Eight terrific (though not always terrific-sounding) Percy Faith Majestic reissues across two Royale EPs (to not have to spend money, Royale opted to use the same jacket photo for both sets), along with five terrific 1944-1946 sides ripped from Decca 78s in my collection. I'd have included the 1946 Decca Stardust, but that side proved to be not restorable. In fact, the mid-1940s Decca pressing quality was generally less than outstanding, though I did manage more than adequate fidelity, I think. That is, only after determining the right response curve, what with Google's AI giving me two answers (250Hz bass turner vs. 400Hz). I went with the latter (400), and the results are pleasing. 400Hz it was.
Several of the Decca sides feature a rumba clave/Bo Diddley beat, including the two "Bolero Instrumental" selections: Negra Consentida (My Pet Brunette) and Stars in Your Eyes. These are of the Bizet, not Ravel, type (not sure how Temptation, Tia Juana, and Nocha Caribe were designated, beat-wise, though the first sounds like a Bizet-style bolero). Hopefully, my Decca rips sound cleaner than the less-than-excellent Royale remastering job on the 1947 Majestic set, which includes too much reverb and inflated bass--but is otherwise atypically decent by Record Corp. of America standards! (The ultimate Record Corp. of America compliment: Sound that doesn't suck!) It's a slight surprise to discover that early Percy Faith often happened in an Xavier-Cugat mode, though Faith's sound was a great deal more elegant (as much as I like Cugat). It had to be elegant: It was mood music, after all.
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My favorites are Dancing in the Dark, That Old Black Magic, Temptation, Embraceable You, I Love You, Stars in Your Eyes, and Long Ago. Listening to these, I came up with various phrases to describe Faith's style of orchestration: Fluttering (and swirling) chromatic flute passages; inverted I-6/9 tonics; minor 9ths. And lots of strings! A highly-evolved mood music style for the mid-1940s (in the popular realm). Excellent music, if not always of the highest in high fidelity.
DOWNLOAD: Percy Faith Royale Decca.zip
Begin the Beguine--Royale EP 119
Dancing in the Dark (same)
That Old Black Magic (same)
The Touch of Your Hand (same)
All Through the Night--Royale EP 198
Tia Juana (same)
Temptation (same)
Noche Caribe (same)
Embraceable You--Decca 23535, 1946
Long Ago (And Far Away)--Decca 23352, 1944
I Love You (same)
Stars in Your Eyes--Decca 23445, 1945
Negra Consentida (My Pet Brunette), (same)
Amor--Deca 23244, 1944
Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year (same)
Lee
9 comments:
I know some of the Decca cuts were reissued sometime in the early-'90's on an MCA Special Markets collection titled Star Dust plus a dozen of them were reissued on the first-ever Vocalion album in 1958 titled North and South of the Border; some of the Decca cuts you feature here are on this album. I do have some of the Majestic Percy Faith cuts on another Eli Oberstien-pressed Royale album titled All-Time Popular Dance Hits (my version has a blue cover and is pressed in that hard plastic Royale/Allegro pressed their albums on). They sound pretty good on my turntable. I will relisten to my copy of the album and give more detailed comments soon.
Here is the track listing for North and South of the Border if you are interested in getting a copy online or for some spit-worthy price at one of your local Goodwills (Mine still sells vinyl for 99 cents):
Label:
Vocalion (2) – VL 3600, Vocalion (2) – VL-3600
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country:
Canada
Released:
1958
Genre:
Jazz, Latin
Style:
A1 Tico-Tico
Composed By – Aloysio Oliveira*, Zequinha Abreu
A2 Baia (No Baixa De Sapateiro)
Composed By – Ary Barroso
A3 La Cumparsita
Composed By – G. H. Matos Rodriguez*
A4 Negra Consentida (My Pet Brunette)
Composed By – Joaquin Pardave, Marjorie Harper
A5 Amor
Composed By – Gabriel Ruiz
A6 Capullito De Aleli
Composed By – Rafael Hernández
B1 Long Ago (And Far Away)
Composed By – Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern
B2 I Love You
Composed By – Cole Porter
B3 Star Dust
Composed By – Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish
B4 Embraceable You
Composed By – George Gershwin - Ira Gershwin*
B5 Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
Composed By – Frank Loesser
B6 If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You
Composed By – Arthur Schwartz - Howard Dietz*
pulled from discogs.
Also. "All Through the Night", "Tia Juana" and one not on this list, "Sweet Sue Just You", also appear on the Design collection Three of A Kind: Romantic Mood Music which also feautres David Rose and frequent early Perry Como arranger Russ Case.
musicman1979,
Thanks for the info--and I have that Vocalion LP, but I thought the transfers were too trebly, and so I tried the 78s for "Embraceable You" and the other Deccas I ripped. Interesting that two of my Decca 78s didn't make the cut for that album. And I used to have that "Three of a Kind" LP, but I must have parted with it during my last downsizing period. In 2021, I put up the Royale "Hour of Popular Favorites," which has four of the Oberstein Faith tracks. Workupload deleted it, of course...
And it had the same cover art as the Society Favorites album you re-posted earlier this year that had some Majestic Faith tracks on it.
Interesting that his early period had some livelier arrangements. His '60's and '70's albums for Columbia at times really pushed the Easy Listening envelope.
Percy Faith had a bit of a moment a few years ago when a song or two appeared in Ocean's Eleven, but then he faded away again. Thanks for doing your part to bring him back, Lee!
Ernie,
Certainly!
Lee, what a nice collection to listen to, as I lounge around thinking what to do. Percy has always been a favorite of mine, along with Conniff and Kostelanetz. There is nothing like instrumental music, at least for me.
Bryan,
And Faith is some of the best instrumental music ever recorded! And I know what I'll be doing this weekend: Staying in the house. It's too incredibly hot and humid to be outside for long. Hopefully, relief is coming on Sunday (three days out).
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