Welcome to the PERCY FAITH Pages
a broadband internet connection is required to enjoy this site
featuring the music and memory of
Percy Faith 1908-1976
His orchestra heard "on the air" in Canada and the United States, since the 1930's, Mr. Faith brought us his unique sound, rich arrangements featuring his favorite section of the orchestra - the strings, that carried the Faith signature sound of rich countermelodies and harmonic developments across sections of the orchestra. Pictured above, Percy at the piano in the living room of his Encino home in 1966, "California 1966" in his own writing (this is an original picture from the family collection I've noticed that the photo has been "internet appropriated" and as this picture was given to ME, for my web site, and not for anonymous search engine rip-offs, I'm considering a policy of posting nothing else from my personal collection, at the least. Anyway, here is the teletype received late in the evening of February 9, 1976 at Washington DC radio station WQMR/WGAY, read through the night and much of the next day with the news that we had lost Percy Faith. For a few days after Faith's death, the announcers at WQMR/WGAY would make very brief comments about "the late Percy Faith" during backtitling of songs played in the preceding quarter hour of music when one of the selections was Percy Faith (often the case!) That Faith recorded 45 albums is a head-scratcher, Faith recorded closer to 90 albums, and that does not include the many "random track collection" albums that could no doubt double that number worldwide. I believe this error began with a press release, I still have a copy somewhere. The Collectables series of CD's now available cover Percy's entire Columbia career. There are CD's available that go back to the "pre-Columbia" days of Decca, Majestic, and RCA, please see Alan Bunting's website for details.
PERCY FAITH: COMPOSER-CONDUCTOR-ARRANGER
Percy Faith had a tremendous career, doing just what he wanted to do, creating albums of beautiful music. Actually that's the second half of his career, the first was "on the air" bringing his unique orchestral style to radio. Few are aware he did much outside of SUMMER PLACE, DELICADO or MOULIN ROUGE - but view these pages and you'll realize that he recorded over a thousand arrangements with a style that could never be duplicated. After all these years, we are rewarded with our treasured albums being available in the "best possible" sound of the compact disc; see below! There are several great CD reissues by Taragon and Collectables, and manufacturing remains with Sony (Taragon does its own remastering), so the quality is superb. It is a great tribute to PERCY FAITH that his music still delights listeners in the year 2000 and beyond. Millions of thanks go to Good Music, Collectables, and Taragon for bringing Faith's music to us in the window-on-sound CD format. Follow the link below to read a comprehensive article about the successes Mr. Faith achieved in the music world - from his childhood job as a pianist accompanying silent motion pictures. Also, there is a series of important articles about our favorite subject, "Popular Music for Orchestra" - and "The Orchestral Sound." Great, educational reading by Alfred Holden and Dick O'Connor.
Click to read more about Faith - and the evolution of popular music for orchestra!
Click to See AND hear the PERCY FAITH Orchestra
KMPC 1972 interview Percy Faith - Wink Martindale added 3/18/2008
Dick O'Connor's TRIBUTE TO ROBERT FARNON April, 2005
Radio and Recording Techniques by Percy Faith, contributed by Dick O'Connor (circa 1958)
Where did this website go? Why is it back? Is the webmaster crazy?
Let me take these questions point by point. Don't know, don't know, and no doubt about it. Seriously, I've had personal problems and that's all I can say about that - the site is back because I received a small but sincere number of emails that let me know that even though the site was rarely updated, it was still accessed by those that want to learn about Percy Faith, and that some of the writings and sounds/videos I've gathered help Faith fans see a bit of "what it was like" in the days of radio and records and the occasional television show. I was especially surprised to hear quite a few people were let down by not being able to access the Faith/Wink Martindale interview. So, the website is working again, and I hope to have another historical video soon. I apologize for the not-so-hot editing job I tried to do on the Martindale interview (which took place over 3 days). It's a huge file and needs to be re-edited, but while doing it I was unable to really pin down start/stop sequencing for each day's show, so when you listen to the file it sounds like there is some repetition. If there is, it's not intentional!
