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Which Beautiful/Easy Listening Orchestras Were Better or Worse Than Others and Why

K.M. Richards said:
This is much closer to my own opinion, timeline-wise. Dick, as much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, there really was no cohesive format(s) in the early days of FM to identify a specific origin point. And most of the AM stations you identify as Beautiful Music were really only a variation on the widespread "good music" format that stations on both bands were programming ... in many cases, simulcast.

I fear this thread has devolved from its original intent, 11 pages ago, and has now turned into a circular argument where every comment made sparks a dissent from Dick because -- it appears so, anyway -- that he can only accept his own timeline as factual.

In short, it's time for me to get off of this merry-go-round, because it's very obvious that there is little or no hope of a consensus.
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Is "consensus" what we are looking toward? I apologize if I have written out of turn. I have made my own studies over a number of years no doubt had been affected by my own listening well before that. What came to be termed "beautiful music" by Gordon McLendon was had been around since the late 1920s on network music programs. Advertisers desired large orchestras but performing pop tunes rather than Classical or Light Classical compositions. So they were arranged a la light classics for concert orchestras and presented along with choral and solo vocals, becoming a popular part of what then were called "good music" programs rather than Classical. During the war programmers would assemble programs primarily devoted to such instrumental fare as suitable recordings of the same began to appear on commercial recordings and ETs. which grew more popular through the 40s until you had a few stations devoting most of their broadcast day to such fare by the end of the decade. Though several stations tried that approach the earliest to become successful over a number of years (besides those FMs which were selling background music to clients broadcast over their main channels and later SCAs) were KIXL AM and FM, one in Birmingham WCRT AM, KPOL AM LA both from 1953, and WPAT AM NYC which really did not adopt it as a complete format approach until 1955 though they had been moving towards that for two years. Then from 1957 you had a number of stations. The harp interludes and transitions that so many such stations used during the 60s emulating McLendon's KABL were apparently used by KIXL by the late 1950s. Though not from the beginning. I can find no documentary evidence of their use there. DJ Al Collins used a lot of recorded harp when performing as "Collins on a Cloud" airing Beautiful Music before that, and Ted Steele featured a lot of live harp on his mid 30s daytime program, largely beautiful music, which may have been on WOR AM. Could have come from them.
 
Dick's History said:
During the war programmers would assemble programs primarily devoted to such instrumental fare as suitable recordings of the same began to appear on commercial recordings and ETs. which grew more popular through the 40s until you had a few stations devoting most of their broadcast day to such fare by the end of the decade.
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Some samples of that beginning at 10:24 in this video, recorded at WOR for SESAC Transcriptions Library Service:
 
There were several distinguishable eras of what finally became called Beautiful Music.

The first was the big band era, during which the influence of the musicians’ union and Petrillo was extreme, had instrumental music played, mostly in shows and not full time format. We have to remember that the era was based mostly on hit songs, not hit singers or soloists.

As radio adapted to the end of the network era in the 50’s, we saw two changes. First, the music moved away from the big band sound and, second, the music that orchestras started to record came from the new pop arena, not the brassier orchestra sound. And the new thing called “stereo” brought out a lot of music recorded to show off the effects of left and right channels.

By the mid-60’s we had a total transformation, led in a big part by European orchestras like Paul Mauriat, that even had their own hits like “Love is Blue”. And that became the basis for the FM format that fit perfectly with the times. In fact, the 60’s had numerous instrumental hits that were heard on Top 40 radio, ranging from The Ventures to Percy Faith.
 
cc333 said:
One of the side topics of the 1900 Yesterday thread involved Percy Faith, Lawrence Welk and Ray Conniff and discussed the good, the bad and the ugly of each, and it gave me an idea for a thread that discusses which orchestras were better or worse than others and why that is so.

I'll begin:

I don't really care much for Ray Conniff, as I find most of his material has a rather hokey sound which sticks out even relative to his almost as hokey contemporaries (some exceptions exist, of course).

