Brass, Ivory and Strings: Vocalion Goes Quadraphonic With Mancini, Cramer, Como and Montenegro

January 19, 2016 By Joe Marchese — 1 Comment

Perry Como - SACD Two-FerThe U.K.-based Vocalion label had a treat for surround-sound fans with the label’s Christmas 2015 batch of releases.  Vocalion has plucked a number of titles from the RCA vaults for presentation in 4.0 quadraphonic sound on hybrid SACDs, with the albums’ stereo layers playable on all CD players.  Perry Como, Henry Mancini, Floyd Cramer and Hugo Montenegro have all gotten the quad treatment.

Perry (1974) and In Person at the International Hotel, Las Vegas (1970) have been culled from the discography of Mr. Como.  2015 was a good year for fans of the crooner from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, with Real Gone Music having previously reissued 1968’s Look to Your Heart and 1980’s Live on Tour.  The self-titled Perry features Como wrapping his pipes around an updated version of the standard “Temptation” as well as contemporary cuts like “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Way We Were.”  On the live set cut in Las Vegas, Perry brought his singular, relaxed style to a wide array of material including Jimmy Webb’s “Didn’t We,” Ervin Drake’s “The Father of Girls,” Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield’s “Love is Spreading Over the World” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”  Both albums benefit from the added dimension of surround sound in these fine, discrete presentations.

Mancini and Severinsen Two-FerFour albums on two quadraphonic SACDs arrived from Henry Mancini, including one pair from 1969: Six Hours Past Sunset and A Warm Shade of Ivory.  The former blends Mancini’s own movie themes for Me, Natalie and Two for the Road with other cinema favorites from John Barry (“Midnight Cowboy”) and Lalo Schifrin (“Theme from The Fox”), pop hits like “Traces” and the aforementioned “Didn’t We,” and even a classical adaptation (Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”).  A Warm Shade emphasizes the Maestro in gentle mode on piano, tackling “Cycles,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “The Windmills of Your Mind” and more.  The second SACD joins two collaborative albums by Mancini and Doc Severinsen.  Piano and trumpet blend on Brass on Ivory (1972) and Brass, Ivory and Strings (1973) emphasizing pop songs like “Wave,” “Make It with You,” “Ben” and “We’ve Only Just Begun” plus Mancini’s own slinky “Theme for Doc” and other Mancini favorites such as “Dreamsville” and “Sometimes.”

Floyd Cramer - Class SACDFloyd Cramer had great success with his annual Class Of releases which found the legendary Nashville pianist tickling the ivories on the year’s newest hits.  One quad SACD has both Class of ’73 (“My Love,” “Yesterday Once More, “Kodachrome”) and Cramer’s joint Class of ’74 and ’75 (“Have You Never Been Mellow,” “Mandy,” “Sunshine on My Shoulders”).  The second Cramer two-fer is from the same period, with 1973’s similar Super Country Hits (“Battle of New Orleans,” “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “Detroit City”) and 1974’s The Young and the Restless (the titular soap opera theme, “The Most Beautiful Girl,” “Top of the World”).

Hugo Montenegro - Others SACDCramer is joined by another composer and instrumental music titan, Hugo Montenegro, with two quad titles on one SACD.  1972’s Scenes and Themes celebrated cinema with themes from Burt Bacharach and Hal David (“Lost Horizon,” “Alfie,” “The Look of Love”), Montenegro himself (“Learn to Say Goodbye” from Goodbye, Maggie Cole) and others.  1974’s Others by Brothers, despite its rather unfortunate title, paid tribute to African-American songwriters ranging from Duke Ellington (“Caravan”) to Clifton Davis (“Never Can Say Goodbye”) and Ashford and Simpson (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”) and Marvin Gaye (“What’s Going On”).  On both titles, Montenegro’s funky, groovy ARP synthesizers are out front; on Others, he’s supported by an all-star cast including Motown legend James Jamerson on bass, The Wrecking Crew’s Hal Blaine on drums, Larry Carlton on guitar, and Bobbye Hall on percussion.  Montenegro’s LPs truly display surround sound at its spaciest.

These six SACDS – all of which were recorded with quadraphonic sound in mind and were arranged to showcase its immersive sonics – fill out Vocalion’s slate which also included the standard CD premiere of Elmer Bernstein’s soundtrack to The Silencers; a Neil Hefti two-fer (Oh, Dad, Poor Dad and Boeing-Boeing); and a pair of seventies Fontana releases from vocalist Nana Mouskouri (Songs from Her TV Series and Turn On the Sun).  All of Vocalion’s releases, freshly remastered by the label’s Michael J. Dutton, are available now, and you can peruse the track listings for the SACD titles below!

