“Military justice is to justice what military music is to music” – Groucho Marx
Hits on Parade is an album which incorporates a wide variety of popular tunes. Each has a well defined, bouncy rhythm and lends itself to a march theme, the theme of this record. Puppet on a String proved to be a winner for Sandie Shaw in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest and the following year Cliff Richard came close to winning the same contest with Congratulations. The Scaffold burst into the pop scene with their jaunty records and their Lily the Pink forms quite a contrast to the delightful tune of Those were the Days that took Mary Hopkin sailing into the hit parade. Leapy Lee obtained his first chart success with Little Arrows as did Esther and Abi Ofarim with their Cinderella Rockerfella although Esther and Abi were very well known on the continent beforehand. All these tunes, plus many more can be heard on this record, excitingly recreated in stereo by talented studio artists who successfully capture the original atmosphere of each hit in turn.
Taking as their inspiration the highly romantic title And I Love You So the Mike Sammes Singers have woven twelve attractive variations round the eternal theme of love and happiness by means of as many different songs. Some are favourite melodies made fresh by the highly individual Mike Sammes vocal treatment, and some may not be so familiar by name. Most are usually heard as songs for solo singer but here the lovely sentiments conveyed in the words and music are created by the blending voices of the Mike Sammes Singers into a wholly delightful offering of vocal harmony.
There are two compositions by Don McLean Vincent and And I Love You So, which was a recent big hit for Perry Como; The Twelfth Of Never has been the subject of many solo recordings by Johnny Mathis, Dickie Valentine: and, not recently, Donny Osmond; Rain is the creation of that international singer-guitarist Jose Feliciano. If was a big hit for Jack Jones, as was You Are The The Sunshine Of My Life for Stevie Wonder.
A couple of big show songs are featured – Knowing When To Leave, a particularly pleasant number from “Promises, Promises”, and I Want To Be Happy which recently enjoyed a minor revival thanks to the success in New York and London of the mid-twenties musical “No, No. Nanette”.
The American Trilogy which ends the first six of this tuneful twelve consists of “Dixie”, “Glory, Glory” and “Hush, Little Baby”. and the widely varying selection is completed by three songs which were originally heard as melodies introducing television series. Lightning Tree was the tune chosen to introduce “Follyfoot”; The Night That We Found Love is written by Steve Race and used by him as theme music in one of his popular TV series, and Sleepy Shores is the title given to the haunting melodies which framed the series of “Owen M.D.”
It is little wonder, perhaps, that the Mike Sammes Singers have a penchant for television tunes, having been featured in so many of the popular TV shows themselves. Anyone who has actually been present at one of the “Sunday Night at the London Palladium” shows may have seen them, in the upper left hand stage box acting as “backing group” to some of the world’s greatest artistes, whilst other British stars who have benefited from their harmony on television include Des O’Connor, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck. Harry Worth, Tommy Steele, Morecambe and Wise, Keith Michell, Harry Secombe and Petula Clark in all of whose series this melodious sextet (three boys, three girls) has been a welcome feature.
Now here is another of their own records, for you to play whenever you please with its sparkling selection of super songs. The sound of The Mike Sammes Singers is always superb, and never more so than on this particular album.
The soft, romantic playing of Stan Freeman, enhanced by the full impact of total stereo sound, achieving a perfect musical atmosphere, sends one gently drifting into a world of dreams. His playing is direct and straight-forward and his wide experience is focused on this particular field of music.
Stan Freeman began studying the piano at the age of eight and it was in his twenty-first year that he won the McDowell award for the most outstanding young pianist in the country. He concentrated purely on classical music and for two years was the youngest member at the Julius Hartt School of Music.
During World War li when he went into the army, he began playing In a jazz combo. Stan had never before played jazz or pop music, but quickly caught on. Soon afterwards he began Waving in the Glenn Miller Army Band, After the war his experience with Glenn Miller found him a place in the official Glenn Miller Orches-tra. From this he went on to radio, performing in Piano Playhouse, and this led inevitably to television. His first appearance was in a show called Candlelight Revue and after his first performance was asked by his producer to find something to add to his act. He wrote some comedy material for this purpose which was sufficiently amusing to open a new career for him as a night club comedian.
Stan Freeman spends a lot of time doing college concerts, consisting of both classical music and jazz with a smattering of comedy. At the end of each concert he plays requests and it is on this album that we heir a selection of those tunes most requested at the end of these concerts.
The playing of the title. ‘Fascination’, is exquisite. Stan plays with a tender feeling and understanding of the music, bringing out all the warmth and beauty of this lovely melody.
His interpretation of I’ve got a crush on you which has appeared in the score of two musicals. firstly *Treasure Girl’ in 1928, and secondly in ‘Strike up the band’ in 1930, is simple, carefree and gay, as are the opening bars of ‘This is my Song’, written by Charley Chaplin for his film ‘The Countess of Hong Kong’, but in this piece he eases gently to a quieter, far softer close.
