Blimey!

[wayne]

Well, swung by one of my favourite slightly 'off the beaten track' charities yesterday lunchtime, and they'd got abot 25 record cases stuffed with Easy LPs (two apiece just of Herr Last and Evil Klaus alone) and a notice pricing everything at 25p per LP, or a record case containing 40 LPs for a fiver...

So I knuckles down, gets sorting, and half an hour later lug this little lot home. Anyone able to highlight good 'uns amid 'the rest' that I might miss on a quick tracking would be saving me from a possible death by cheesy string overload...

Anyway, after a very long session last night, here's the final tally...

The Best!

DON TRACY: A Night With The Voodoo Family (Studio Two) [superb UK exotica/percussion set - kind of Sabu Martinez style]
THE SHANGAANS: Jungle Drums (Studio Two) [South African outfit covers Arthur Lyman, Bert Kaempfert etc with killer percussive title track]
VARIOUS: Pop Party (Polydor 3 LP set, including Fairport Convention, Blossom Toes, Arthur Brown, Amboy Dukes etc etc - unusual selection for this kind of set??]
THE VENTURES: On Stage (Liberty)
THE VENTURES: More Golden Greats (Liberty)
THE BAROQUE BRASS: The Baroque Brass (Fontana Living Presence)
HARRY SOUTH STEREO BRASS: Say No More (Fontana Living Presence)
NOEL TREVLAC: The Tremendous Trumpet Of Noel Trevlac (Studio Two)
ROBERTO DELGADO/RAY RIVERA: Brasilian Dancing (Polydor) ['Happy Laffer']
JACK EMBLOW: Accordeon Fire! (Studio Two) [some amazing cuts on here - love the spy jazz of 'Man On The Run'...]
RAY McVAY ORCHESTRA: Showcase (Fontana) [Mission Impossible, Department S, Light My Fire 'Come Dancing' style...]
BUTTON DOWN BRASS: CopsÂ’nÂ’Robbers (DJM) [Charlie's Angels, Harry O, Future Cop, Cops'n'Robbers etc. Shame about the singer in (blessedly few) places, though!]
JOHNNY KEATING BAND: Swing Revisited (Phase 4) [Tubby Hayes, Jim Sullivan, Ronnie Verrall & co in a 1963 UK jazz session with crowd noises that sound faked, but the sleeve insists are real]
VARIOUS: Stereo Sound Showcase Volume 2 (Philips) [includes a very nice Button Down Brass version of ‘Klute’ - where did that come from?]
PETE SMITH & ORCHESTRA: The Very-Hot-For-May Sound OfÂ… (Fontana) [the best of the Pete Smith bunch - some very nice cuts!]

The Rest!

