CARAVELLI and his Grand Orchestra in the 1980s: Instrumental Pop Superstar, Part One

‘Caravelli et son Grand Orchestre’ is a musical act with a holistic attitude. Although it began as a contemporary of Franck Pourcel, Paul Mauriat and Raymond Lefevre, its 1980s reinvention fused the sound of strings with bass guitar, electric guitar, extensive saxophone leads and pop drumming. This orchestra’s attitude spells pop music and makes no apologies for it. In fact, I heard of Caravelli only with the arrival of the Compact Disc remasters and his series of 1980s albums released mostly on CBS-Sony and Epic Sony Japan. What stayed in my musical senses was his distinctive feel for making pop music with little pretence of trying to sound classical at all.

The first entrée was Caravelli’s tribute to Spanish singer Julio Iglesias. This is easily one of the all-time gold standard productions by Maestro Caravelli. While it contains many hits exclusively popularized by Iglesias featured in Caravelli’s assorted LPs from the 1970s and early 1980s, putting them all together breathes new life to the romantic genius of Iglesias’ song choices and the arrangements made for him. Truly, this is Mediterranean romance bottled and shared with wonderful moments for a worldwide audience through Caravelli’s gift for lush melodic arrangements. Amazingly, Caravelli makes extensive use of trumpet, saxophone, piano and strings with minimal synthesizer effects except on the introduction to ‘Pauvres Diables’ and ‘When I Fall in Love’. His pop sound restores a connection to the 1960s and 1970s when popular orchestras used synthesizers sparingly. “Begin the Beguine” is as much a hit for Caravelli in this version as it was for Iglesias worldwide in 1981 featuring a semi-disco ‘Love Boat’ style tempo. Then there follows the cascade of romantic passages that flow from his saxophone and string version of ‘When I Fall in Love’, ‘Mes Trente Trois…’, ‘Pauvres Diables’, ‘Fidele’, ‘All of You’ (the best EZ listening version out there), ‘Island in the Sun’, ‘Abrazame’, ‘Hey’, ‘Manuela’, ‘Le Monde Est Beau…’ right to the end. ‘Je N'ai Pas Change’ is a surprise on this album with its wordless female soprano delicately opening the masterpiece with a tone that comes closest to an imaginary caress of one’s hands by one’s lover. Every tune is delicately dressed in the fresh enticing colours of a Mediterranean sunset!

Next up: Caravelli et son Grand Orchestre: Only You. Made and released in Japan by EPIC SONY Japan in 1987 under catalogue number 32 8P-204.

This was probably the second of some five original albums from the 1985-9 period when Maestro Caravelli was experimenting with a creative reinvention of classics of popular song from the world music charts and from Broadway, Latin catalogues and the Jazz Age. This album sparkles because Caravelli treated every song with a mood evocative of an uptown restaurant and wine bar where only the most sophisticated socialites mingled…But then again, these are all very melodic rearrangements of pop standards from the 1960s and early 1970s while sounding in vogue with the saxophone led and strong bass sound that characterized the era when Madonna, Whitney Houston, Wham and Starship ruled the airwaves. So, Caravelli brings huge dollops of lush romance back into the pop sound of the 80s by arranging ‘Moon River’ with a slower tempo punctuated with a breathtaking harmonica solo that ‘walks’ the melody through the moonlit promenade instead of singing it straight through like the orchestras of the 1960s did in keeping closely to the original Mancini. Then there is the GREASE-inspired take on ‘Down Town’ with a distinctive 80s sound, and the blend of Reggae and Pop-rock rhythms on ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. ‘Only You’ originally by the Platters, is given an unusual flavour of the Big Band era with basslines and percussion from the 80s, while ‘Cuando Calienta...’ brings you down memory lane with a Waltz like tempo. More slow waltzing follows on ‘Everybody Loves Somebody’ – that definitive hit from Dean Martin. Finally, Caravelli manages to refresh ‘You are the Sunshine…’ and ‘Strangers in the Night’ with smooth saxophone solos throughout each piece while accentuating the beauty of each tune with contemporary basslines. Overall, this whole album is like vintage 1960s-70s, finely aged wine, uncorked in time for a new audience in the 80s to rediscover.