The simplicity of Stan Freeman is portrayed in the Victor Young melody ‘My Foolish Heart’, taken from the Susan Hayward film of the same name.
To complete this wonderful album, Stan Freeman changes the tempo somewhat in his interpretation of the old torch song ‘My Sin’, This is an old, old favourite and has melodious treatment portrays the moody, haunting sound of this piece.
These are twelve lovely tunes, both odd and new played in the warm, sentimental, style that can only be Sean Freeman.
Before the conquest of South America in the sixteenth century there were large highly developed civilizations where Brazil and Mexico now lie. Their customs and cultures were quite different from those of the Spanish who conquered them and who subsequently imposed their own customs. The Spanish also brought Negro slaves from Africa to work on the plantations. The musical sum of these conflicting influences is the unmistakeable sound of Latin American music, depending largely on its intricate cross-rhythms and strong syncopations for its uniqueness. In fact, Edmundo Ross, one of the first men to introduce the music of Latin America to this country insists that ‘The melody section is unimportant. It can still be effective played on a broken-down piano so long as the rhythm section is strong.
The first of the Latin dances to become popular was the tango which swept the world just prior to World War One. But it was when the rhumba arrived in the ballroom straight from its native Cuba in the early 1930s that Latin – American music and rhythms became firmly entrench-ed as international favourites. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced The Carioca’, from Brazil came Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian Bombshell, and with her came the Samba. The Conga established itself as a favourite party dance.
Latin American orchestras flourished. Xavier Cugat, Roberto Inglez, The Lecuona Cuban Boys and then, in the 1950s, along came the great Perez Prado who added to the standard Latin American instrumentation a biting brass section that was strongly influenced by the swing bands of the U.S.A. From this combination came the mambo and then the irresistable cha-cha-cha.
This is the sort of sound you will hear in this album – all the wild heat and tingling excitement of ‘Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White’, ‘Patricia’. ‘Mambo Jambo’ and many other favourites captured in vivid stereo. If this doesn’t get you you’d better reserve your plot in the cemetery before it’s too late!
A surname like Love is ideal when it comes to selecting interesting and relevant album titles. Hence we have already enjoyed MFP LPs called – Big Love Movie Themes (MFP5221) with a neat double meaning, and “Love With Love” (MFP5246) to say nothing of others. Love-less in title but not in origin, such as – Big Western Movie Themes – (MFP 1328); -Big War Movie Theme, (MFP5171); -Big Concerto Movie Themes (MFP 5261). 5261). – Your Top TV Themes (MFP5272), and – Big Suspense Movie Themes- (MFP50035).
The Love in question is, of course, Geoff Love. One of Britain\’s most distinguished and successful musical directors and arrangers, and certainly one of the most popular with the public and his fellow musicians, with a constantly cheerful and amiable nature as befits his surname. Geoff has worked with and won the unstinted admiration of some of the greatest names of international show business, including Shirley Bassey, Howard Keel, Judy Garland, Paul Robeson, Vera Lynn, Frankie Vaughan and Des O’Connor. As an artist in his own right, Geoff’s albums mentioned above have proved to be amongst the best-selling records in the history of the label.
The latest is Latin With Love, and is destined for the same Popularity. Geoff selected twelve of the perennially favourite melodies from Latin-America or inspired by that colourful sub-continent, and arranged them for an orchestra comprising four trumpets doubling fluegel horns, four trombones, foe woodwind, twelve violins, four violas, four cellos, piano, two guitars, bass doubling bass guitar, one drummer, and three Latin-American percussion. The results are ear-catching and immensely enjoyable.
La Bamba, that lively dance speciality from Vera Cruz in Mexico, provides a suitably bright opener with all sections of the orchestra spotlighted and a growling jungle flute solo. The mellow evocation of that area in New York city known as Spanish Harlem begins with marimba and piano setting the easy pace and a cor anglais solo later. Guantanamera receives an appropriate Afro-Cuban atmosphere with the brass shining over the cha cha cha beat, and Sucu Sucu of Argentine origin gets a sprightly samba treatment here. Another Brazilian tempo in the form of the bossa nova ensues as a second Music for Pleasure Latin music maestro, Duncan Lamont, is featured on tenor-saxophone in The Girl from Ipanema, and the bossa mood is maintained for One Note Samba with fluegel horns prominent.
The second side begins noticeably South Of The Border as Geoff coaxes a Mexican mariachi sound from the trumpet in cha cha cha time, and then we meet the beautiful Maria Elena . portrayed in bolero style by the guitar against a background of muted trombones, followed later by piano, strings, oboe, and a key change into a full ensemble passage. Marimba and trumpets open Spanish Eyes in baion time, with the rest of the orchestra joining in turn, and then comes the famous prototype bossa nova, Desafinado, introduced by woodwind and trombones before the fluegel horns take the theme. The bolero returns with The Breeze And t, showcasing strings and low-pitched woodwind, and the rhythm section contribute the right atmosphere for a rousing climax to the LP with an infectious Brazilian marcha tempo redolent of street parades at carnival time, and the mariachi trumpets tel the Mexican Hat Dance in motion.
