Sunday, February 19, 2023

Instrumental Performances of the Same Exciting Vocal Versions--Johnny Arthey Orch. (Mercury SR 60996; 1965)



Hard to believe that Instrumental Performances of the Same Exciting Vocal Versions wasn't the result of a contest to find the dumbest album title yet released.  Maybe it was.  I mean, for sheer awkwardness, it's impossible to top.  I can see someone using it as a working title, to be replaced by a more graceful version.  Maybe that was the plan, and it never happened.  Who knows?

("You're calling my album what??"--Johnny Arthey)

Luckily, the music is way better.  Johnny Arthey was the real deal: An arranger for Petula Clark, Mary Hopkin, Jonathan King, Julie Rogers, Engelbert Humperdinck, and others.  Hence, these instrumental performances (of the same, blah blah blah) sound authentic.  Expert arrangements all--they occupy a fascinating place between easy listening and Top 40 rock and roll.  Typical instrumental pop of the period, but without any blunting of the r&r effect.  I Feel Fine is just one example of an excellent rocker that loses none of its edge when arranged for orchestra.  A miracle of an LP, really.

However, I have to say that during the editing process, these tracks lost much of their appeal.  Something to do with working with sections of selections--much of the impact is lost.  On the other hand, now you don't have to listen to the occasional surface glitches.  These sound way better without them.  But the editing part can get tedious, even when the material is fine, as here.

Proof that there's "no free lunch."  No, wait--that doesn't apply here.  Sorry.

Just an outstanding selection of top "English" hits of 1964: Wishin' and Hopin' (Bacharach-David), Time Is on My Side (N. Meade), You Really Got Me (Ray Davies), Bits and Pieces (Clark-Smith), and the "McCartney-Lennon" World Without Love, From a Window, and the "Lennon-McCartney" I Feel Fine.  I'm guessing that the name order is correct on the John and Paul numbers, since the first two (for Peter and Gordon and Billy J. Kramer) sound like McCartney numbers, while I Feel Fine is very Lennon-esque.  Or maybe someone in the credits department screwed up.  Anyway, as much as I love I Feel Fine, my favorite of the John/Paul numbers is probably the incredibly charming From a Window, which of course is one of the songs the Beatles "gave away."  Meanwhile, How Do You Do It was initially favored by George Martin for the Beatles' first single release, but I forgot why it wasn't.  (Love Me Do won out.)  And How Do You Do It became a hit for Gerry and the Pacemakers, of course.  

Decent liner notes, for once: "The music speaks for itself in an effervescent and exacting way."  I'll buy that.  Fine Mercury stereo, to boot.  I'd still like to know who approved that album title, and why.


DOWNLOAD: Johnny Arthey Orch.--Instrumental Performances, etc., 1965

Wishin' and Hopin'

My Boy Lollipop

The Wedding

Time Is on My Side

You Really Got Me

Bits and Pieces

World Without Love

How Do You Do It

From a Window

Do Wah Diddy Diddy

Needles and Pins

I Feel Fine


Mercury SR-60996, 1965


Lee

13 comments:

Ernie said...

Yeah, that's a pretty crummy "We don't care at all" title. And it was always Lennon-McCartney until more recently. I think McCartney reversed it on one of his live albums and Yoko went crazy. Pretty sure it went back to normal soon after that. Been reading a book lately about the last days of The Beatles, and they talk a little about trying to get out of the their agreement to publish all their songs as Lennon-McCartney. Must have been hard to do as the early Lennon solo stuff still says Lennon-McCartney on it. Thanks for another great record, Lee.

RonH said...

Very nice. Thanks

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Ernie,

My pleasure. And it intrigues me to think that the "McCartney-Lennon" credits on this LP could reflect the knowledge, on the part of Mercury, that those songs were Paul songs. But, probably not. I imagine a typo is the more probable explanation, since, as you note, it was always "Lennon-McCartney." And I believe I've read that, in most cases, John and Paul collaborated to some extent, even if that consisted of John advising Paul to modify a portion of a Paul song, or "We need a stronger bass line here."

RonH,

Glad you enjoyed. I have a similar LP coming up--instrumental versions of current hits (from approx. the same period), though more easy-listening in character. But all very well done.

musicman1979 said...

Your copy is Stereo! My version was Mono with the exact same Mercury label design. I will have to re-listen to this record to see if they are any standouts. When I had this record in my collection, I had high expectations yet overall was unimpressed, especially since I look for these types of albums in my record hunts.

This record was probabaly Mercury's response to Capitol Records' wildly successful Hollyridge Strings Beatles Song Book albums. Looking forward to checking this album out again. Thanks for uploading.

Lee Hartsfeld said...

musicman1979,

Sure! Interesting observation re Hollyridge Strings. You probably know that Capitol also put out some LPs of (alleged) backing tracks to current hits. As if to suggest that a buyer was hearing the originals, minus the vocal tracks. I had two or three of those, and I found them uninteresting, and I parted with them. Now I wish I hadn't, but that will happen...

musicman1979 said...

1960's version of Karoke! Dot tried a similar concept with an album I have read about but have not found a copy of in my record hunts titled Sing Along Without Pat Boone.

Timmy said...

You just keep unearthing them! Thanx..........

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Timmy,

And another coming up of a similar type!

Diane said...

Cool stuff. I even sort of love the horrible-ness of the title. (I'm weird.)

Lee Hartsfeld said...

Diane,

I sort of like it, too. It's like a syntactic disaster.

musicman1979 said...

First off, the title: You would expect a cheapo operation like Crown to come up with a title like this, not a big-time major like Mercury. Of course, they did cater to the rack-jobbers, like the Original Twisters offering you posted at this time last year.

Re-listening to this album all these years later makes me understand why I purged this album a few years ago. There are a handful of great cuts on this. However, there are places where the arrangements just don't quite translate well into an Easy Listening setting or that they could musically sound much better if the arrangements were livelier. At times the band even sounds dull and uninspired, which is probably not surprising given the material Hopefully the Donovan album Arthey cut for RCA Camden a few years later sounds a lot better than this. Good, but not great. Three out of five stars from me.

musicman1979 said...

The trombonist on "The Wedding" did a really good job in playing in the Tommy Dorsey style.

Lee Hartsfeld said...

musicman1979,

Wow--my comment moderator sent your comments out of order! Anyway, I totally agree: 3 stars. I'm not totally agreed re lively arrangements, but I see your point. It's a valid criticism, of course. My problem is a certain monotony that I think should have been avoided. I hope to get to a Paul Mauriat LP of superbly EZ-ized 1967 Top 40 hits. One thing Mauriat didn't scrimp on was a variety of approaches. At first, I wasn't crazy about his take on "Sunny," one of my all-time favorites. Two listens later, I started to dig it. I need to get to that post...