TRACK LISTING:

1.    Red Roses for a Blue Lady

2.    Moon River

3.    Save the Last Dance for Me

4.    Down Town

5.    Strangers in the Night

6.    Classic & Sequencer

7.    Only You

8.    You are the Sunshine of My Life

9.    Cuando Calienta el Sol

10. Yesterday

11. Can’t Help Falling in Love

12.  Everybody Loves Somebody

Released almost about the same time is Caravelli’s RAINBOW LP and CD. This album is even more of a mind blowing experience than the other two. Literally, this is a walk into the rainbow colours of what Maestro Caravelli is capable of. With ‘Laura’, and ‘Green Leaves of Summer’, Caraveli ushers the listener gently into the 1980s with a warm trumpet and flute solos surrounded with synth-bass vibes with the strings coming into consciousness much later. By the time one reaches ‘Temptation’, Caravelli tests the listener with funky rhythms. Indeed, a temptation is opened up to sway and jive with the heavy bass lines that transform the horns’ rendition of the main melody into a postmodern operatic melody. Curiously, if you listen to this version of Temptation right after the vocal version of Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ or Phil Collins’ ‘Against All Odds’, there is no culture shock. Dig further into ‘Windmills of Your Mind’ with its pulsating rhythms and the rock and roll version of ‘Blue Moon’ with mesmerizing electric guitar and synthesizer piano, you’ll make the association with the hits of Sting and Huey Lewis and the News from that decade. Cleverly, Caravelli lets the listener back gently into string ballad territory with the closing ‘Autumn Flower’ like a zestful traditional lemonade after several heady concoctions.

Finally, let’s take a trip to Blue Rondo! Caravelli et son Grand Orchestre. Blue Rondo. Made and released in Japan by EPIC SONY Records Japan in 1989 under catalogue number ESCA 5124. 

This was probably the fourth of some five original albums from the 1985-9 period when Maestro Caravelli was experimenting with a creative reinvention of classics of popular song from the world music charts and from Broadway, Latin catalogues and the Jazz Age. This album sparkles because Caravelli treated every song with tremendous imagination with the help – according to the liner notes – of Serge Planchon, Gil Gambus and Patrick Vasori. Patrick is of course the son of Claude Vasori – Mr Caravelli himself. The title of this album evokes the jazz tunes of the 30s, 50s and early 60s. ‘Blue Rondo’ might be jarring initially to listeners unaccustomed to jazz but this is Caravelli taking you on a bold musical departure, teasing the listener with the less familiar, but staying close to the melodic core of the tune with plenty of lush string sound. Then there is ‘Take Five’ – another tribute to Dave Brubeck’s Quartet – ‘Louise’, ‘Syracuse’ and the ever hummable ‘Mack the Knife’. The orchestra is still extremely melodious and pop instrumental in its soul. For that reason alone, Caravelli’s fans will adore this musical adventure. This trip to jazz land is balanced with a few brilliant arrangements of pop and Broadway standards like ‘Charmaine’, ‘Tea for Two’, ‘Singing in the Rain’, ‘New York, New York’ and the nod to Bossa nova paradise – ‘Desafinado’. Caravelli keeps to his 80s styling so fans enamoured with his tribute album to Julio Iglesias, the ONLY YOU album and RAINBOW will find this album a treasure to be added to one’s collection. ‘Charmaine’ is one of my personal favourites as he takes the song far away from its trademark Mantovani arrangement towards something more intimately ‘sung’ with flute, bassoon, guitar and wall to wall strings to keep that ‘swooning’ magic. ‘Mack the Knife’, ‘Syracuse’ and ‘Desafinado’ are arranged for dancers with their fusion of neo-polka and jazz ballet rhythms, upgraded for the 80s. There is enough familiarity within these classic songs to avoid alienating Caravelli fans from the 60s and 70s.  Like Caravelli’s companion 1988 album TENDERLY, the maestro sure knows how to wow old fans while attracting news ones from the 1980s!