Perry Como, Perry/In Person at the International Hotel, Las Vegas (Vocalion CDLK 4575, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Temptation
  2. Brian’s Song (The Hands of Time)
  3. You Are the Sunshine of My Life
  4. Behind Closed Doors
  5. I Don’t Know What He Told You
  6. That’s You (Eres Tu)
  7. The Way We Were
  8. The Most Beautiful World
  9. Beyond Tomorrow
  10. Weave Me the Sunshine
  11. Opening
  12. I’ve Got You Under My Skin/Hello, Young Lovers
  13. Everybody’s Talkin’
  14. If I Had a Hammer
  15. Without a Song
  16. If I Could Almost Read Your Mind
  17. Prisoner of Love
  18. Informal Talk
  19. The Father of Girls
  20. Love is Spreading Over the World
  21. When You Were Sweet Sixteen/Didn’t We/O Marenariello
  22. It’s a Good Day
  23. You’ll Never Walk Alone
  24. You Are Never Far Away from Me

Floyd Cramer, Class of ’73/Class of ’74 and ’75 (Vocalion CDLK 4572, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. My Love
  2. And I Love You So
  3. Killing Me Softly with His Song
  4. Yesterday Once More
  5. Let’s Pretend
  6. Will It Go Round in Circles
  7. You Are the Sunshine of My Life
  8. The Morning After
  9. Kodachrome
  10. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree
  11. (Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
  12. The Last Farewell
  13. Have You Never Been Mellow
  14. Mandy
  15. I Honestly Love You
  16. My Melody of Love
  17. Sunshine on My Shoulders
  18. Please Come to Boston
  19. Seasons in the Sun
  20. Time in a Bottle

Tracks 1-10 from Class of ’73, RCA APD1 0299, 1973
Tracks 11-20 from Class of ’74 and ’75, RCA APD1 1191, 1975

Floyd Cramer - Super Country Two-Fer

Floyd Cramer, The Young and the Restless/Super Country Hits (Vocalion CDLK 4577, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Battle of New Orleans
  2. Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone?
  3. Let It Be Me
  4. Detroit City
  5. Lonely Street
  6. Sugarfoot Rag
  7. Oklahoma Hills
  8. Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’
  9. Crystal Chandelier
  10. It’s a Sin
  11. Green, Green Grass of Home
  12. The Young and the Restless
  13. Top of the World
  14. The Most Beautiful Girl
  15. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
  16. The Star Spangled Banner
  17. Behind Closed Doors
  18. Boogie, Boogie, Boogie
  19. Laidback
  20. Theme from a Dream
  21. Rockin’ On

Tracks 1-11 from Super Country Hits, RCA APD1 0155, 1973
Tracks 12-21 from The Young and the Restless, RCA APD1 0469, 1974

 

Mancini - Six Hours Past Sunset Two-Fer

Henry Mancini, Six Hours Past Sunset/A Warm Shade of Ivory (Vocalion CDLK 4574, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Softly As I Leave You
  2. Midnight Cowboy
  3. Traces
  4. Natalie
  5. Didn’t We
  6. Two for the Road
  7. Six Hours Past Sunset
  8. Theme from The Fox
  9. Quentin’s Theme
  10. Girl Talk
  11. Moonlight Sonata
  12. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
  13. Cycles
  14. Moment to Moment
  15. A Day in the Life of a Fool/Manha de Carnaval
  16. Watch What Happens
  17. By the Time I Get to Phoenix
  18. Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet
  19. The Windmills of Your Mind
  20. When I Look in Your Eyes
  21. Meditation
  22. Dream a Little Dream of Me

Tracks 1-11 from Six Hours Past Sunset, RCA PQ8-1508 (Q8), 1969
Tracks 12-22 from A Warm Shade of Ivory, RCA PQ8-1441 (Q8), 1969

Henry Mancini and Doc Severinsen, Brass, Ivory and Strings/Brass on Ivory (Vocalion CDLK 4570, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Theme for Doc
  2. Ben
  3. Help Me Make It Through the Night
  4. ‘Round Midnight
  5. Without You
  6. Make It with You
  7. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)
  8. Wave
  9. Love Theme for Laura
  10. I Can’t Get Started
  11. Brass on Ivory
  12. Dreamsville
  13. Brian’s Song (The Hands of Time)
  14. If
  15. Willow Weep for Me
  16. Sometimes
  17. Poor Butterfly
  18. Misty
  19. Never My Love
  20. We’ve Only Just Begun
  21. Soldier in the Rain

Tracks 1-10 from Brass, Ivory and Strings, RCA APD1 0098, 1973
Tracks 11-21 from Brass on Ivory, RCA PQ8-1862 (Q8), 1971

Hugo Montenegro, Others by Brothers/Scenes and Themes (Vocalion SML 8518, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Caravan
  2. Never Can Say Goodbye
  3. Noah’s ARP
  4. Feel Like Makin’ Love
  5. What’s Going On
  6. Nothing from Nothing (Suite)
  7. Creepin’
  8. I Heard It Through the Grapevine
  9. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
  10. Lost Horizon
  11. A Man and a Woman
  12. Love Story
  13. Lara’s Theme
  14. The Shadow of Your Smile
  15. Tara’s Theme
  16. Alfie
  17. The Look of Love
  18. Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet
  19. Learn to Say Goodbye

Tracks 1-8 from Others from Brothers, RCA APD1 0784, 1975
Tracks 9-19 from Scenes and Themes, RCA APD1 0025, 1972

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Joe Marchese
Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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