Almost off to work, but before I go, I must share with you all a BREATHTAKING DISCOVERY which will be of UTMOST IMPORTANCE to VIRTUALLY NONE of you. Two of the CDs I bought yesterday whilst out with BK were cool "Ultralounge" compilations from the Capitol series of Bachelor Pad music. I got these because I really had never listened to any of the standalone Capitol releases and these both had very cool, plush covers--one is faux leopardskin (at least I hope it's faux) and the other is a sort of Tiki Room Bamboo. So anyway, I was listening to one of them this morning and on came "Summer Samba," and it sounded almost exactly like Walter Wanderley's version. Almost. But the inlay card said it was Billy May. Hmmmm. Then I went upstairs and put on the other volume and on came "The Look of Love" and it was exactly like Burt Bacharach's instrumental version. Billy May again. And then it dawned on me:
Here's the BREATHTAKING PART:
In the 1970s Time-Life Records had an overwhelming success with their LP series (later released on CD) called "The Swing Era," where they "recreated" Big Band hits in "modern, pristine stereo" sound. This was a great series (I had it on LP and I have it on CD), with many of the original players recreating their first versions. Billy May had done these recreations previously and T-L licensed a lot of his previously released stuff as well as recording new stuff. Time-Life unwisely (IMHO) followed up this series with another "recreation" series called "As You Remember Them," which did pop hits from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s in "new" versions. Billy May was back on board doing a bunch of new sessions. These Ultralounge things obviously include cuts from that series.
With regard to "As You Remember Them," while the instrumental "recreations" were usually pretty good, the vocal "recreations" were abysmal. I still remember cringing at their "recreation" of Brasil '66, which featured two sopranos who sounded about 15 (IIRC it was a mother and daughter pair). Lani Hall is an alto. Lordy, lordy.