TRACK LISTING:

1.    Blue Rondo a la Turk (A Bout de Souffle)

2.    My Own True Love (Love theme from ‘Gone with the Wind’)

3.    Singing in the Rain

4.    Charmaine

5.    Tea for Two

6.    Mack the Knife

7.    Prestissimo

8.    Syracuse

9.    Take Five (Ne Boud Pas)

10.  Desafinado

11.  Louise

12.  New York, New York

Released one year earlier in 1988, is another stunning album TENDERLY. The title track spells beauty shimmering on a fashion runway, as much as on a Parisian sidewalk. The synthesizer lead works unbelievable magic in singing out the tenderness in the standard jazz ballad with the strings of the orchestra providing plenty of empathetic support. This delicate introduction to the album gives way quickly to a jazzy disco-esque interpretation of Lerner and Loewe’s international hit from the musical My Fair Lady – ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’. In fact, half of this album is dedicated to the dance form known as jazz ballet, popular in the 1980s: fancy ‘All the Things You Are’, ‘Tico Tico’, ‘Night and Day’ and ‘Delicado’ as soundtracks for energetic movements on a musical stage? Caravelli wows his fans – both old and new – by reinventing these classics for the 1980s. Then there are plenty of torch like inspirational moments in creatively rearranged tunes like ‘Les Parapluies de Cherbourg’, ‘Blue Skies’ and Caravelli’s own composition ‘Pour Elle’. These are all ballads, but in the hands of Caravelli, and according to the liners notes, his son as well, these are no ordinary ballads anymore. And those of you who have listened to this stellar album through and through will never forget the ultimate remake of ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’ through its neoclassically played electric guitar introduction, repeated through the midsections as a kind of Caravelli-esque signature mini-chorus. Then the saxaphone takes over the dream sequence by playing the leading notes…Doing it ever so TENDERLY, and with lots of funky bass rhythms, Caravelli has made the 1980s his memorable decade!

[Watch this space for a sequel to the 1980s releases by Caravelli on CD including two spectacular box sets]

ALAN

July 2021

ACKER BILK, HIS CLARINET & STRINGS – CLOSE TO YOU

 

ACKER BILK, HIS CLARINET & STRINGS – CLOSE TO YOU

Acker Bilk, the most famous clarinettist in Easy Listening world, passed away in November 2014. Fans will like this superb tribute published in The Guardian newspaper in the UK (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/03/acker-bilk). I am posting this page as my belated tribute to an instrumentalist with a good sense of arranging and playing for an analogue audience with an appreciation for a sense of scale balanced with musical intimacy.

Located where I am in Southeast Asia, the sound of a clarinet surrounded by what sounded like a full symphonic orchestra was a staple on the playlists of so many light music radio stations in the 1970s. There was something about the clarinet that was especially soothing in the half hour before sunrise, as well as into the hour after the sun rose. Almost a loud human whistle, and even more imitative of a modified, sweetly tuned human voice, the instrument was distinctive, and addictive. I recall visiting coffee houses – airconditioned ones in the tropical heat – where Bilk’s sound went with cakes and coffee/tea, or the accompaniment to any form of light snack moment as a reward for a long office day. Dim the lights for evening dining service, and Bilk’s crooning like renditions set the table for romance.

Acker Bilk was everywhere, and perhaps taken for granted that it was the sound of the gentler parts of anyone’s day. His cassettes, LPs, and later CDs, did not seem to fare as well as the ones by Mantovani, Aldrich, Clayderman, Mauriat or James Last. Probably, it was because his sound was ubiquitous.

Now that I have fully restored vintage amplifiers matched with the best cables and speakers one can afford, the Acker Bilk sound deserves new level of respect.

To me, the ultimate collection has to be the 4CD compilation by PULSE Records UK from 1991, for which I list the tunes from Discs One and Two for a sample.

Tracklist

1-1		Stranger On The Shore	3:19
1-2		Don't Cry For Me Argentina	3:44
1-3		Bridge Over Troubled Water	4:34
1-4		Nature Boy	5:58
1-5		Amazing Grace	2:53
1-6		You've Lost That Loving Feelin'	3:33
1-7		What A Wonderful World	2:38
1-8		Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head	2:42
1-9		If You Go Away	3:49
1-10		The Guy's In Love With You	3:04
1-11		Here There And Everywhere	3:08
1-12		Close To You	3:11
1-13		Going Home	2:45
1-14		Makin' Whoopee	2:21
1-15		Misty	4:11
1-16		She	2:50
1-17		Aria	3:33
1-18		Auf Wiedersehen	2:56
2-1		Here's That Rainy Day	4:34
2-2		Nancy With The Laughing Face	4:08
2-3		Hush-A-Bye Mountain	2:55
2-4		Ebony And Ivory	3:27
2-5		Theme From Swan Lake	2:16
2-6		When I Need You	3:10
2-7		Together We Are Beautiful	3:36
2-8		When	2:40
2-9		Someone To Watch Over Me	3:39
2-10		The Way We Were	3:59
2-11		Without You	4:40
2-12		The Promise Of Your Eyes	2:53
2-13		She's Leaving Home	3:05
2-14		Moonlight In Vermont	3:49
2-15		Summer Flower	2:57
2-16		We're All Alone	2:48
2-17		Woman	3:30
2-18		What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life	2:48