As for the videos, the quality is pretty sad on most of them; but we all owe this to the fact that VHS tape might have been great in that it brought video tape to the home, but it's just lousy picture quality, and when it gets recopied, it's worse than lousy. I might try again but in all honesty when I look at the source tapes, they're pretty bad. However, if I take more bandwidth perhaps they can be tweaked a bit. The top of this page indicates that a broadband connection is required, and if I resample the tapes it might require fiber-to-the-home - oh, wait, I don't have that myself :(
Thanks for all your kind letters, friendship and contributions over the years, and there is no excuse for me being a lousy correspondent. I lost a lot of data through various Microsoft adventures featuring backups that seemed to never quite work, that at least in part is why I am not consistent in keeping in touch! Thanks for visiting the site again. If I actually learned how to write a PROPER web site there would be such things as a table of contents. I think I'm too old to learn the new Microsoft Way Of Doing Things now that Frontpage is gone.
Bill Halvorsen - soundguard73 at radix dot net
I have not included the 73 for a long time (duh) which is why this "soundguard" address didn't work; sorry!
KOGA MELODIES - HATTORI MELODIES
also
TOUCHDOWN! (Percy's album of rah-rah songs of American football, male chorus, brass)
PERCY FAITH recorded two albums for the Japanese market. The melodies by both composers (Masao Koga and Ryoichi Hattori) have been an important part of popular standards in Japan for many years. Percy Faith recorded both albums in Los Angeles, KOGA in 1970 (for which Columbia awarded him a "Best International Projects" award) and in 1974, the HATTORI album. With many thanks from appreciative listeners,
Alan Bunting has worked with Taragon for these reissues, and both albums will be reissued on a "2fer" CD, available now.What makes this reissue so interesting is that many Faith collectors have NEVER heard this material before. Emphasis, as always, is given to accurate portrayal of the melody; but Faith, as usual, adds stunning countermelodies and embellishments that - well, in the next century, I don't think we have anyone else who can work the Faith magic. They are quite beautiful, as one might expect. Of course some of us spent huge sums of money in the 70's to import these albums, so we know the music, but now everyone will have the opportunity to hear them in the window-on-sound environment of the CD. Taragon has reissued TOUCHDOWN (a.k.a. FOOTBALL SONGS) as well - over the years I've received quite a few inquiries about this album; it was an essential record for many radio stations in the 50's through the 70's (and beyond?) for intros/closings/"beds" when their stations had sports themed shows and/or game broadcasts.
I first heard the music of Koga on a Decca album by a famous guitarist in the 1960's (but I don't know right now where it is since I moved to the midwest USA). I first heard Percy's album way back in 1970 or 1971, thanks to Reuben Musiker of Johannesburg. I was captivated, here was fresh music to which Faith had applied his artistry, when I thought I had "heard it all." Now everyone has the opportunity to discover the essential Percy Faith complexities and embellishments that he gave to each of his arrangements speaking through the voice of the orchestra. Both albums were recorded in Los Angeles; Koga in 1970, Hattori in 1974. The Hattori album took me just a bit longer to appreciate with my "western" ears - but the melodies are quite good; perhaps it was a not-always-subtle-enough rock beat that didn't help a great deal; still it was an amazing discovery, a very expensive one at that (I imported several copies straight from Japan in both cases for myself and a few others, and it was expensive, about $25 per album in 1974 dollars). Now Alan's hard work has paid off with what will be essentially two NEW Percy Faith albums for many listeners; it's a rare opportunity that I hope those who like Percy Faith's albums will take advantage of. I must also note that the "mix" that is used in the HATTORI half of this CD seems to be from a stereo "mix" and the percussion (yeah, drums) is much less intrusive than my "SQ" (failed method of delivering poor four-channel listening experiences) Lp copy. I have, just for grins, played my SQ album through "SQ Matrix decoders" and it takes nothing less than total imagination to get much from the "four channel experience." I guess it was a good way to sell new receivers/speakers/phonographs/tape machines - for awhile.
