In Appreciation: Percy Faith and his orchestra on Sony/CBS Discs
Recently
I came into possession of a few Percy Faith CDs from a Japanese pressing at a
second hand store and did some reading up online. 2016 marks the 40th
anniversary of Faith’s passing since his last full album was released in 1976
as ‘Summer Place ‘76’. Faith is of course well remembered for the original ‘A
Summer Place’ as an instrumental hit that won a Grammy in 1961. In many ways,
it was a historic reflection of its era in popular instrumental music – lush
sweeping strings punctuated with nostalgic echoes of the Big Band era of two
decades before. Percy’s style was to ‘voice’ his strings in a manner that
imitated the original singer who made it a hit. It worked very well for much of
his 1950s and 1960s output but perhaps less perfectly into the 1970s. Perhaps,
crooners and songstresses of the two decades were singers first and foremost
rather than instrumental players…but this is a matter of opinion.
In MALAGUENA
– MUSIC OF CUBA, remastered and released in Japan by SONY/CBS as catalogue no.
32DP751 in 1987 according to parts of the liner notes in the booklet (in
Japanese), Percy devoted a whole theme to popular Latin music from Cuba! His
orchestra featured lots of Latin percussion, and yet stayed true to the spirit
that Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona intended. His compositions alone dominated
90% of this selection. Percy’s flair in this album lay in expanding the
evocative string flourishes and timing them with deft change-overs to the
section of muted trumpets. The Cuban sound of Lecuona was deeply soulful in its
own way and Percy Faith certainly remained faithful to its roots.
TRACK
LISTING:
1.
Malaguena
2.
Quiereme
Mucho (Yours)
3.
El
Manisero (The Peanut Vendor)
4.
Danza Negra
5.
Andalucia
(The Breeze and I)
6.
El
Bodeguero
7.
Damisela
Encantadora
8.
Siboney
9.
La
Cumparsa
10. Tumbando
Cana
11. Marta
12. Mama Inez
13. Para Vigo Me Voy (Say Si Si)
14. Tabu
The other
companion Latin album featured in this review, THEMES FOR YOUNG LATIN LOVERS,
recorded in 1965, was meant to capture the Bossa Nova wave that was cresting
beyond Brazilian shores back then.
The Bossa Nova suited Percy’s style to a
Tee! Its slow, restrained tempo and gentle percussion allowed his strings
maximum musical space to generate a Ball-esque mood while capturing the hipness
of the ‘young’ sound. Here’s the track listing for YOUNG LATIN LOVERS from the
original LP and whose order of the tracks has been preserved on the SONY/CBS
pressing from Japan:
|
A1
|
The Lonely Bull
|
2:20
|
|
A2
|
One Note Samba
|
2:45
|
|
A3
|
Spanish Harlem
|
2:22
|
|
A4
|
How Insensitive
|
2:36
|
|
A5
|
No More Blues
|
2:33
|
|
A6
|
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me
|
2:55
|
|
B1
|
The Duck
|
2:25
|
|
B2
|
Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars
|
3:15
|
|
B3
|
Someone To Light Up My Life
|
2:19
|
|
B4
|
Kahlua
|
2:42
|
|
B5
|
The Girl From Ipanema
|
2:36
|
|
B6
|
Manha De Carnaval
|
2:55
|
In many
ways, Faith’s consistency endeared him to the musical styles of Bobby Darin,
Doris Day and Johnny Mathis, for whom he made many memorable arrangements and
played backing for. The final CD under consideration here showcases a great
range of his rich repertoire from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s.
ALL ABOUT PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA (SONY/CBS Catalogue no. 35DP84) was
compiled and released in Japan in 1983 by SONY/CBS records as part of their
first wave of easy listening re-launches on CD format.
TRACK
LISTING:
1.
Theme from ‘A Summer
Place’
2.
Fascination
3. The Song from Moulin Rouge
4.
(The Breeze and I)
Andalucia
5.
Some Enchanted Evening
6.
El Bimbo
7.
Lara’s Theme
8.
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on
my Head
9.
The Way We Were
10.
Love from ‘Romeo and
Juliet’
11.
Yesterday
12.
Theme from ‘Love Story’
13.
2001 (Also Sprach
Zarathustra)
14.
Love Theme from ‘The
Godfather’
15.
A Man and a Woman
16.
Tara’s Theme
17.
Ebb Tide
Literally,
one of the first of the ‘best of’ compilations celebrating the legendary Percy
Faith and his orchestra. This is – I would argue – an even better compilation
than CBS (USA/International)’s ‘Percy Faith – Most Requested Hits’ compilation
that was pressed about the same time. These seventeen selections capture a good
range of the maestro’s very rich repertoire ranging from interpretations of
film scores, stage songs, 60s and 70s pop hits and nostalgia at the Ball. Note
that ‘El Bimbo’ and ‘2001 (Also Sprach Zarathustra)’ are samples of Percy’s late
1970s work with funky beats fused with disco rhythms. This may have shocked
Faith’s fans from the 1950s and 1960s, but it was most definitely in keeping
with the pop-rock-disco trends coming on from 1973 onwards. Everything else
speaks to Percy’s fine appreciation of film scores and lush romantic
instrumentals. One final feature of these recordings is the beautiful analogue
sound that has been preserved in digital perfection. Listen to them on a good
player, hooked up ideally to a SANSUI or LUXMAN amplifier, and you’ll know why
such orchestral music was meant to be timeless!
ALAN
March 2016
March 2016