Percy Faith is decent, especially when he sticks to standards and musicals (he didn't really do contemporary very well). "Theme to A Summer Place" is actually one of my favorites, an another is "Delicado" (an ancient copy of which I have from my grandparents or great grandparents on a 78 ROM record, with "Festival" as the B-side). I also like his treatment of the My Fair Lady soundtrack.

The various custom orchestras of the later era (mid 70s-early 90s) actually cover most of the then new stuff relatively well, especially the softer stuff.

Paul Mauriat is perhaps one of the more prolific orchestras of the period, and he really has a nice overall sound (like almost everyone, there's clunkers).

Bert Kaempfert is another one I like, although some of it gets a but hokey too (though nowhere near Ray Conniff; he's in a category of his own!).

So, feel free to agree or disagree, and tell what your likes and dislikes are.
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Ferrante & Teicher, but I can't find anyone who remembers them.
 
Looking back at all this material listening to it now my preference:

SRP late 70s both BBC, and their own commissions. Those guys, Bernard Ebbinghous, Norrie Paramor, John Fox, David Francis (London Strings), golly that is nice stuff. I know why it was kept away from public sale, radio business models at that time, sure it was genius; but darn it all we lost out on a huge fan base that would live on today in my worthless opinion.

Greater Media’s Beautiful Hits, in my opinion the Sbarra/Gregory/Barber material is what SRP would have made into the 80s if such had been done. The qualities so enduring in the BBC and Paramor/Fox/Douglas fashion, they live on in those arrangements all the way into Ingman and Eales.

As big as Bonneville was the Million Dollar Sound “keeping up” with the times is a little too soft rock for me. More smooth-jazz, I like the quality of the early DeAzevedo material, especially 82-84, it became to synthesized for me in the late 80s. The 90s Ultra stuff, Valentino, Blom, Vanacore, and so forth is really not beautiful music, It lost its original meaning, and chased the original audience off that never really wanted it, and the old fellas were left to street for pickup it seemed. I get it, back in 1990 it was urgent at the time, I just wish radio was a different medium not so dependent on change to be financially responsible. We needed Spotify in 1983. Bonneville did greatly obviously and Marlin is an awesome friend and it’s so nice to correspond with him. The Fox late 80s material is astonishing, kept him recording and that was nothing short of a gift. I always enjoyed talking to John Fox, he and his wife Joy were amazing people.

My old friend said it right, when everyone removed the group-vocals that was too bad. Some of those like my mother used to say when I was little boy in 1980, “preachy”, but not all were and frankly today listening to them now, excellent stuff. Mike Sammes, Midas Touch, Neil Richardson, Encore, it’s great. A very important part of the sound that made us come back for more. It’s kept me on this quest since it all went away where I lived in Iowa around 1986 as a 10 year old. You programmers reached me, touched my soul, and I am never letting go of it.

Thank you guys for keeping the music in discussion alive. I am trying to share what I can on YouTube and Archive.net, it’s a load of work and a huge burden in my mobile data plan. But I keep adding more artifacts.

God bless you all.

Erik

 
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I would add Mantovani, Manuel, John Fox, Stanley Black and Geroge Shearing to those. Some of those on the above list I don't hear much if at all. I would probably like them.
 
Any one know if easy listening stations of the 1980s included the mellower new age music on their playlists? I'm thinking of musicians like George Winston and Bob James, most were on the Windom Hill label.
 

Kalamusic took a stab at “Today’s Easy Listening” and it’s often referred on my airchecks after 1987 as “Easy and Contemporary, 104” in my case. Lots of early smooth jazz and new age like Narada.
 
Calhoun said:
Any one know if easy listening stations of the 1980s included the mellower new age music on their playlists? I'm thinking of musicians like George Winston and Bob James, most were on the Windom Hill label.
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This never happened, but news coverage of the debut of WRLX Relax 102.9 in Charlotte NC said it wouldn't use any of the companies but would play Kenny G and new age jazz. it ended up sounding like all the other beautiful music stations.