Geoff Love has assembled a dozen proven Latin favourites, and presented them with all the verve, vivacity and melodic richness which their background demands. It is impossible to refrain from the obvious remark – you’ll love it!
Another album by The Waikiki Beach Boys means a return once more to that get-away-from-it-all music. A return to the peace and splendour of those romantic islands in the Pacific. One wonders just how many times over the years these heavenly islands of Hawaii have been described in words coldly calculated to create envy and longing in the hearts of those suffering a humdrum, commuter-type existence in suburbia Suburbia here. suburbia almost anywhere. But, however calculating those words may have been – and several hundred thousand must have been written on the subject – the inescapable fact is that they have painted a picture that is true.
Hawaii is blue skies. surf and sunshine. Hawaii is gentle breezes and swaying palm trees. Hawaii is a paradise on earth. a lovely land to which to escape. Hawaii today, of course, is also more than a travelogue scriptwriter’s dreamland. Hawaii is city. And people. And. more likely than not, with commuter problems of Its own. But. in its quieter moments and In its quiet corners. Hawaii remains the land upon which the gods have surely smiled.
One thing that has remained unchanged Is the traditional music of the islands. Hawaiian-styled music grabbed the imagination of people In less blessed corners of the world many years ago. The languid rhythms and the steel guitars still do more than any tourist bureau, any holiday poster or airline advertisement to conjure up the sheer magic of the islands. This is the fifth Waikiki Beach Boys’ LP released on the Music for Pleasure label. The total sales of the previous four in this country and in many other parts of the world have now topped the half-million mark.
On this LP they play in varying moods. from the march tempos of “Tiger Shark”, “Hilo March” and “Menehune March” to such long-time Hawaiian ‘standards’ as”On the Beach at Waikiki”, “Honolulu” and “Blue Tahitian Moon”.
There are original compositions. too. In “Moonlight Hawaii” and “Coral Reef”. for example. Most of it, if not all of it, calculated to set you on a course which adds up to escape. From this or that. If only in the mind.
If you have never before heard Alan Moorhouse and his Bond Street Brigade then you have really been missing something! Most of the tunes on this album are very well known, but it\’s unlikely that you have ever heard such thrilling arrangements and performances as these. Just listen to the excitement and originality of this band.
Alan Moorhouse himself knows bands inside out. He has been in the music business most of his life, starting off as a trumpet player. He then developed his skills as a music arranger and as such has worked with many famous artists, including Joe Loss. He is also a songwriter of some distinction, having co-written “Boom Bang-A- Bang”, the hit with which Lulu triumphed in the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest. And of course Alan also makes records with the Bond Street Brigade! This one certainly has something for everyone. Each side opens with a stirring item – Side One with “The Liberty Bell” and Side Two with the famous “Radetzky March”. There are two songs which were smash hits for Middle of the Road – “Chirpy Chirpy, Cheep Cheep” and “Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum”. You will also hear the theme music from one of those tough Italian westerns which starred Clint Eastwood – “Hang ’em high”, some of Alan Moorhouse’s own compositions, plus “Yellow River” and lots more!
Whatever your taste in music you should enjoy the superb stereo sound of Alan Moorhouse and his Bond Street Brigade, specially recorded for Music for Pleasure.
Joe was aghast when his daughter Debbie thought the Charleston was an aircraft carrier.
Sleeve Notes:
Feather boas, knee-length beads, raccoon coats, vamps and sheiks, supercharged cars and illicit stills – all treat to make up the gay, mad, “Roaring Twenties”. But there was another vital element to that fast-moving decade – its dance music and, most particularly, the infectious rhythms of the Charleston.
Joe “Fingers” Carr, the smiling master of the key-board, still has a deep affection for the rollicking dance tempos of that former age and now the word is getting round. A “back-to-the-Twenties” movement in dress is already well under way, the most “with it” mods now looking him their mothers and fathers did in those dint and dusty pictures. True, Oxford bags haven’t yet made a reappearance, but wide lapels and gangster coats are to be seen in abundance. The music too has a new and fresh appeal to the youth of today and, for once, their mums and dads don’s want them to nun down the volume for this remains their music too, the sounds to which they boop-a-dooped through their own younger days.
Joe was aghast when his daughter Debbie thought the Charleston was an aircraft carrier, so he started giving her lessons. She too got the message and Joe now has a child who can out-Charleston any old-timer who ever knocked knees in the flapper days.
The music used for those lessons is the some that Joe has captured for this album. It is filled with innuendos recalling those wondrous by-gone days when Charleston was king.
With his foot-tapping honky-tonk renditions of some great old favourites, Joe “Fingers” Carr has created music that will re-crown the Charleston – and send everyone out onto the dance floor to celebrate its coronation.
