Shadows in latin

[wayne]

Ok, I'm sure I'm late coming to this one, but a little dig in Rob's yesterday netted a studio 2 gem from 1965 featuring Norrie Paramor doing Latin covers of Shadows tracks...and, by god, it doesn't half groove. The Rise & Fall Of Flingel Bunt is a now sound monster, with hammond, drums, horns & percussion all going beserk & the ultra-dull Apache is kitted out with the same plus tubular bells...Ok, it gets a bit cheesy in places, but I'm finding myself listening to this one all the way through...

Two questions, though: 1) who is playing hammond on this set (surely Norrie's orchestra didn't bring its own? they must've traded all the strings for one...is it Pearson?) and 2) apart from this and 'Law Beat', are there any other groovy/funky Paramor LPs out there to discover? To be getting this groovy this early must mean there wasn't a full 9 year gap between good LPs...surely?

[bongolia]

you know Paramor was the Shadows' producer? (not sure whether this or George Martin's Beatles covers albums came first...)
the other Paramor records i have are just standard late 50s/early 60s UK latin/light orchestral fare...
he was one of the directors of EMI - so could have just been the normal studio musicians rather than 'his' touring orchestra. he's also the man behind the Big Ben Banjo Band and the Big Ben Hawaiian Band

[Lord Thames]

Without having heard the LP, my guess as to the mystery organist is it could be Howard Blake. I say this because Norrie's son David produced Howard's Studio 2 LPs which came out at around the same time, and the sleeve notes suggest he was discovered in a club by a top A&R man, which was Norrie's job at Columbia at the time.

I generally rate Norrie's stuff very highly - my dad bought his version of the theme from 'Z-Cars' which was one of the records that really got me into vinyl collecting in a big way (and also inspired me to take up playing the drums, but that's another story.....) - it's a straight military band type version but it really struck a chord with me aged 10!

I personally like his Pye stuff, especially the LP 'Temptation', which has a nice track 'Brum Brum', and good versions of 'The Savage' and 'Egyptian Reggae' (&#33.

But I think his best output is the stuff he did with the BBC Midland Radio Orchestra. He had some top arrangers working with him at the time, including Nick Ingman and Bernard Ebbinghouse.

To be honest, apart from 'Law Beat', a lot of his stuff is far too stringy for the people here, but they'll do for me!

[Matt Hero]

...and you can certainlly buy many worse Lps that Howard Blake's LPs for Studio2Stereo..... don't sleep on them for sure.

Norrie ended up at head A&R production honcho for the Columbia label (basically there was him there, George Martin at Parlophone, Wally Ridley at HMV and Norman Newell who worked for all of them - all the inprints of the EMI organisation) where his first assistant was one John Schroeder. Indeed, JS's first solo production was when Norrie just didn't show up for a session and he ended up having to run it alone... (Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson's 'Sing Little Birdy', a Eurovision entry fact fans).

With luck, there should be more on all this in the next issue of 'Grand Slam' magazine.

[Lord Thames]

Damn right about Howard Blake - amazing to think that just twenty years later he gave us 'Walking In The Air' from 'The Snowman'.
Ah well....

[ladyboygrimsby]

Quote[/b] (Matt Hero @ 15 May 2003,22:48)]Indeed, JS's first solo production was when Norrie just didn't show up for a session and he ended up having to run it alone... (Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson's 'Sing Little Birdy', a Eurovision entry fact fans).

What's more, 'Sing Little birdy' was the answer to a question in the Communist Quiz on Mont Python's Flying Circus (Mae Tse Tung answered correctly, as I recall).

[wayne]

Well, I thought of Pearson because there are some tracks with piano, but most on hammond...a kind of inverse version of the Sounds Orchestral stuff, but a lot livelier.

Howard Blake sounds like a name to be looking out for anyway (though I've not found any so far - pretty much anything even remotely promising on Studio 2 I'll have a go at! Any titles to be running searches on, anyone?). Knew the name rang a bell from 80s film & TV, but didn't know he went back that far... If it is him playing on Flingel Bunt, he's bloody good! The Snowman must be another of those Hawkshaw-does-Clive Dunn moments we all know & love.

As for Norrie's own stuff, I've no aversion to strings - it's what you do with them that counts! Thanks for the info, & I can definitely recommend that anyone spotting 'Shadows In Latin' by Norrie Paramor & His Orchestra (Studio 2, 1965) should snap it up: I didn't think Hank Marvin & Bruce Welch's tunes could get that groovy till I heard them doing it with my own ears...

