperton, Gladys Knight
A genuine compilation of strong tunes featuring Billy Paul, Barry White (“The Walrus of Love”), Minne Ripperton, Gladys Knight and others. The cover is quite racy though in keeping with the times. Though every artist on this record is black the producers of this release thought a white woman should adorn its cover. Strange days indeed. But the seventies were clearly not ready for basic equality.
Label: Lotus Records WH 5003
Country Gold – Various Artists
Several big names from the world of country music on this fairly run-of-the-mill Country Gold release. Glen Campbell, Faron Young and Billie Jo Spears among them. The cover was clearly put together on a budget as both sides feature the same picture.
Label: MFP 50247
Photograph: Stockphotos International
Sleeve design: Tony Baldwin
Bert Kaempfert & His Orchestra – The Kaempfert Touch
Bert Kaempfert, German bandleader and musician. An important figure in the Beatles’ story, having recruited them to provide backing on an album and single he released in 1961 called “My Bonnie”. For more on this head over to Wikipedia.
Label: Polydor Records 2310 009
St. Joseph’s Maori Girls College Choir and Concert Party – The Beauty of Maori Song
Sleeve Notes:
St Joseph’s Maori Girls College is one of the oldest of the Maori church boarding schools in the country. It was established on Bluff Hill in Napier in 1867, at the request of Father Reignier S.M., who worked amongst the Hawkes Bay Maori at the time. The original building was damaged during the Napier earthquake, and the school was moved to its present site at Green-meadows in 1935. Today it is a thriving, busy school unable to cope with more than a fraction of the girls who apply each year.
The school has long had a tradition of fine singing, and this, together with the natural rhythm and tunefulness of the girls, has led to the high regard in which the concert party is held by lovers of Maori entertainment, and the world-wide reputation it has gained. Much of the credit for this success must go to Miss Georgina Kingi, herself a past-pupil of the College, who is responsible for,the training the girls receive.
St Joseph’s Concert Party and Choir are heard in combined performances with Hato Paora Maori Boys College in the following records:
SONGS AND DANCES OF THE MAORI
Widely-used instructional record (with handbook “Games and Dances of the Maori”, Govt, Printer) for poi, stick game, action song, and haka. SLC-65
SONGS OF MAORI YOUTH
Action songs, sacred songs, and a small bracket of Sixteenth Century sacred. polyphony sung in Latin. SLC-002
The sounds of the whole South Pacific are on KIWI and HIBISCUS records and tape cassettes. Music of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Niue, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Tahiti, Fiji, Indonesia, Aboriginal Australia, and Papua New Guinea – each with its own special charm and character available in a wide range of stereo (compatible also for replaying as mono) recordings. Free catalogue on request from the publishers.
Label: Reed Pacific Records SLC-122
Cover Artwork: Robert Neilson
Photography: Russell Orr Studios
101 Strings – Play Songs of England
Sleeve notes:
The British, being a maritime nation, have visited the four corners of the earth. This perhaps, is the reason that the songs of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are known and loved, in one form or another, the whole world over.
There any songs of every kind and to suit every mood and occasion. Songs that are sad or gay or humorous. Wedding songs and lullabys, hunting songs and roundalays, reels, dances, hornpipes and jigs. Sea shanties that conjure pictures of tarry pigtailed sailors complete with cutlasses and jars of rum! And who is there that does not thrill to the thought of a royal occasion upon hearing the stirring tune “The British Grenadiers”?
The 101 Strings have compiled a programme of some of the best and some of the best loved of the SONGS OF ENGLAND, and, for your further enjoyment, have recorded them in PERFECT STEREO, using the most advanced equipment and techniques known today.
An old English proverb tells us that “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. We say, “The proof of this album is in the playing”. Just listen.
Label: Marble Arch MALS 1358
The Gate Crashers – Come to Our Surprise Party
“The Gate Crashers invite you to join the happiest party and dance record you have ever experienced!” “Whether you’re 19 or 90 here’s pure party dynamite!” Another release from the prolific Stereo Gold Award people aka DL Miller. This is volume 4 in a series of Gate Crashers platters and features a racy cover which, though tame by today’s standards, would certainly have attracted many a record buyer at the time.
Label: Stereo Gold Award MER 383
The Best of James Last – Greatest Hits
Disc one of a box set from the Reader’s Digest/Polydor stable. This features no fewer than three Lennon/McCartney songs and on the back cover we can see no fewer than six pictures of James Last including one in which he generously agrees to share the frame with another person. An attractive lady at that; how fortuitous.
Label: Reader’s Digest GLAS-6A/S1