Sleeve Notes:
Two years ago, the first album by Garry Blake “Sounds Like Swingin'” burst spectacularly upon a scene where new recording ideas are scarce. It was hailed by the critics as “Fresh and sparkling” One said : “If Garry Blake can maintain this standard in future albums, we are in for some rare delights!” Up came album No. 2 “More Sounds Like Swingin’ ” – exploding at the seams with enough ideas to fill a whole textbook on the art of orchestration. The same crisply recorded brass and flutes, with a swinging rhythm section as the foundation.
When A. & R. Recording Manager Norman Newell asked for album No. 3, Garry was not content to carry on in the same mould. There were new horizons to be explored. He wanted to add strings to the existing Garry Blake Sound. “Fine,” said Norman, “If you can think of some new way to use them”. Then out it came – not one string section, but two each working independently of the other. Thereafter followed a series of many meetings with sound engineer Malcolm Addey, to discuss how such effects could be “brought to life” to their fullest advantage. Here was a challenge to tax everyone’s skill. Finally, titles were chosen and Garry went away to pour out his ideas into the orchestrations.
The recording date was fixed, and from the first moment that the musicians started to play they sensed that this was something new – convention had been shattered and the whole atmosphere became electrified. This is why recording was invented – to capture occasions like this and preserve them for you to re-create in your own home. Familiar tunes like If I Were a Rich Man, Strangers In The Night, Music To Watch Girls By, and many others, all glisten with new excitement, as the strings rise and fall like fountains playing in the sun – first from one speaker then the other.
This is not just another record, it is a new experience, recording with an added dimension. Here are enough ideas to fill a dozen albums, all packed into twelve brand new shining arrangements, each bearing the distinctive stamp of Garry Blake.
Whoever thinks up the titles for albums was right to save that word for this one. If ever an album had “IMPACT” then this is it!
RICHARD FOX
Label: EMI (Studio2Stereo) TWO174