[chrisvulture]

having recently picked up the 'Shads in Latin' Lp, i'm with Wayne all the way on this one! Flingel Bunt is a killer track!!!! as for other norrie stuff, there is a trio of LP's on BBC with the Midland Radio Orch that each have at least one nice 'un...

what's the juice on Howard Blake then Matt?? which ones??

talking of killer 'early' studio2stereo album's...by chance i picked up 'Chico' by chico Arnez (who else)...'One Mint Julip' is utterly sublime!!!!

must update that Studio2Stereo page soon...

[sermad]

excellent call chris. 'chico' is a very solid record.

Has barbara moore on vocals too.

Sadly I traded mine (I wasn't into easy latin at the time) and now I'm trying to get one back - Shame its now been 'discovered' for a while and its $$$.

gutted.

[Matt Hero]

Quote[/b] (chrisvulture @ 16 May 2003,09:59)]what's the juice on Howard Blake then Matt?? which ones??

'That Hammond Sound' & 'Hammond In Percussion' are the two that I have and each has a single Blake composed track that should to the business - 'Scorpio' (no, not that one) & 'The Shark'.

Indeed, if I come across LPs - especially hmmond ones from that period - and they have even a single track which is artist composed, I generally pick them up. I've found many a good track that way.

On an similar note, can anybody recommend any good Sounds Bob Rogers or Ted Taylor Four LPs (apart from 'Hymns A Swinging) ?

[wayne]

On a related subject, there's a pretty good version of 'Music To Watch Girls By' on Hammond & The Golden Hits featuring Hammond Organ & Percussion (Fontana, 1969) but the organist isn't credited anywhere on it...The 'Eleanor Rigby' & 'Georgy Girl' just about pass muster as well, but the percussion gets a bit like a clockwork bunny for most of the LP. As for 'early' studio 2, I'm personally a big fan of the Frank Barber percussion LPs, too: 'Way Out In 3' on 'Percussion In Colour' is the killer, but if you're not averse to a bit of cheesy exotica the whole deal is pretty good in a sort of 'Sex & THe City' meets Martin Denny/Cal Tjader sort of way...

And I saw the Don Reeve 'Hammond Round The World' yesterday, too, and thanks to advice on here left it where it was ("with extreme prejudice", I recall the advice being). So thanks, Matt or Rich, for saving me that 50p!

[Lord Thames]

I'm pretty sure 'Hammond and the Golden Hits' is by Tony Back (with Baron Gocher on percussion) - compare it with the excellent Ad-Rhythm LP 'Hammond Hits Back' and you'll see what I mean.

Ted Taylor Four - Only one I've got is 'In A Midnight Mood' on Davjon - as you might expect from the title, it's slow easy stuff.

Sounds Bob Rogers - once again, just the one that I've got, 'I Hear Sounds' on CBS. Quite jazzy with lots of close harmony vocals and a track written by Ron Grainer. There's an album they did live at a Haven holiday camp which I saw many years ago and didn't buy - have I missed out?

[Matt Hero]

Quote[/b] (Lord Thames @ 16 May 2003,12:44)]Sounds Bob Rogers - once again, just the one that I've got, 'I Hear Sounds' on CBS. Quite jazzy with lots of close harmony vocals and a track written by Ron Grainer. There's an album they did live at a Haven holiday camp which I saw many years ago and didn't buy - have I missed out?

Indeed you have missed out, there is a *very* nice hammond instrumental on there. In fact the CBS LP (which I'm guessing was their debut ?) and the subsequent LP on Davjon have a very different 'feel' to the latter Lps like the 'Haven Coombe Sands' LP or the other one I have recorded for Chapter One (with two nice Rogers originals on it), much less on the vocal chorus and more on the instrumental side.

So what's the deal with Davjon ? Not a label I see much on... is the Sammes / Taylor set the only one that really has that funky feel ?

[son of stan]

[QUOTE=[b]Quote[/b] (Matt Hero @ 16 May 2003,12:54)]

Sounds Bob Rogers
Indeed you have missed out, there is a *very* nice hammond instrumental on there.

This track's called "Meadowbank".

I got another LP by SBR the other week. Can't remember what its called. The cover is a close up photo of an eye. THe music is bobbins.

[Lord Thames]

Dammit! I'm cross I missed that Bob Rogers LP now. I've passed up on the Chapter 1 one as well before - even a signed copy! All I can say is I wasn't really buying local cabaret band LPs at the time - something I've more than made up for now!

By the way, speaking of local albums (and this is sort of on-topic too) there's an excellent Hammond version of 'Flingel Bunt' on a self-produced LP by 'The New Trinity From Coventry' on Met-tel-ford records - the rest of the LP doesn't really measure up, but this track is great. Try finding another copy of it though......

Davjon - the only other LP on Davjon I've found is 'Hammond A La Latin' by Paul Dubois, which should appeal if you like the Ad-Rhythm label (I think it's actually one of their recordings). I bet the label was founded by two people called Dave and Jon......