You can see the liner notes in the photo below are in Japanese, here is a translation from jazz collector Keizo Takada of Tokyo - Keizo got me copies of Koga and Hattori when first released. This translation is excerpted from a letter to me from Keizo dated February 25, 1976:
"It was just after the War when I heard the name of Percy Faith for the first time. I had been attracted by the music of Kostelanetz with its flavor of symphonic jazz before I heard Percy Faith, and when I received the record of my melodies made by Percy Faith, I was so excited that I felt as though I was a child. As I enjoyed the Koga Melodies Lp, I had looked forward to hearing the Percy Faith arrangements of my melodies. The arrangements are unique. I am an arranger myself and I heard his arrangements with critical ears, however, his arrangements, with preludes and interludes which I could never think of, utterly knocked me down. I felt unavoidable difference in attitude toward music which probably came from cultural difference. The same can be said if I arranged some American music. It is very welcome that many Japanese music melodies are played by various musicians abroad and that Japanese melodies are introduced to world music lovers. I look forward to seeing Percy Faith on his next trip to Japan. - Ryoichi Hattori"
2005 Japan Concerts Program Cover Art front and back, Terry Woodson conducting
Percy Faith? Japan? Starting in 1966, Percy began concert tours of about a month's duration, around 20 cities, throughout Japan, where people loved to hear his renditions of popular music, including Gershwin and showtunes. The Japanese audiences love his music and through all these years, Percy's original manuscripts brought his arrangements to life in Japanese concert halls, to listeners young, old, and in-between. Too bad it can't happen in the "corporate" environment of the United States... In the spring of 1976, just a few months after his death, the concert that sadly became a "tribute to Percy Faith" was conducted by DAVID ROSE. Then for many years, Alan Broadbent took the baton, followed in the 90's by the late Nick Perito. Orchestra manager Terry Woodson, conductor for Frank Sinatra, Jr., now conducts the live sounds of Percy Faith arrangements via tours of several Japanese cities every few years.
Fingers crossed for pictures/memorabilia to arrive shortly from 2008's concert tour of Japan from Terry Woodson!
(concert photos above courtesy Toshiho Namba)
Spring, 2003 Concert Pictures from Japan courtesy Kats-Aoyama and Takeo Kimura
click above for information on some wonderful beautiful music! And something new below:
DULCIMA RECORDS
Release Date: 14th July 2008
WHERE DID THE NIGHT GO
from
The Living Strings Series
����
with
JOHNNY DOUGLAS
and his ORCHESTRA
Two albums from the RCA Living Strings series
“In the Still of the Night” and “Where Did the Night Go”.
Twenty tracks of well known and not so well known melodies including
In the Still of the Night, Deep Purple, Unchained Melody, Blue Velvet,
Fanny, Wish You Were Here and Where Did the Night Go?
DLCD 121 - $24.00
Purchase by US dollar cheque, add $6 for p&p, from
DULCIMA RECORDS
39 Tadorne Road, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 5TF, UK
TEL/FAX: (+44) 1737 812922
Email: dulcima@ukgateway.net
Website: www.dulcimarecords.com
Distributed by AVID/BMG and SAVOY MUSIC
We have much reason to celebrate the music and memory of Mr. Faith in the following splendid CD reissues!