……

It was entrancing the way that Bilk arranged his music such that it enveloped the listener even without Quadraphonic and Surround Sound formulae in some of the LPs in the 1970s. Of course, if you had a Quadraphonic set up, Acker Bilk’s Band and the Leon Young String Chorale will be reproduced right in your living room. To me, you do not need Quad sound amplification, just any good restored 1960s-70s analogue amplifier. Bilk had his sound engineers place the microphones, or mixed the tracks in such a way, that it captured a three-dimensional performance every time. Listening to the tracks like ‘What a Wonderful World’, ‘Misty’, ‘She’s Leaving Home’, ‘This Guy’s in Love’, one feels every emotion conveyed instrumentally straight to the heart from all around your personal listening space. Of course, the unforgettable ‘Stranger on the Shore’ – re-recorded by Bilk in the 1970s – is featured here in pristine quality and takes you to a very special, restful place on a hectic day. My particular discovery on this set is the Bacharach/Dionne Warwick/Carpenters hit ‘Close to You’. This arrangement marries Mr Bilk’s so-called traditional jazz roots – a sound also associated with the New Orleans jazz signatures – with an opulent harmony and notes that could be played into either upper or lower registers with great effect. You are, in Bilk’s arrangement, invited ‘Close’ to a parade of love and other celebratory moods. I bet this can be the soundtrack to weddings and wedding anniversaries…as well as a host of other happy occasions!

One of Bilk’s favourite LPs, MOOD FOR LOVE (1966), has been skillfully remastered by Dutton Vocalion as a paired offering with 1971’s HORN OF PLENTY:

Mood for Love
THE ORIGINAL LP (1966) STEREO
With the Leon Young String Chorale

I'm in the Mood for Love (McHugh; Fields)
Sonia (Roy; Tuvey)
La Playa (van Wetter)
Confessin' (That I Love You) (Neiburg; Daugherty; Reynolds)
Paradise (Brown; Clifford)
When Lights are Low (Williams; Carter)
It Had to be You (Kahn; Jones)
Theme from Madame X' (Wildman)
Night Lights (Shaw)
When You are There (Adam)
If I Could be with You (One Hour Tonight) (Creamer; Johnson)
When Your Lover Has Gone (Swan)

Acker Bilk is at his best playing a formidable mix of both familiar (by 60s standards) and unfamiliar tunes for the smooching hour. What joins them together is pure melody and a simple tug at the heart. Also, on full display to one’s ears is Bilk’s ‘breathy’ tone to his clarinet – something one does not quite pick up from listening to classical music performances through the same instrument. If your Hi Fi set up can convey this X-quality, then you truly know Bilk’s special sound!

Following Bilk into the 1980s and 1990s, one becomes aware that he ditched the string orchestra formula in favour of working with the synthesizer wizardry of Keff McCulloch. One either loves it as the Acker Bilk sound updated for a newer audience familiar with the pop vibes of heavy bass and rock guitar riffs, or one can regard the Acker Bilk sound as shifting into jazz fusion of the lighter variety. In fact, Bilk reinterpreted ‘Close to You’ on the HEARTBEATS album of 1991 with a slick electronic sound played against a synth-pop backing that fits perhaps a movie soundtrack like TOP GUN (1985) and FLASHDANCE (1982) than weddings and parties. Still on the same album, you’ll find a wacky version of Bacharach’s ‘Walk on By’ and a flirtation with a tender soul sound on ‘When I’m Back on my Feet Again’, ‘Get Here’ and ‘Unchained Melody’. Traditional Acker Bilk fans will find familiar ground nonetheless with ‘Somerset Skies’ and ‘Rio Nights’, even on Gloria Estefan’s hit ‘Here We Are’. And on 1989’s THE LOVE ALBUM on the Pickwick label, Acker’s interpretation of the Streisand hit ‘Till I Loved You’ and Tiffany’s ‘Could’ve Been’ shows he had lost none of his 60s and 70s magic. 