THE TATTOOS: Pops Go Trumpet (Telefunken) [bizarre speeded up Tijuana brass with occasional garage band organ...just downright peculiar]
FRANK BARBER PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE: SwinginÂ’ Percussion (Studio Two)
EDMUNDO ROS: Edmundo Ros Today! (Phase 4) [definite 'oof!' factor in places, but also a decent Deodato style run through 'Sunny']
VARIOUS: Easy Together (Polydor) [inc hilarious Sammy Davis jnr ‘John Shaft’]
CHRIS PARMINTER ORCHESTRA: Brasiliana (Polydor)
BUTTON DOWN BRASS: Best OfÂ… (Fontana Living Presence)
BUTTON DOWN BRASS: …featuring the ‘Funky’ Trumpet of Ray Davies (Fontana Living Presence)
ROLAND SHAW ORCHESTRA: Mexico! (Phase 4)
LONDON POPS ORCHESTRA: John MacLeod PresentsÂ…Hits Philharmonic (Pye) [Orchestral takes on all the usuals - 'Wichita Lineman', 'Aquarius' etc]
JAMES LAST: Voodoo Party (Polydor)
JAMES LAST: Well Kept Secret (Polydor)
RAY McVAY BAND: S/T (Transatlantic) [what on earth is Ray McVay doing on Transatlantic?? Apart from ‘Ma-nah-ma-nah’ & 'Dancing Queen', that is…]
AUGUSTO ALGUERO ORCHESTRA: Sounds Spectacular (Polydor)
TILSLEY ORCHESTRAL: Top TV Themes (Fontana)
PETE SMITH ORCHESTRA & REG TILSLEY: Portrait Of Bob Dylan (Fontana Living Presence)
PETE SMITH & ORCHSTRA: Great Songs Of Irving Berlin (Fontana Living Presence)
PETE SMITH & ORCHESTRA: Neapolitan Nights (Fontana Living Presence)
VARIOUS: Living Presence Stereo Sampler (Fontana Living Presence)
THE COFFEE SET: Say It With Music (Fontana Living Presence)
LONDON BALALAIKA ENSEMBLE: Songs & Dances Of Russia (Fontana Living Presence)
STEVE GRAY & ORCHESTRA: A Woman In Love (Fontana Living Presence)
HARRY JAMES: The Golden Trumpet OfÂ… (Phase 4)
JOHN ROWLES: John Rowles (MCA) [Mike Leander ProductionÂ…very Tom Jones set of 60s pop]
KLAUS WUNDERLICH: Sound 2000 – Moog (Telefunken)
CHAQUITO & ORCHESTRA: Latin Favourites (Fontana)
CHAQUITO & ORCHESTRA: Magic (Philips)
JACINTO GATICA & MEXICAN FOLKLORE: Bravo Veracruz! (Polydor)
WESTLAND STEEL BAND: Sound Of The Sun (Polydor)
ROBERTO DELGADO & ORCHESTRA: The Peanut Vendor (Polydor)
50 GUITARS OF TOMMY GARRETT: In A Brazilian Mood (Liberty)
PETE CALLEY: Hammond Spectacular (Polydor 3 LP set) [“demonstrating the amazing sound of X66 – the greatest Hammond Organ ever built…”, but with a rather unpromising selection of tunes…]
JORGE COSTA PINTO ORCHESTRA: The Wonderful Sound OfÂ… (Fontana)
CLEBANOFF & HIS ORCHESTRA: Lush Latin & Bossa Nova Too! (Fontana)
ALAN TEW ORCHESTRA: Love Me Tender (Embassy)
VARIOUS: 100% Typique – El Castellanos/La Playa Sextet/Sonny Rossi (Festival) [2xLP – ‘mambo, merengue, cha-cha-cha’]
BEE-GEES: Spirits Having Flown (RSO picture disc)
ARTHUR FELDER & BOSTON POPS: Saturday Night Felder (Midsong) [utterly ludicrous sleeveÂ…Fielder, aged 90 or whatever, throwing Travolta poses in a white suit, with his baton...]
BBC SOUND EFFECTS – Volume 3 (BBC)
BBC SOUND EFFECTS – Volume 4 (BBC)

I'm guessing that thing I said about the last trades list for awhile might not be very strictly correct.

[buddah]

I really like that Clebanoff Bossa Nova Album. I sampled it once and it worked wonders...

[Lord Thames]

The Chris Parmenter has a quite interesting John Fiddy arranged 'La Bamba', and a cover of James Clarke's 'A Man Of Our Times', (theme from the TV series of the same name and a KPM library piece to boot&#33

The Tattoos had special trumpets with two horns (oo-er) to give them a 'double brass' sound, apparently.

I like 'Wives and Lovers' on the Steve Gray LP - great jazz solo in the middle from Steve.

Actually, Wayne, I want most of these LPs - I'm dead jealous, I haven't had a big score like that for years!

[dr kraken]

Quote[/b] (wayne @ May 20 2004,12:54)]AUGUSTO ALGUERO ORCHESTRA: Sounds Spectacular (Polydor)

Is there nothing good on this?

Augusto is the man behind Bocaccio Soul on The A to Z of Easy Listening.

I think he only ever made about 3 albums (lord T?). I've never seen one in the wild.

[bongolia]

'Bocaccio Soul' is on the 'Hey Jude' LP which i found the other week (only one of his i've ever seen in a charity). i think a Sounds Spectacular went for about 25 quid on Ebay a couple of years ago

[Lord Thames]

Quote[/b] (dr kraken @ May 21 2004,10:09)]

Quote[/b] (wayne @ May 20 2004,12:54)]AUGUSTO ALGUERO ORCHESTRA: Sounds Spectacular (Polydor)

Is there nothing good on this?

Augusto is the man behind Bocaccio Soul on The A to Z of Easy Listening.

I think he only ever made about 3 albums (lord T?). I've never seen one in the wild.

'Sounds Spectacular' is the only one I've got, though there are a couple of others - not that I ever see 'em. I do like his version of 'I Say A Little Prayer', and there's a great original called 'Gran Premio' which should be the theme tune to some mad 1960s Italian silent comedy!

Got a great Spanish vocal version of 'Bocaccio Soul' last week on some 70s Spanish comp - it's from a film, apparently. Probably rather a dubious one.........

[wayne]

Cheers for the tips - that Steve Gray 'Wives & Lovers' is indeed very nice, and the Clebanoff 'Bossa Nova' LP and the Fiddy 'La Bamba' on 'Brasiliana' are decent stuff too. I'd have to say the Alguero has nothing on it that really leaps out in the way 'Boccaccio Soul' does on the earlier LP, though - a fair lounge-latin set, which has its moments, but a bit too easy overall for my taste, anyway. It'll probably end up on a trades list sooner or later if anyone's after it...