TARAGON - the first group of CD's pictured below are available from www.taragon.com)
The CD's pictured below are available from Collectables www.oldies.com
view some original cover art that predates what you see in the current reissues - plus a couple albums from Japan - Music Of Christmas, Continental Music, Romantic Music, Music Until Midnight, Kismet, Music from Hollywood, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Hattori Melodies, and The Crystal Sound Orchestra (explanation on that page). Here's an alternate cover to Hattori Melodies
The Collectables series:
- COL 6056 - Bouquet/Bouquet of Love
- COL 5832 - Camelot/My Fair Lady
- COL 6085 - Delicado/Amour, Amor, Amore
- COL 6057 - Passport to Romance/Mucho Gusto
- COL 5843 - Tara's Theme from "Gone With The Wind"/Jealousy
- COL 6473 - Kismet/Music From Hollywood
- COL 6483 - Bim! Bam!! BOOM!!!/Themes for the "In" Crowd
- COL 6488 - MMMitch (Mitch Miller)/MUSIC UNTIL MIDNIGHT (Percy Faith orchestra w/Mitch Miller on English Horn/Oboe plus Mitch Miller and His Orchestra in "MMMitch")
- COL 6640 - A Night with Sigmund Romberg/A Night with Jerome Kern (Percy Faith orchestral backings for solos and duets by vocalists Earl Wrightson and Lois Hunt
- COL 7429 - Today's Themes For Young Lovers / For Those In Love
- COL 6898 - The Music of Brazil/Shangri-La!
- COL 7428 - Academy Award Winners - Born Free/Windmills Of Your Mind
- COL 7476 - Corazon/My Love
- COL 7488 - Angel Of The Morning (chorus)/Black Magic Woman
- COL 7420 - More Themes for Young Lovers/Latin Themes for Young Lovers
- COL 7478 - The Love Goddesses/Hollywood's Great Themes
- COL 7480 - Subways Are For Sleeping/Do I Hear A Waltz?
- COL 7469 - Porgy and Bess/The Most Happy Fella
- COL 7479 - Great Folk Themes/American Serenade
- COL 7507 - The Beatles Album/Jesus Christ Superstar
- COL 7521 - Joy/Day By Day
- COL 7522 - Chinatown/Summer Place '76
- COL 7561 - Clair/New Thing
- COL 7564 - Li'l Abner/Broadway Bouquet
COL9554 - Easy Listening Classics (previously released, omnibus collection)
COL 7635 - Columbia Singles Volume One
COL 7636 - Columbia Singles Volume Two
COL 7653 - I Think I Love You
COL 7815 - THE OSCAR (soundtrack)
COL 7692 - Columbia Singles Volume Three
Have we reached the end of the line for reissues? I dunno. Information is sketchy. What I know or think I know: I have asked Sony to reissue NEW THING in the SACD (Super Audio CD) format, since it was an 8-channel master. They agreed it would be an ideal Faith album for this new treatment, however, it's "held up in rights" which apparently affects the entire catalog of older material. Cha-ching, I guess the money-makers in the rights-holding business wants some more dough "just cause." Never mind the recordings were made and profits pocketed 32 years ago for a different generation. Not within my understanding, obviously.
CHECK THE COLLECTABLES PAGE if money is an object - some of these CD's are occasionally given deep discounts - check with the website www.oldies.com
THE COLUMBIA ALBUM OF GEORGE GERSHWIN doesn't appear on the Collectables label, as it has been more-or-less available over the years, and hasn't been considered a catalog deletion. Perhaps it could be considered an "effective" deletion.
The Columbia Singles Vol. 1 CD (1950-1952) are for the true Faith collector, who wishes to hear Faith conduct smaller orchestral ensembles to accompany vocalists. Not a fan of vocals, at all, I have to say that in my opinion, some of these tracks will make the listener tear up with joy, some are that beautiful. Some tracks "in my opinion" will cause tears for other emotions.... Arguably, they are an important part of Faith's 50's career with Columbia and Mitch; his contract was to do 3 or 4 albums a year with whatever size orchestra he needed - but - big but - he had to "work with the youngsters" - the new vocal talents at Columbia and get them started. He certainly attained that goal; though today it's not recognized or in some cases it is denied by omission, Faith did a lot for the early days of Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett - and lots of others. This collection has the early 50's style, mixed chorus singing blocked chords, it is what it is - a representation of his first two years at Columbia under Mitch Miller. Please don't think Faith was all about novelty tunes in the first half of his career (radio) - I have some of his 40's and 50's radio work and most of it was vocal accompaniment (I have hundreds of tracks with Buddy Clark) and some very sophisticated work for THE CONTENTED HOUR and THE MELODY HOUR (best I can tell, chopped up Carnation programs for the Voice of America, used during the mid and late 40's). Given that the radio work was the first half of Percy Faith's career, I maintain that this very early collection of 45's is not indicative, in any way, of the 25 years that were to follow.
