Author:Derek Taylor, Ben L Connor
In his forty-page introduction and overview of this genre, the author sums up easy listening as a combination of big band and orchestral music that came to the fore in the post war world of the forties onwards. He focuses on instrumental music, so there’s nothing on the renowned easy listening vocalists. There are chapters on the likes of Henry Mancini, James Last, Mantovani and Herb Albert, his method being to select a single key recording of each artist and look at that in some detail, and then to recommend some further listening. This area of music isn’t something I know much about and isn’t really my cup of tea, and so I’m not really qualified to be assess how good this overview is, but if this type of music floats your boat then take a look at this book which attempts to give a comprehensive overview of the genre, and place in a historical context its big names and innovators.
I suppose everyone knows at least one White Stripes song, the now ubiquitous Seven Nation Army. However, there’s a lot more to them than that as a listen to the White Blood Cells and Elephant albums will confirm. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg as regards Jack White’s career, as he went on to releases a number of solo albums after the band’s official demise in 2011. To be honest, I find these to be very much a mixed bag, very hit and miss, so selected listening is advised really. His work is certainly quirkily eclectic and idiosyncratic, and at times he seems to just follow his muse wherever it takes him. The author gives a useful and comprehensive overview of White’s catalogue both as a band member and as a solo artist, and also looks at his work with other artists, and makes a convincing case that he doesn’t perhaps receive the recognition he deserves.
Length of Read:Short
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Those interested in these fields.
One thing you’ve learned
Two latecomers for last week’s monthly round up.
Here in Los Angeles, record swap meets are full of incredible “easy listening” records from the 50s and early 60s. Easy isn’t a good word, because a lot of it is uptempo. It encompasses several genres… percussion, exotica, big band swing and lush strings. It’s interesting to me that people on the other side of the pond are reading books about this stuff.
The most sought after easy listening records, and the ones that rarely turn up are the needle drop music libraries used in TV production. These were mostly the product of British orchestras and composers. I’ve got a nice collection myself. Do those turn up in the UK too? I wonder if there’s a lot of great stuff that never made it to the States.
In the underground scene, there was an easy listening/lounge revival in the UK in the mid-nineties but mainly in London. Loads of clubs like Blow Up, Smashing, Club Indigo, The Regency Rooms, Going Places, Shaken’Not Stirred, Bedazzled were very popular at the time. It was at Blow Up that I discovered ‘library’ music and have been collecting LPs ever since. Labels like KPM, De Wolfe, Amphonic, Bruton are the ones to look out for. It’s unlikely you’ll find many British library music albums in the racks in America because they were generally pressed for the consumption of British production companies. You couldn’t buy them in normal record shops. Although, apparently most of the best stuff was hoovered up by rich Japanese hipsters/DJs in the 1990s, so head to Tokyo with half a million yen in your pocket. You might strike lucky. Or just get this compilation.
The Ultralounge series of compilations that came out in the 90s are on permanent rotation chez moi, especially in the car. They are totally groovy and fab, possibly even ginchy. I had the complete set on CD which the daughter stole while my back was turned, but fortunately I’ve been able to replace them, er, online.
Minibreakfast, occasionally of this parish, is a great library music aficionado, but I can’t really be bothered.
I worked on an animated TV show that used stock music from stock libraries and when the studio shut down, I snagged the CDs out of the trash! We actually have a lot of those library records here in Los Angeles, because they were used extensively on TV in the 60s and 70s.