But if you ask me, I’d prefer to remember Mr Bilk’s voluminous 1970s analogue output that is still widely available on both Vinyl and CD, and digital downloads. Yes, they are still ubiquitous, and found on so many budget record label compilations, but these are stylishly engineered to be evergreens!

ALAN

May 2021   

SOUNDBOXES XII: VINTAGE YAMAHA NS-600 SPEAKERS – AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

 SOUNDBOXES XII: VINTAGE YAMAHA NS-600 SPEAKERS – AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

Vintage speakers – defined broadly as pre-1990 productions – have never been my objects of admiration. Until now! Some of you, my regular visitors, might even quarrel with my classification of pre-1990 speakers. Fair criticism indeed. I was fortunate enough to visit a HiFi hobbyist’s home for a demonstration of the YAMAHA NS-600. I knew he was a collector of Luxman and Tannoy, Musical Fidelity and the occasional Sansui, so this was a treat! Specifications I managed to research off HiFi sales sites on the Internet are here for the NS-600:

3 speaker · sealing method · book shelf type

For low-pass: 30 cm cone type (JA - 3102)

For mid-range: 10 cm semi-dome type (JA - 1210)

For high range: 3 cm dome type (JA - 0533)

Playback frequency band: 40 Hz to 20 kHz

Crossover frequency: 700 Hz, 6 kHz (12 dB / oct)

Lowest resonance frequency: 50 Hz

Impedance: 6Ω

Output sound pressure level: 91 dB / W / m

Maximum allowable input: 70 W

Rated input: 35W

Internal volume: 50

Level control: Mid-range, high-frequency continuous variable

External dimensions: Width 370 × height 665 × depth 322 mm

Weight: 24 kg

The manufacturer’s website does not list this kit anymore so I have to put out the warning that these specifications may not be accurate. I welcome corrections as comments on this blog post.

         From the specifications above, this is one pair of serious speakers meticulously engineered for audiophiles. It does not read like a powerhouse production since it is stated that its maximum input is 70W. But the ‘output sound pressure’ of 91dB is just about the standard even for speakers produced in the late 1990s and 2000s.

What about the music? I was transfixed by just two discs I played for the duration of the hour-long session: FEELS SO GOOD: THE SMOOTHEST HITS, Sony Music Entertainment / 515295.2, released in Singapore and Asia in 2004 as a double High Definition Compact Disc (HDCD) compilation.

         Strings were produced with velvet quality and warmth at the same time. Instruments sounded very natural. Soundstage was reasonably accurate. I could place the instruments on big solos like Chuck Mangione’s ‘Feels So Good’, Shakatak’s ‘Night Birds’ and Chris Botti’s ‘Look of Love’. Carlos Santana’s ‘Love is You’ shone for its revelation of the precision of Santana’s plucking of the electric guitar. The beauty of testing everything using music from the ‘Smooth Jazz’ category was that it showcased the range of musical styles from slight adagios to soulful instrumental solos to swinging ensembles, even large string orchestrations. Barry White’s original 1974 Vinyl remastered version of ‘Love’s Theme’ was quite a jaw dropping performance on the Yamahas: suddenly I was ‘there’ in front of White’s players and even the flute solo at the three-quarter mark was floatingly distinct, so were the dynamics of the drums punctuating the changes in notes. My only (minor) complaint is that the presentation could be projected a little more forward towards the listener in what was a very large living room for a four-room apartment. For example, Shakatak’s ‘Night Birds’ was originally recorded with a disco funk vibe that ought to have been more involving, but at least a good part of it was reproduced closely. Vocals were nonetheless a joyful experience – everything that was deliberately voiced was picked up and conveyed faithfully and naturally.

         The big surprise was that my friend did not need to invest in high end power cords and interconnects to reproduce this level of enjoyable realism in his system. The combination was that of a LUXMAN CL350 solid state preamplifier matched to the M-1600 power amplifier of the same brand. Both LUXMAN amplifiers were definitely late 1970s technology! It was a nearly tube like presentation with normal manufacturer supplied copper interconnects and power cords. The speaker cables were better than manufacturer supplied copper, it was several grades higher with light shielding and made of basic ‘oxygen free copper’. Of course, it helped that the living room for this Hi Fi set up was slightly larger than the usual listening rooms at high street shops. The music was effortless, tinged with warmth, but not overdone, and enjoyable for hours on end. 😊

ALAN

December 2020

THE SENTIMENTAL 1970s...DONE EASY LISTENING STYLE

 

Sentimental 1970s Done Instrumentally…

The Popular Music of the 1970s produced exceptionally sentimental tunes – including some outstanding heartbreak songs – by many composers who claimed their best work in that decade. Of course, there are some who might disagree and insist instead that the best output of that era came in the areas of Funk, Soul, Disco and Rock. It is all a matter of opinion. But in Easy Listening world, no less brilliant were the instrumentalists who interpreted the compositions of many songwriters, and made signature versions out of the sung versions. So, this entry inaugurates another series of reviews that celebrate the achievements of the great instrumental albums of that decade.