Volume two is an entirely different story! The first 8 tracks, to my jaded ears, are throwaways (more novelty throwaways) but things suddenly change with track 9, Eddie Heywood's RAINFALL performed by the Faith orchestra with Bernie Leighton playing the "hot instrument of the 50's" for Mitch Miller (and Faith at times), the harpsichord. Very good. Track 10 is the first orchestral triumph of the two "Singles" CD's - Dimitri Tiomkin's LAND OF THE PHARAOHS brilliantly arranged and performed by Faith and his orchestra. Some uneven tracks follow, such as "BABY DOLL" which is given a brassy brazen glitzy not-at-all-worth-Faith's time - treatment. What were they thinking? Lyricist Carl Sigman wrote (I guess the music too?) "What's It Like In Paree" (track 16) that is a nice song, nice lyrics, I guess, but my very good sense of pitch won't allow me to listen to the vocal. It reminds me of the Jonathan and Darlene Edwards recordings (Paul Weston and Jo Stafford singing off-key, missing cues, so bad they are fun to listen to, and they were quite successful with their comedy albums).
Now for the good stuff!
THERE IS MAGIC STARTING WITH TRACK 17. Ever watch the movie "Sayonara" and listen to some of the themes by Franz Waxman? Percy does a beautiful rendition of the KATSUMI LOVE THEME, with vocalise and orchestra - and this track is IN STEREO and so are all of the tracks that follow. What a wonderful surprise for a Faith collector, and kudos to Dan Rivard and Alan Bunting for bringing us these tracks in stereo. Percy brings us a very unique arrangement of Johnny Green's NEVER TILL NOW; this is followed by a curious Faith/Sigman composition "previously unreleased" entitled DO I NEED YOU. (I'll leave my description at "curious.")
A Faith original follows, lyrics by Al Stillman, THE STARS. Once again, the flowing Faith sound, mixed chorus, and hearing it now in stereo is just incredible. Next is Faith's first arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's SOMEWHERE, by the full orchestra, six or seven years before the all-string version heard on BROADWAY BOUQUET. I believe Alan Bunting has expressed a preference for this version; I always found it hard to listen to after the wondrous sound of the Faith strings - but I have to admit, part of the dislike I had was that the "Columbia Record Club" version I have (which is in stereo) is a LOUSY RECORDING AND PRESSING. This CD proves that the tapes in the vaults surpass so many things we heard in the Lp days. Next is Bernstein's MARIA (from West Side Story). Three years or so later, Faith recorded this arrangement, basically the same, again for the HOLLYWOOD'S GREAT THEMES album; but there is warmth and more expression in this earlier "single" recording, well worth hearing. Next is THE IMPALA THEME, very nice, I'm not sure if this song has origins in 50's television advertising days... or perhaps it was used by Chevrolet on the "Dinah Shore Chevy Show" - anyone know?
INDISCREET and SAME OLD MOON are orchestra plus male chorus (even a whistling part on SAME OLD MOON) and as usual I believe the choral part is arranged by Ray Charles of Columbia's "Ray Charles Singers." ISLE OF PARADISE is a very nice tune, melody carried by the high strings, answered by flutes. Very much Percy Faith.