Working through them all (still) and actually doubled the amount to listen to by nipping back to pick up another box on Saturday morning (hey, the case and the 40 PVC LP sleeves were worth a fiver&#33 and found a couple more interesting bits. A Button Down Brass 'Barbecue Party' set of Western Themes with a nice rhodes version of 'The Virginian', a Mike Wofford 'Instrumental Hits Of The Seventies' on Capitol with stuff like 'Love's Theme' but at least one superb break-laden cut called 'Time Rhyme' and - biggest surprise of the lot - a sort of Nana Mouskouri-esque LP by Vicky Leandros with a superb take on 'The Letter' on it.

Oh, and (in a different deal) I seem to have accidentally acquired about 40 James Last LPs (&#33. One of which has a nifty run through of the 'Theme From SWAT' on it, another a very decent version of 'Here Comes The Sun'. But if anyone desparately needs to plug gaps in their 'Non Stop Dancing'/'Hammond A Go Go' or general cheese-meister collections, lemme know what you need! I'm not sure I can really explain myself, but it involved a box with several LPs I wanted in it, and a bloke at a market looking to minimise his car boot contents on the homeward trip.

Hence, a Last mountain looking to be re-homed...

           

[Lord Thames]

Lemme know which Lasts you need to get rid of......

[LDJB]

Quote[/b] ]One of which has a nifty run through of the 'Theme From SWAT' on it

Which Last LP is that on? Never come accross it by Mr Last before!

Top haulage by the way.

[wayne]

The ‘SWAT’ is on Non Stop Dancing 1976 Volume 2 & it’s a pretty good version, albeit lodged at the front of a medley, which segues it into ‘Get Up And Boogie’. About a good minute and a half of the theme, though, so not bad at all, really...

‘Hair’ buffs might also want to check the Aquarius/ Sunshine/ Hare Krishna’ medley closing out side one of Non Stop Dancing Volume 9, too…the same LP has variably listenable versions of ‘Honky Tonk Women’, ‘Everyday People’, ‘In The Ghetto’, ’25 Miles/In The Year 2525’, ‘Bad Moon Rising’, ‘Give Peace A Chance’ and ‘Je T’aime…’ among others, too. Possibly one of the more consistent ‘non stops’ I've heard, actually, though that's not really VERY consistent, is it?

The good ‘Here Comes The Sun’ is on what looks like a US issue set called ‘Music From Across The Way’, which also has the bizarre aural spectacle of Last’s take on Lennon’s ‘Power To The People’.

Lord Thames (or anybody else) – if you want any of these below let me know and I’ll weigh ‘em for postage for you. Don’t be shy…

Non Stop Dancing – 12, 14, 11, 19, 16, 1973 Vol.2, 18, 1970
Live Selections from World Tour Programme (with Shaft/Greensleeves)
Happy Summer Night
Beachparty (Happy Brasilia one)
Rock Me Gently – Great Canadian Songwriters
Beat In Sweet
Very Best Of James Last (Aquarius from the Hair Lp on here)
An Evening Out With James Last (Let The Sunshine & AinÂ’t Got No on here)
Copacabana
World Hits: Disco
Trumpet a Go Go
In The Mood For Trumpets
Sax a Go Go
Golden Memories
Violins In Love
Happy Lehar
KaptÂ’n James auf allen Meeren
Happy Hammond
Hammond a Go Go Vol 1
Hammond a Go Go Vol 2
In Russia
Polka Party
Â…plays Robert Stolz
Roses From the South
James Last Album
Non Stop Evergreens
In Concert Vol.2
Christmas & James Last
Midnight In December
Non Stop Dancing (1920s sleeve)

PleaseÂ…take them away now. IÂ’m starting to see multiple beards when I close my eyesÂ…

[wayne]

Yikes! Must be bad if there's nothing Lord Thames wants...

OK, off for my lunchbreak, and is heading out with me, to the Sally Army, where he'll hopefully be distributed among the local pensioners for 10p a pop...

Have to say, Mr Last's quality control wasn't good, was it? Out of 40 LPs quickly checked, there's actual goodness on 4. And those are all one-trackers...

In one case, a one-third of a tracker.

Bit rubbish, really, wasn't he?

[Lord Thames]

Quote[/b] (wayne @ May 26 2004,12:49)]Yikes! Must be bad if there's nothing Lord Thames wants...

It's not that - it's just I've got most of 'em already!  

I've got a special James Last shelf at home, where all the bearded wonder's LPs can hang out free from interference from other artists, like that upstart Kaempfert.....

If there's anything from that other list you want to get shot of, let me know!