Entertainment For Lively Minds
Easy Listening Friday
Posted by David Wright on 1 July 2011 - 12:36pm.
As we wind down for the weekend, let's have your easy listening favourites.
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Dum dum dum dum dubba dubba da etc
He may be dressed like a giant Tampax
but Andy Williams is the King of Easy Listening in my book.
It's So Easy...
Ahem..
What's the difference between the James Last Orchestra and a cow?
One has the horns at the front and the arsehole at the back....
Try the veal, I'm here all week etc
Ready for a bit of Korla Pandit?
Musical bath salts!
"From Here To Eternity" - Engelbert Humperdinck
Generally I'm a Matt Monro kinda guy, but on a sunny summer's day I like this song too:
Sorry about that Stereo
(pronounced Steer-ee-o) comment, but how about some Matt Munro
and Anakelly's version of Under My Thumb
Couple that I still love
Strange Report
and the even more wonderful Riviera Affair
though I like the possibly rather NSFW mashup
at [] as well
Bebel Gilberto
Simplesmente
I love the opening piano motif and the way the song builds up. It's a really beautiful melody as well.
Nat King Cole - Nature Boy
This is one of those songs that defies categorisation even though its arrangement is cut from the easy listening cloth. Its lyrics are genuinely strange. I've sometimes thought that it's a song that Nick Drake could have written even though it's from a different time and place, it has that other-worldly quality like his own music and the lyrics have an 'out of step with the world' poignancy akin to Man In A Shed
Compare and contrast
David Bowie sings Nature Boy. From the film Moulin Rouge.
And the definitive version of Stardust by Nat 'King' Cole - who could better this?
This version...
...by Matt Monro doesn't better Nat's, but it gives it a good run for its money.
On the one hand, it lack the verse, but on the other, the entry of Matt's voice is stunning.
Nat and Matt
were both heavy smokers which contributed to their vocal characteristics but they both paid the ultimate price. In fact Matt Monro was invited to take Nat's place on the Capitol label in America when Nat died. Matt was also a heavy drinker which contributed to his early demise in 1985.
Nat Cole
A Masterpiece.
Sunny
What else can it be ?
Groovy kids, just groovy.
Coooooool.
and in a not dissimilar vein
would you like to ride in Nancy's balloon
Nat
Hiked a hundred highways, never found a home
The original release by Peter Noone
or as he was known in America - Peter No One
That ain't easy listening
- that's genocide.
Hence Howard Jones's polemic single
Noone Is To Blame.
(Coat)
There's few that can stand comparison with the Horstmeister
I can see I can come out
don my light cardigan and slacks, and admit to liking quite a bit of this stuff, for reasons very similar to those I gave in Mensi's thread where the Seekers came up---something about judgements made long before anyone else's muisical opinion counted much.
I only have a couple of compilations though--two ovrerlapping ones from the Lounge boom of the mid 90s:
and
any other good ones out there, O Massive ?
The best 'and Friends...' album - ever!
Is good too though I reckons its more Radio 2 than Vegas (from the days when Radio 1 went off the air half the day and 2 was all you got) - and nothing wrong with that either. The JY Prog, Pete Murray, 'Waggoner's Walk' etc - oh god I am just about to drown in nostalgia for childhood traffic jams on holiday trips
Modern day easy listening
As I typed the phrase above I found I had used it before on an earlier thread
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/easy-listening-0
Certainly not a criticism - I cannot get enough Easy Listening - but a pointer to more gems of the genre, old and new. I have a host of websites bookmarked where I like to lounge for an hour or two. Here is just one link:
http://xtabaysworld.blogspot.com/
James Last - Silver Machine
Tom Jones
Cheesy as a really ripe Stilton and all the better for it, in my opinion.
The Country Ballad taken to the outer limits. A truly monumental performance.
I love that three-note string motif too.
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again".