The opening picture above makes a suitable statement. Ronnie Aldrich and his Two Pianos, backed for the most part by the London Festival Orchestra, were already tremendously popular before 1970. In 1976, he released an album titled REFLECTIONS, showcasing in sepia tones a lady sitting languidly in a long dress surrounded by cushions sporting brown and white floral motifs set against a country manor background. This album cover evoked timelessness as one might expect of a slightly faded photograph. It still does, looking at it again in 2020. Aldrich covered 11 numbers in a mix of hit parade ballads and evergreens from the 1960s and even one – Tomaso Albinoni’s ‘Adagio’ – from the Baroque era several centuries before. Why? Aldrich cleverly keeps his listeners guessing at the start, but not for long! Reflections begin with the almost mournful flute and harp solos at the start of ‘Summer’s End’, continuing with this introspection into a mixture of regret and yearning with Eric Carmen’s ‘Never Gonna Fall in Love Again’ and Paul Anka’s ‘Times of Your Life’. The latter two tracks alone captured the contrasting shades of romantic disappointment and warm nostalgia so widely threaded in the 1970s pop charts. ‘Times of Your Life’ is interpreted with Aldrich’s devastating legatos hanging in the air accompanied by the choral group, The Ladybirds, providing a wordless operatic touch to lift the tune into a different universe altogether. ‘Spanish Eyes’ is an uptempo number that takes wistfulness into a mid-tempo waltz, while on ‘On Days Like These’ (a Manuel and the Music of the Mountains signature too) and ‘All by Myself’, the raw emotion of the end of summer returns through superb musicianship wielded by Aldrich’s piano playing and masterly slow arrangements. Literally, the majority of these tunes adhere to the spirit of the classical music world’s ‘Adagio’, meaning play slowly. The only discordant arrangement is ‘Love is a Many Splendoured Thing’ from a decade earlier that Aldrich adapted into a disco tune – why? One might never know. Was ‘amour’ found also on a head throbbing disco floor, under the ever-spinning crystal ball? I’ll leave this subject for the next blog on 70s music! And then I’ll provide my review of Aldrich’s WITH LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING LP from a year later.

Another tremendously gifted pianist and arranger who captures the sentimentality of the 1970s is none other than Peter Nero, a legend still based in Philadelphia USA. Sadly, many of his albums were not widely promoted in Asia during the decade under review. It was only earlier this year that I got my hands on the million selling 1971 LP SUMMER OF 42 remastered on CD by Oldies.com, along with the 1969 LP, I’VE GOTTA BE ME. Much like Aldrich in REFLECTIONS, Nero is a master of the adagio style with his finely honed, restrained piano stylings. Listening to Nero on these two albums, one is reminded of epic love stories instead of a collection of assorted love songs pulled conveniently from the charts at the time. My focus is on SUMMER OF 42 since it was released squarely in the 1970s.

 

The ‘Summer of 42’ is a scorching and poetic opener to an LP conceived with tunes that tell something of the screenplay emotions of the Francis Lai scored film of 1970, simply titled LOVE STORY. Nero’s piano takes on a mystical tone with its carefully conveyed touches on the ivories. One hears the deliberateness in every pressed key on the piano, much in the way some emotions spill forth spontaneously while others – regret, conflict, relived pain and the yearning of an ideal that can never be – cannot be conveyed with maximum pressure on the ivories. ‘Love’ by John Lennon is one such sensitive rendition, with the Carpenters classic ‘Close to You’ following in the same mode and ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?’. If someone produced another biopic of Karen Carpenter, Nero’s rendition ought to feature for sheer prescience! The happiness and sorrow were intuitively rolled into ‘Close to You’. The more hopeful ‘You’ve Got a Friend’, ‘Make it with You’ and ‘For All We Know’ are surprisingly not arranged in an uptempo manner – the use of strings to gently weave a steadily rising melody in many lush passages sets Nero’s piano up for a spectacular, heart-warming story telling role. Not for a moment will the listener think these were just pop songs that put up the reputations of Carole King, James Taylor, Bread or the Carpenters. Nero wrote almost all the arrangements on this album and the LP’s carefully designed collage of impromptu sketches in light pastel hints at the inspiration of something on the order of the soundtrack of SOMEWHERE IN TIME which was incidentally produced much later by movie maestro John Barry. 

