SONY-CBS and their Epic subsidiary in Japan consistently made a
splash with a series of Caravelli compact disc releases throughout the 1980s
including a few Caravelli album length CDs that were remastered faithfully from
the LPs. While my Part One review started with releases around 1985 and later,
let’s refocus on the years from 1982 to 1985. One of the first mass produced
single volume CDs must surely be ‘THE BEST OF CARAVELLI’ featuring tracks from
1981-2 and the 1970s:
1 |
Begin The
Beguine (Volver A Empezar) |
|
2 |
Love Is Blue |
|
3 |
Holidays |
|
4 |
Theme From "Love
Story" |
|
5 |
Ou Est Passee Ma Boheme? (Quiereme Mucho) |
|
6 |
El Bimbo |
|
7 |
Let Me Try
Again |
|
8 |
Jet Stream |
|
9 |
Dolannes
Melodie |
|
10 |
Penelope |
|
11 |
Prelude A
L'Amour |
|
12 |
Pauvres
Diables (Pobre Diablo) |
|
13 |
Love Theme
From "Romeo And Juliet" |
|
14 |
Mr. Lonely |
The contrast in musical styles across the years was simply quite stark: his versions of ‘El Bimbo’, ‘Love is Blue’ and ‘Holidays’ tracked closely the a-go-go pop styles of the 1960s and early 1970s, even while Mauriat was moving away from it already; meanwhile ‘Begin the Beguine’, ‘Pauvres Diables’ and ‘Prelude A L ámour’ signalled the maestro’s transition into a hippier 80s sound with lots of drum rhythms that tracked the pop charts.
A far
better attempt to bridge Caravelli’s contrasts in styles was made in 1985’s
four disc anthology grandly titled ‘ALL ABOUT CARAVELLI ET SON GRAND
ORCHESTRE’. The cover design was even more elegant than the first ‘BEST OF’ on
CD – this one featured the abstract sketch art of Lillies in pink outlines with
dreamy watercolour streaks of green dispersed in every direction. The
information booklet claims: ‘cover illustration by Hiroyuki Ishikura and design
by Yutaka Musha’. With the
exception of ‘Love is Blue’, ‘Penelope’, ‘El Bimbo’, ‘Begin the Beguine’, and
‘Love’s Theme’ from his 1975 ROCKIN’STRINGS LP, all the other tunes are slower
reflective tunes or simply ballads. On the movie set, ‘Reality’ features an
unusual female soprano singing a solo wordless chorus during parts of the song,
adding to the ambience of the original romantic movie. The same technique also
makes Caravelli’s interpretation of ‘Sandy’ from GREASE the musical memorable –
in a typically French chanson way. ‘13 Jours en France’ is of course
distinctive for its accordion led introductory solo – bringing back all that
you want to cherish about romantic France. And one true gem is the pure string
and piano interpretation of Irene Cara’s 1983 hit ‘Out Here on My Own’ that
transforms the original in the tradition of a classic like ‘Les Feuilles
Mortes’ (Autumn Leaves). Other rare poignant ballads include ‘Sister Carrie’
and ‘Sur Une Balancoire’ with their long flowing passages and discreet female
choruses. It is simply amazing how Caravelli made do in this compilation with
mostly strings, trumpet, saxophone and drums with minimal synthesizer use.
Disc ONE ALL
ABOUT LOVE SONGS
1. Toccata
2. Aranjuez Mon Amour
3. La Reine de Saba
4. Love is Blue
5. Dolannes Melodie
6. Penelope
7. Rain and Tears
8. El Bimbo
9. Adoro
10. Jet Stream
11. Aria
12. Music Box Dancer
13. La Lecon a Deux
14. Sister Carrie
15. Mr Lonely
Disc TWO ALL
ABOUT SCREEN THEMES
1. Chariots de Feu
2. Ragtime
3. Theme from “Love Story”
4. Jeux Interdits
5. Reality
6. Melody Fair
7. Sandy
8. 13 Jours en France
9. The Entertainer
10. Theme from “ET”
11. Love Theme from “Romeo and Juliet”
12. Love Theme from “The Godfather”
13. Sound of Silence
14. Plein Soleil
15. Le Professionel
Disc THREE ALL
ABOUT YESTERDAY’S HITS
1. Hymne A L ’amour
2. Les Feuilles Mortes
3. Tombe la Neige
4. Begin the Beguine
5. El Condor Pasa
6. Dansez Maintenant
7. J’attendrai
8. Sans Toi Mamie
9. Out Here on my Own
10. Nathalie
11. Besame Mucho
12. Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te
13. Qui Saura
14. Ou Est Passee ma
Boheme?