Billboard magazine said around the same time that there was one easy listening station that would play new age, and from time to time it would report that the only instrumentals left on some stations were new age.

Edit: WKY-AM in Oklahoma City had some new age on its playlist in 1991.
 
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Erik Lindgren said:

Kalamusic took a stab at “Today’s Easy Listening” and it’s often referred on my airchecks after 1987 as “Easy and Contemporary, 104” in my case. Lots of early smooth jazz and new age like Narada.
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This describes the two year run beginning in 1993 of the rebirth of KMEO on a fringe FM signal in Phoenix. All instrumental with smooth jazz and new age. Then, in 1995 Geoff Sterling, a new age enthusiast and media mogul, changed it to KBSZ The Breeze, with all new age music. This only lasted a little more than a year.
 
Calhoun said:
Ferrante & Teicher, but I can't find anyone who remembers them.
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That's surprising as this piano duo had three Top 10 "Billboard Hot 100" hits. Two released in 1960 ("Theme From The Apartment" and their biggest hit, the #2 charting "Exodus") and the 1969-1970 hit, "Midnight Cowboy", which should have, but did not credit on the 45 label the unique water-drop guitar sound of Vincent Bell.
 
I sent this email to the current administration at F&T’s website last year:

Dear Doug,

I am a very big fan of F&T music and used to deal with Scott Smith in KC and see he passed away. I am saddened by this news from 2016.

Sadly I regret I cannot find much online these days with F&T. I am involved in an archive with some friends regarding beautiful music and EZ listening and routinely check Gracenote for music added into Shazam and tonight I discovered a most unpleasant remix of a favorite F&T arrangement.

I'll let the technology explain. Give a listen to this then compare to your version of: Odds and Ends of a Beautiful Love Affair by F&T.

God Body by ROQ Z & Antlive Bishop Lamont LRB

God Body - ROQ Z & Antlive Bishop Lamont LRB: Song Lyrics, Music Videos & Concerts

Hopefully this helps, I seriously doubt you gave God Body rights to destroy this beautiful arrangement. Shazam picked it up while I was attempting to tag F&T's version. Shazam thinks your arrangement is God Body's how awful. Sadly I cannot find F&Ts song online anywhere. If you need I can email you a PCM file of it.

With love and respect
 
Speaking of this misinformation superhighway issue in this music as it directly relates to the "secret sauce, trade secret" marketing the syndication started we ended up here:


This is It’s A Miracle by the Living Strings arranged and conducted by Johnny Douglas through RCA records in 1975.

I cannot leave a comment on the youtube video with an attempt to correct the problem and erroneously defined arrangement; also its listed with a copyright to:
℗ 2014 Bringins Music Released on: 2014-04-03 on Gracenote and defined on Shazam.

What a disaster. This is history being rewritten by someone who stole this arrangement offline someplace or a capture from an old out of print record. Either way it's wrong and needs to corrected. I do NOT care if Bringins Music owns it, but properly credit it. AI is going to amplify this trend to an industrial scale.
 
Things that are underappreciated or undervalued are often the things that are lost to time, and this is an excellent example.

It's important to carefully document and preserve these things wherever possible before they're lost forever, and that formidable task often seems to fall on a handful of enthusiasts.

This very forum thread is excellent documentation, but as I'm sure you know, it only barely scratches the surface.

c
 
Erik Lindgren said:
This is It’s A Miracle by the Living Strings arranged and conducted by Johnny Douglas through RCA records in 1975.
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And virtually zero of the entire RCA Living Series music catalog has been officially re-released in digital form. So if somebody is licensing it, slapping their own name on it, and putting it online, then that's better than nothing. RCA hasn't shown any interest in putting it out on their own in the past 40+ years, so I doubt they're going to start doing it any time soon.

And RCA is still claiming copyrights on Caruso's recordings, even though they have all lapsed into the public domain, but that's another issue. (I had to call their bluff and challenge them to take me to court to get them to back off and remove their copyright claim from a video in which I played 15-20 seconds of an original Caruso 78.)
 


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