It’s the time of year for saving money!
My jaw dropped a lot. I gagged a little. No… actually, I gagged a whole bunch. I did a double take when the email from the good folks at HD Tracks came in and there at the bottom was a link to a high resolution download of an album by the “Living Voices.”
Now, for many (dare I say, most) of you, we probably need to set the wayback machine to my audiophile infancy. When I was a little kid growing up in the 1960s I quickly became aware of records that were “cool” and records that were decidedly not. Even at my young age (I bought my first single when I was five) I was aware that there was a phenomenon of recordings especially made for an older group of people who were not like me or my older brothers. Apparently, these were people who didn’t like the raucous rhythms of rock ‘n roll and “that modern jazz” (as Chuck Berry put it) and records made for them were were often quite popular, remaining steady sellers in an ongoing series.
Don’t believe me? Click this link to Discogs which tracks a search for “Living Strings” (a sister series to this), a catalog which begins in 1960 and stretches to just about the 80s! That is a lot of titles and this is just one “brand” for this music… The 101 Strings and many other knock off recordings littered the record racks for decades.
Enterprising producers reasoned (wisely, I might add) that perhaps these same audiences might well like the melodies underlying some of those ever trendy hits us kids were rocking out to. This concept of dumbing down (if you will) probably started in the 1950s but may have begun earlier, I don’t know for sure. Regardless, by the time of my youth in the 1960s it was “a thing” (as they say) and there were scores of albums released featuring the hits of the day watered down into non confrontational “easy listening” sonic pablum.
Many of these albums came out on budget labels, perhaps acknowledging the fact that older folks these were likely targeting tend to have lower disposable income for things like music. Or, perhaps it was simply due to the fact that there wasn’t a lot of marketing budget available for this stuff — they just showed up in stores, I suspect. I don’t really know and it doesn’t really matter…
Now, not all of this kind of music was/is bad. Heck, these days I admit that I own several of the “Living Guitars” and “Nashville Guitars” type releases on vinyl which are well recorded (and most feature terrific playing from studio icon Al Caiola). I get it. But then, I bought those records at thrift shops and garage sales 45 years later for 50 cents, primarily to hear the guitar work, not for some audiophile experience. Apart from a relative handful of early albums from these types of artists — such as early Ferrante and Teicher on Westminster Records, when they were cool and pretty out there as far as commercial mainstream tastes were concerned — most of these easy listening affairs are pretty nebulous performance wise.
I do not own any recordings by the Living Strings or the Living Marimbas. And I certainly don’t plan to buy any recordings by the Living Voices.
Just seeing Living Voices albums available as a 192 kHz, 24-bit download raises the question (at least for me): are audiophiles this desperate for good quality recordings of any sort that they would sacrifice musicality just to hear a well recorded pops orchestra and singers in high resolution? This is the kind of “elevator music” that continues to clog up shelves at thrift shops and bargain bins around the world…
Has the audiophile download market effectively jumped the shark? (For those of you not familiar with the origin of the phrase, which involved actor Henry Winkler in his role as Fonzie on the hit 1970s TV show Happy Days, please click here for a bit of edjumacation courtesy of the Wiki).
So now Living Voices will eat up precious hard drive space too, not just the shelves at thrift shops around the world? Isn’t one Jazz at the Pawnshop enough for lackluster instrumental music that technically sounds good?
Most of these Camden Records releases were designed as budget line vinyl releases to begin with so I do wonder how these recordings are suddenly supposed to be considered an audiophile value at a $15 price tag? You can find a near mint original vinyl copy on Discogs for about $10, while most are under $5. Frankly, if you visit your friendly neighborhood Goodwill or Salvation Army family store you will probably find a half dozen of these sorts of records around for less than $3 a pop. Heck, Rasputin Music here in San Francisco has a whole section of albums like that for fifty cents a piece.
You can check out the title track for this Living Voices album on YouTube (click here). To get the full impact of this music in all its saccharinity you should listen at least to the point where the whole choir comes in on the Chorus, around the one minute mark. If that is not enough punishment, you can stream the whole album on Tidal if you have a subscription (click here for that)
What comes next: a Sing Along With Mitch Miller revival in 5.1 surround? Will we get 101 Strings in Dolby Atmos?