The best is saved for last. After years of the distorted 45, here is Faith's brilliant orchestral version of Leroy Anderson's tune from "Goldilocks," THE PYRAMID DANCE, Leroy Anderson wrote brilliant short tunes, three minute symphonies that rattled around in our heads and sold lots of records, and Percy's arrangement is Very Cool Indeed. That I can now enjoy this tune arranged by Percy, in stereo, is worth the price of the entire CD (at the least!) for me.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PERCY FAITH COLLECTION O' SINGLES - Columbia Singles Volume III, 1959-1967
COLLECTABLES - YOU HAVE JUST RELEASED A WONDERFUL Percy Faith CD
! More wonderfuller (technical jargon) than Volumes I and II, in my unhumble opinion, this CD is a must-have - as in imperative - for Faith aficionados. Seriously. Great listening especially for those who never had any Percy Faith 45's - and one bonus of hearing some not only undistorted with clarity now, 30-40 years later, but two, you can hear several of the 45's in stereo for the first time. Third, you'll hear tracks that you have not, no matter how seriously you've collected Faith over the years, ever heard before, and they are superb. Dan Rivard, formerly with Sony, and his peers found some wonderful tapes in the legendary vaults of recorded music - and are sharing them with us in the superb sound of the compact disc.The CD starts out with ADVISE AND CONSENT and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and both have the same overall sound as some of the "first time heard in stereo" tracks I'll mention in a moment, but sadly they're not in stereo. The first theme is beautiful, the second, well, my personal opinion is that the orchestra was too small for this undertaking but the pianist did a noble job that made up for it.
Next is "MELODY FROM MAHOGANNY" - an unusual Kurt Weill tune with no strings. This seemed to be a tune that had Alan Bunting the most intrigued; he knew it existed but neither of us had heard it until perhaps a year ago, when Alan got a mono copy (Columbia just didn't "do" stereo 45's in the ancient 60's). Now we have it undistorted on a CD!!! When I listen to it somehow I'm transported to a small atmospheric cafe or bistro in Europe somewhere, and I've never been to Europe, and I'm probably wrong. YOU listen and tell me where it might be!
LOVE ME NOW - the Percy Faith title for the movie he scored in the early 60's (entitled THE THIRD DAY with George Peppard) is now in brilliant mono. Darn shame it couldn't be in stereo, but after all, Columbia never envisioned Alan Bunting, Dan Rivard, and Jeff James doing a compilation like this in the middle of the first decade of the next century!) It is easily one of Percy Faith's most beautiful compositions, right up there with "Maybe September" from THE OSCAR.
Ah, the stereo breadth is in full force on a sumptuous little tune from "Irma La Douce" - OUR LANGUAGE OF LOVE. All those years I suffered with the 75% distorted mono 45 melt away as I listen to this crystal-clear recording. Truly time-travel.
A little cha-cha-cha follows next, melody begun with the high strings, BIMINI GOOMBAY. Next is TIA JUANA - an important minor-keyed melody left out of JEALOUSY when it was reissued, for space reasons, not a good thing with intact reissues - but now everyone who isn't old enough to have 1960's JEALOUSY embedded in their memories (or record collections) can listen to a track that was on the original album.
KUDOS TO COLLECTABLES!Next is the languorous HAWAIIAN LULLABY. I'm startled at what this brilliant remastering can do for a song. This Faith original was originally issued on a Columbia Record Club album, and I had a terrible stereo copy. It is now a sparkling, beautiful song that Faith wrote that is perfectly titled. The word LUSH is not just for one who drinks too much, it's an excellent descriptor of music that is rich and lovely.
Kurt Weill returns, with a completely different sort of melody, the "Bilbao Song." I'm too lazy to get my 45's but the liner calls it "Bibao" but that's a typo. Percy then returns, with those wonderful open piano chords and strings, for his original "Lover's Prelude." It's a noble composition, that like the others in this collection, were too good to be kept from us by the machinations of the marketing machine of Columbia in the early 60's. Yes, it was another distortion-fest on a mono 45, but now reveals full fidelity.
Percy recorded a few Harry Warren songs, and from "THE LAST TIME I SAW ARCHIE" we have a gentle rock beat (rock - where would we be without it .... ) The jewel case lists it as a "medley" - At Last and Angel Face, but I hear only one song. I don't know the material at all, so someone who knows this please correct me (or the liner notes).
Percy wrote another "gentle" rock-influenced tune, "The Brass Ring" which has a structure of descending chord sequences and the insistent rock beat. At least Percy didn't have to endure the anti-melody forms of music that jam our radio dials in the 21st century...
