Pye Golden Guinea
Taxi drivers may question the geography of that title…
Topped the Chart:
4th September 1960 (for five weeks)
Five weeks total
Before the arrival of The Beatles, the biggest selling British album act was Mantovani. An Italian-British orchestrator and conductor, Mantovani spearheaded the early “easy listening” movement—shorter classical pieces that demanded less of the audience than impenetrable heavy-browed suites from 200 years ago. That the music aimed itself at middle-class, middle-aged adults of the era may explain why we find ourselves here on the chart after the boom n bust of rock n roll has left all but the very youngest behind, as album buying returns to a largely grown-up pursuit.
Enter the German orchestra 101 Strings who, despite what their name suggests, employs more than 120 violins, violas and cellos to recreate Mantovani’s “cascading” sound with popular music of the day. There’s a little dusting of Sinatra in there, but this mainly means songs from musical like The King and I, South Pacific and My Fair Lady, a canny move considering these three musicals were the ones that dominated album sales over the last five years.
As might be expected, From Drury Lane to Memory Lane is perfectly serviceable, misty-eyed background music that wouldn’t sound out of place on an evening trip to the shopping centre in late November. It would be perfectly enjoyable there too, but on home speakers the sound is so dense with strings that it becomes shrill and sore on the ears. It’s blessed relief when surprisingly sensuous saxophones enter the mix on Make Believe and Music in May, bringing the music into sharper focus. There are a few bright spots besides this- the soft focus take on People Will Say We’re In Love is particularly lovely—but for the most part the songs here disappear into the ether quickly.
“The Sound of Magnificence” boasts the LP covers for 101 Strings and, for an orchestra that made over 150 albums between 1957 and 1981, “The Sound of Cheap n Cheerful Churning ‘Em Out” would be more appropriate. There’s a place for that of course, but there must be more interesting options out there.
Score: 4/10
Tracklisting:
Side 1:
1. Drury Lane to Broadway
2. Rose Marie
3. One Alone
4. Make Believe
5. One Kiss
Side 2:
6. You Are My Heart’s Delight
7. Don’t Say Goodbye
8. A Girl Like Nina
9. I Won’t Dance
10. Glamorous Night
Side 3:
11. Between the Acts
12. Music in May
13. Rose of England
14. My Love is Like the River
15. People Will Say We’re In Love
Side 4:
16. Some Enchanted Evening
17. Getting to Know You
18. Fanny
19. I Could Have Danced All Night
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