Junk Box Jury

Tracks taken from the album on (Polydor 2661 005) 1971

The A to Z Of Easy Listening | Various | (Polydor) | Polydor really tried to capitalise on the Easy Listening trend of the late sixties and early seventies – charity shop crate diggers will be more than familiar with the “Easy Listening” double album compilation that was briefly changing hands for absurd amounts of money a few years back because a couple of contemporary bands sampled a particular track (and just as quickly went back to being practically valueless when it was realised how plentiful were the copies still out there).

Presumably on the basis of the outstanding success of said album, Polydor decided to milk the market even more with this “concept” LP. It was convenient for them that they happened to have artists like Helmut Zacharias and Joe Quijano on their roster in order to make this novelty item feasible – for all I know, they may have actually signed the latter just so they could get this LP released!

Like the original “Easy Listening” LP, this features some of those who in the course of their work inadvertently provided some tasty morsels for retro-kitsch enthusiasts and breaks ‘n’ beatsters, although sadly the contributions by James Last, Peter Thomas, and (surprise inclusion) Nick Ingman are disappointing.

The A to Z Of Easy Listening | Various | (Polydor)

Sorting the wheat out from the chaff, Roberto Delgado turns in a competent version of the “Hawaii Five-O” theme, and Tony Evans provides an interesting Glenn Miller-styled arrangement of Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman” (it was another fad at the time to re-hash contemporary tunes in the Miller manner).

Oliver Nelson contributes some classy and moody late-night jazz, whilst Ultimate Spinach (who are surely only included here because of their name) may attract the attention of psych collectors with their mildly-interesting opus “Sacrifice Of The Moon (In Four Parts)”.

However, the best recommendations from me are Augusto Alguerro’s groovy-sounding “Bocaccio Soul”, and (as a Bacharach covers collector) especially the clever version of “Walk On By” by obscure outfit Xylos Inc. – with perky percussion to the fore, it sounds like something Hugo Montenegro might have produced at his swinging sixties peak, and is well worth keeping an eye out for. (Discogs review)

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cost of record: £1.50
from: The Children’s Society