The next three tunes hail from BOUQUET OF LOVE - Collectables left them out of the original reissue due to space limitations; and happily we now have all tracks from this sumptuous all-strings album - essential Faith, Faith in LA instead of NYC. Even the microphones seemed more laid-back as contrasted to "Bouquet." Strong thanks and applause to COLLECTABLES for once again correcting the omissions; our collections are now much richer for it! Collectors rejoice!
JACQUELINE'S JOURNEY follows, from the JFK presidential era, in clean stereo after grating my ears for so many years in high distortion mono. If you ever lose your place and begin to wonder how far back in time we are traveling with Percy's music, well, this is kind of mid-point for the Columbia series, either 1961 or 1962, and this Faith original novelty tune went along with a trip Jackie took to some exotic lands. Yes, luxurious stereo - clean as can be, from over 40 years ago.
PERPETUAL NOTION - Faith-o-philes will recognize this title - it was a great Faith original with a huge sound from 1949's RCA extended play set (but strangely excluded from the companion 12" Lp, RCA's "SOFT LIGHTS AND SWEET MUSIC)." Now fifty plus years later, Percy added a touch of syncopation to his original, and the saxophone part strikes me as almost overboard in expression... be careful if you're watching your sugar intake... but this is an incredible track that was somehow shelved and never released.
I think it would not be unreasonable to have everyone send Collectables twice their 2007 taxes as a big thank-you to Collectables (JUST KIDDING!!!) - but as much as I kid thee - what they have done for us is priceless.Could Percy write for elephants and chimpanzees? Of course he could. THE ELEPHANT AND THE CHIMP had been recorded in Monaco for the CBS-Television show "A Look At Monaco" but in mono only (even the Monaco soundtrack, a real soundtrack, was in mono, this was a television special, not a movie, and as an Lp was mono (or fake stereo) even though it post-dated the transition to stereo. As I've said elsewhere, I saw pictures of a Nagra mono tape recorder on the set, and though it is a good recording, it's bested by this stereo LA studio version with Percy's own orchestra and therefore a bit more expression; a window to how great Percy could have been scoring for Hollywood... though he wasn't in the right place at the right time to do so.
THE SOUND OF SURF - another distorted 45, a wonderful "youthful" sixties melody written by Charles Albertine; and now presented in the precision sound of the CD, in stereo. Just before I stopped playing and selling pianos and organs, this was a favorite thing to play (also played "my" pathetic version, taking all of Percy's phrasing and countermelodies when I could manage it) for mall shoppers to attract people into the store. All I ever knew of was that wretched 45, little did I know decades later I'd have it in crystal-clear stereo sound.
LA BAMBA - I'm sure everyone covered this Richie Valens hit. I'm not enamored of the repetitive structure of the melody, but Percy did his best. This has never been heard before this CD; perhaps time will bring me around.
WHO'S AFRAID? - This one song gave me chills... how could it have never been released? It's the theme to "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" that was a splendid, intense look at American marriage in the mid 60's, portrayed in unforgettable performances by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Alex North, the composer, used extreme restraint in this delicate theme, perhaps in contrast to the all-out bitchfest between Liz and Richard and their captive audience - a movie where vocal cords are given much use but music has a small, gentle, careful role... and it's perfect. Percy Faith, as he so often did, captured the classical guitar-inspired nuances of North's lovely song.
I'd have bought this CD just for this.STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT - Is there any song that has been covered as much as this one? I dunno, but Percy gives it a nice relaxed treatment, a rhumba beat (I think?) and it's amazing again, that we hear this for the first time, so many thanks are due, again, to the crew that produced this collection.
THERE WAS A TIME concludes this collection, a Carl Sigman/Percy Faith collaboration, words sung by the female Percy Faith chorus. A trumpet that has been influenced by the great Bobby Hackett; the liner notes give no clue as to the artist/soloist's name is featured prominently. Percy never lacked for ideas; solo trumpet, female chorus... unusual but it worked. 1967 was a turbulent time but the masters of the music we love brought us much joy in spite of the rock incursion.