15. Last Waltz
Disc
FOUR ALL ABOUT WORLD HITS
1. Memory
2. Midnight Blue (Beethoven)
3. Casablanca
4. Feelings
5. Holidays
6. Ma Jeunesse Fout le Camp
7. Sur Une Balancoire
8. Love’s Theme
9. Honesty
10. Tonight I celebrate my Love
11. Love is Blind
12. Mes Trente-Trois Ans
13. Yesterday
14. Killing Me Softly with his Song
15. To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before
The 1983 LP and CD album that
featured ‘SUR UNE BALANCOIRE’(On a Swing) [SONY Epic 35 8P-12] as the title
track repeated the same formula of emphasizing consistency between 1970s and
1980s Caravelli. As the album cover suggests, this a music to accompany a
holiday in the wide open spaces of the countryside. This album is not
completely laid back however, it tantalizes your imagination with lightly disco
songs and touches of soulful tunes from Broadway and Film:
Tracklist
1 |
Sur
Une Balancoire |
2:48 |
|
2 |
Pressure |
3:25 |
|
3 |
Pour
Le Plaisir |
3:37 |
|
4 |
Can't
Take My Eyes Off You |
4:05 |
|
5 |
Just
an illusion |
4:22 |
|
6 |
Flash
Bach |
5:47 |
|
7 |
Chariots
Of Fire |
3:33 |
|
8 |
Theme
from ‘The Professional’ |
3:27 |
|
9 |
Ragtime |
2:59 |
|
10 |
Sister
Carrie |
4:20 |
|
11 |
Memory |
3:25 |
|
12 |
The
House Of This Summer |
3:13 |
|
13 |
Infernal
Tempo |
||
14 |
Nathalie |
This album epitomizes for me the showbusiness sensibilities of Caravelli – he gives his listeners an intriguing mix of familiar and less familiar tunes and leaves a deep impression on you that he has made them his own. One rare, standout track, apart from the standards like ‘Can’t Take My Eyes…’, ‘Memory’, ‘Chariots of Fire’, the title track and ‘Nathalie’, is the disco pop tune ‘Just an Illusion’. While keeping a smooth jaunty tempo throughout, the female chorus and funky string and guitar leads tug your listening consciousness in an alternately shuffling and syncopated motion. Such is Caravelli’s creativity with pop!
Two other 1983 CD albums follow in
this creative trajectory of building a memorable experience with strings,
trumpet, piano, saxophone and drums with minimal synthesizer: MIDNIGHT BLUE and
CARAVELLI PLAYS SEIKO. MIDNIGHT BLUE actually selects tracks from the 1981 LP
‘Ma Musique’, 1982’s ‘GRAND SUCCES’ and 1982’s ‘DEDICADO A AMERICA’, 1983’s
‘COMME TOI’ plus ‘Love’s Theme’ from 1975’s ‘ROCKIN’STRINGS’ LP. ‘MIDNIGHT
BLUE’ is anything but a sleepy time collection – it showcases Caravelli’s skill
in producing sweeping string passages that blend pop, classical and soul
sounds.