Finally, I need to dwell on Nero’s treatment of one of the truly greatest love songs of the decade: ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’. A solo flute opens the song gently and alluringly up to a symphonic spectacular in an all embracing even tempo rendition. Nero’s piano scores the suppressed happiness of starting a romance (or a marriage) with unimaginable subtle tones. Where the piano needs to take on the bridging parts in the melody [‘sharing horizons that are new to us…’], it soars but never grates in trying to imitate the Carpenters’ famous ‘soft rock’ arrangements for that bridging segment. Unsurprisingly, Francis Lai’s ‘Theme from Love Story’ gets a slight Baroque treatment with harpsichord and violin quartet in the background as Nero’s piano rides the wave of stringed feelings. A love story told the Nero way.

While I am on the subject of ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’, another truly unforgettable rendition produced around the same time is one provided by Art Farmer, a trumpeter better associated with jazz. But in that decade, there was great music – period. No one cared if instrumental music were categorically jazz or easy listening. Farmer’s 1972 LP, aptly titled GENTLE EYES, provided an equally lush and breath-taking reading of the Carpenters’ hit. Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu_Uw6xYdLo. If this link does not work search ‘Art Farmer We’ve Only Just Begun’ on YouTube. There are multiple uploads in there. Close your eyes, and just hear the beauty of the melody led along a magical forest path by a muted yet airy trumpet carried on a wall-to-wall string arrangement…

Slipping into a velvety string-tinged mood is Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra whose 1970s releases deserve a more glowing appraisal in the light of the wonders of digital remastering. Digital remastering has not artificially altered Chacksfield’s brilliance in arranging for a large, almost symphonic orchestra. In fact, it has revealed textures to his 1970s output that are exceptional in their own right. He scores primarily for a film like, melodic, soft hued sound, as opposed to perhaps a Paul Mauriat or a Caravelli who will add dynamic bridges and riffs to well-known pop hits of the decade.

Chacksfield in the 1970s embodies a different sound characterized by plentiful use of brass, especially trumpet, clarinet, bassoon, and light touches of Fender Rhodes keyboard sounds. The result is actually quite sublime and brings out the deeply romantic side of 70s sentimental pop. Think of a trumpet solo, set against empathetic string arrangements that evoke spaciousness of sound – a wide lounge area perhaps – and the broad extensity of emotion. This is how the 1970s Chacksfield sound appeals. This is evident on ‘Bluer than Blue’, ‘Sometimes When We Touch’, ‘After the Lovin’, ‘Almost Like a Song’, ‘How Deep is Your Love’, ‘Looks Like We Made It’, ‘Just the Way You Are’, and ‘Torn Between Two Lovers’.

In closing my first review of the instrumental 70s, allow me to draw your attention to another under-appreciated artiste – Ray Conniff, his orchestra and singers. Conniff is perhaps the ultimate genre-bender! The idea of organizing a chorus to sing 1970s hits, or swing them in the fashion popular two decades earlier, might not instantly appeal to many fans of Beautiful Music universally. But Knight Records UK have put together an intriguing collection of Conniff’s 70s output saluting everyone on the hit parade from Perry Como, Roberta Flack, Harold Melvin, Bread, Carole King, Isaac Hayes, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees, and the Carpenters.

Give it a listen, you will be surprised how Conniff’s arrangements and choruses accentuate the harmony in the prolific songwriting in the sentimental 70s. Listen to ‘It’s Too Late’ and ‘Where is the Love’ and you’ll want to listen to the rest…but I was somewhat disappointed with the excessively swinging version of ‘Close to You’ which worked well enough for ‘Clair’. But who knows, with a little ageing, Conniff’s swinging sound might be back in vogue in the next appraisal of the transition from the 1960s into the 1970s in the world of easy listening!

ALAN

November 2020