Percy Faith & his Orchestra on SONY/CBS Japan Compact Discs

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 40^th 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