The tribute to Japanese 1970s pop superstar Seiko Matsuda is a slight shift in gear towards a 100% mid-1980s style tempo with funkier bass, guitar and a string arrangement that dances around the melody rather than take centre stage in blending pop into classical. Indeed Seiko’s songs are very much like that – melodic with a beat, and amazingly her song titles translated nicely into chanson-like themes:
- Jolie Petite Fleur
- Un Cadeau
- Parasol Blanc
- Balcon Sur La Plage
- Au Gre Du Vent
- Les Amants En Plein
Hiver
- Au Petit Matin
Transparent
- L' Ile Bleue A Deux
- Etude Pour Une Rose
Sauvage
- Jardin Secret
- Demain Je Serai
- La Chanson De Seiko
Once
again, Caravelli interprets Seiko in a 1980s fashion with hardly any
synthesizer – it is beautiful melody laid upon melody marked by pure
percussion, strings and trumpet playing that respects the original songs by
Seiko.
Caravelli
shared a great deal of his creative genius with his fans by also reinventing
standards from the world of French chanson for the 1980s – try ‘DOUCE FRANCE’
from 1985 on either the French and US releases or the SONY/Epic version from
Japan featuring an enigmatic cover illustrated by perfume bottle and
transparent floral scarf set against musical sheets and a fountain pen.
You can guess, this is a salute as much to chanson, and Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Gilbert Becaud etc, as much as it is about Caravelli showcasing his range of fusing elements of big band, Broadway musical grandeur, sentimentality and 80s pop. DOUCE FRANCE is indeed sweet from start to finish. ‘La Valses de Lilas’ opens up with a flourish of hard rock guitars, heavy pop beat, and saxophone solo before the strings subtly breeze into consciousness. This tune is of course better known in English as Michel Legrand’s composition ‘Once Upon a Summertime’ – and what a summertime it is, done up for the 1980s. The other mind-blowing rendition is of ‘Et Maintenant’ (‘What Now my Love’) which is given a refreshing insistent pop beat that puts drums front and centre of the arrangement before the brass, trumpet solo, strings take turns singing the main melody. This evokes a pop music ‘heartbeat’ that can sit alongside 80s ballads of the likes of Madonna’s ‘Crazy for You’, any ballad by Phil Collins, and certainly anything balladic by Dionne Warwick and Whitney Houston. In tune with the new sounds, Caravelli reworks ‘La Mer’, ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’, ‘Hymne a L’ amour’ and ‘Que Rest-T-il de Nos Amours’ into mid-tempo string laden songs more at ease with an evening on the verandah where you sip champagne looking over the city lights. ‘C’est si Bon’ turns up an even bigger surprise with a big band sound that evokes a loud fashion parade or the entrée into a stadium sized concert. And one unforgettable tune is ‘Roses des Picardie’ where Caravelli conjures up the slow-motion beauty of ballet in the arrangement – beckoning the listener to be still in a fast-moving world, and just admire beauty.
A rare
French/US market compilation titled ‘UNE HEURE AVEC CARAVELLI’ in 1987 tried to
also capture Caravelli’s 1980s sound by joining tracks from the 1982-5 LPs
‘Grand Succes’, ‘Comme Toi’, ‘Sur Une Balancoire’ and ‘L’amour En Heritage’,
with 4 tunes remastered to a very high standard from the fourth LP I mentioned.
Although this might be considered arm-chair mood music judging by the CD cover,
it is way more than that. I especially like the intriguing inclusion of three
Latin tunes – ‘Melissa’, ‘La Colegiala’ and ‘Il Tape Sur des Bambous’ which
reveals the maestro’s Latin colours – melodic, authentic, flavourful in a
musical way. This satisfying collection is rounded off with a healthy sampling
of tunes from the pop parade, musicals, and cinema.
Finally, the best of Caravelli’s other 1980s pop renditions are featured in a rare Japanese compilation from 2007 titled ‘CARAVELLI PLAYS ‘70s and ‘80s HITS’, released exclusively in the CDClub mail order sales catalogue:
1. Honesty
2. Can't Take My Eyes Off You
3. Love's Theme
4. Careless Whisper
5. Woman
6. Words
7. Lettre a France
8. The Never Ending Story
9. The Stranger
10. More Than This
11. L'amour en heritage (only
love)
12. Flashdance...What A
Feeling
13. Kiss And Say Goodbye
14. Comme Toi
15. I Will Survive
16. Do You Relly Want To Hurt
Me?
18. Sweet Dreams
19. The Logical Song
20. La Leson A Deux
ALAN
December 2021
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