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COLLECTORS CHOICE
ANITA KERR SINGERS/And Now…The Anita Kerr Orchestra (811); Slightly Baroque (812); Bert Kaempfert Turns Us On (813); All You Need is Love (814); Sounds (815): Kerr was one of those anomalies that could either be taken seriously or as a great guilty pleasure. A powerhouse behind the scenes in 50’s and 60s Nashville, her and her crew could be heard on almost every record made in town in those years. The crown in her trophy case was beating out the Beatles for a Grammy with her tribute to Henry Mancini. After getting divorced and going as far as she could in Nashville, she hit out for the coast to scale new heights. These five sets she did for Warners, rolling against the rising rock tide, show that she was up for the challenge, even sporting her undyed grey hair, ultra radical for the times. Frowned on for being so good at MOR at a time when the cool Nazis wanted to round up singers like Jack Jones and Robert Goulet and shoot them, her pop sensibilities crafted a smart set of hit easy listening albums that gave martinis a sedately hip background sound in rec rooms across American suburban sprawl. Even when these albums had themes, the tracks could have basically been assembled in any order making them a right on choice for tossing on an IPod and letting them roll. While a lot of MOR of that era was freely associated with MORons, Kerr’s gifts made her stuff something else and her outside of the box choices gave her work that something extra, like playing tribute to Bert Kaempfert instead of following the prevailing stampede to Bacharach/David or Lennon/McCartney. C’mon, you remember her picture in one of those bubbles on the inner sleeve of those Jimi Hendrix lps. It’s time you found what her soft sounds were all about.
RHINO
ARETHA FRANKLIN/Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of The Queen of Soul: Franklin isn’t the only icon getting a behind the scenes re-evaluation here. This was produced by Wexler/Dowd/Mardin when they were pronounced with one syllable and were basically a non-stop hit machine. Two discs of stuff you mostly never heard showing that the stuff she left in the can was better than most of her competitors first call output, this stuff just smokes. With Jerry Wexler coming out of retirement to supervise the package, it’s hard to believe 35 years have gone by since a lot of these muscles were last exercised. Simply a double disc, killer collection of stuff too good to be lost to the dust bins of history. Check it out.
272188
TELARC
CHRISTMAS BREAK-A Relaxing Classical Mix/various: Culled from holdings that go from solo harp to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Telarc has a load of holiday selections to full from, even if the original sets weren’t about Christmas. Anyone thinking about having an up market gathering during the course of the holidays may well wan to have a classy set like this near the music player. With a wide range of choices other than the usual song suspects and with nary a “Greensleeves” within ear shot, the Telarc comp elves were working overtime to bring you something different for the holidays.
80687
ERICH KUNZEL/Nutcracker: One of the classic quality time pieces of music, Kunzel whips the Cincinnati Pops into shape to bring “Nutcracker” to life this holiday season. Simply a grand job on an essential perennial, you kids probably already know it as cartoon music and you can feel free to indulge in this piece for kids of all ages. Let the good times roll.
80674
Volume 31/Number 2
November 2, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2007 Midwest Record
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