Paraphrasing (and with apologies to) Shakespeare:
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How ridiculous audiophile-kind is!
O brave new world
That has such recordings in’t!
Finally, someone that writes about the fallacy of so-called “hi-res audio”. However, it’s not just the budget labels that aren’t worthy of digitizing at 192/24. It ALL of the catalog that started as analog recordings — including The Beatles, Stones, Led Zep and every other classic era record. The is no audible benefit from putting standard definition recordings in high-resolution bit buckets. And no one can tell the HD versions from a CD-spec track. It’s all a marketing hoax folks!
Um…. I hear your point but that is not really what this article is about. I love analog recordings actually and I can tell the difference when a transfer is done properly. Not a marketing hoax. But you have the right to your opinion and I respect that.
The way I read the piece is that certain albums do not require or deserve to be included in the HDtrack catalog because the fidelity won’t be enhanced by digitizing at 192/24. And the author is absolutely correct about that. I have been a professional audio engineer and record producer for over 40 years and am responsible for one of the largest catalogs of high-resolution recordings — AIX Records. I also served on the high-end audio board of the CEA for 6 years. The reality is that hi-res music is a hoax perpetrated by the labels, CE manufacturers, and organizations (DEA, The Recording Academy, and CTA) to sell more hardware and software. If I took an analog two track mix of any “classic recording” from the 60s or 70s and digitized it using a great AD converter at 192/24 and also at 44.1/16, you would not be able to tell them apart not matter how good your system or ears! I have offered such a test at my blog site. 3500 readers downloaded the files and the results showed that no one could reliably tell them apart. I wish it were different. I spent 20 years and millions of dollars making real high-resolution recordings. If you hear a difference, you’re not comparing apples and apples. There are lots of hi-res recordings that were made from different masters. It’s just the way is.
Feels snobby. If you disagree, hit up the lullaby versions of Tool songs then follow that rabbit hole to every other artist done lullaby form.
Covers != lazy musicians and producers. 😉
Not snobby. Hey, if people like easy listening music that is fine, I have no problem with that and own some music that would fall in this category myself… but I also am not spending 15 dollars on a high resolution download of that sort of stuff. But that is me. Your experience may be different and that is cool. The Lullabye Series you mention is a very different thing : those are quite clever rearrangements of mostly rock music done in a very specific format designed for little kids and for their parents. I have a few of them and they are well done. Not an audiophile experience, mind you. But clever and pleasant played at low volumes in the background, semi ambient music in a way. Living Voices is not that sort of thing.
I think the nadir was “Chet Baker and the Mariachi Brass play Glen Miller”. I am not making this up.
I once owned a Chet album with the Mariachi Brass… I understand what you are saying…. blechhh….
You gotta admit it, this was just a joke for the guys involved. This is a description from Amazon:
First time on CD for these two albums from 1966 by the Chet
Baker-fronted studio outfit The Mariachi Brass, essentially a hipper
version of the Tijuana Brass! These recordings, arranged by the
legendary Jack Nietzsche, feature some of L.A.’s finest session
musicians including Tom Scott, Herb Ellis, Victor Feldman, Tommy Tedesco
and more. 23 tracks total including ‘Flowers on the Wall’, ‘These Boots
Are Made for Walking’, ‘Tequila’, ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’,
‘La Bamba’ and more. BGP. 2006.
That’s a bunch of A-list players!
These albums were not a joke for the musicians. This music was very popular in it’s day, and this was/is legitimate music. The problem is that many today look at this music as “Throw-Away” fluff and are lacking in *generational perspective* of the mood and sounds of that era. That generational perspective is lost in all segments of American society and politics today, and is perhaps one of the major reason for todays social ills in this country.
This music was piped through speakers everywhere, from grocery stores to department stores and beyond. In fact, there might be a case that this was the music most heard by Americans due to it being so prolifically played in most retail brick and mortar stores. Something to ponder don’t ya’ think? Adults of the day did not buy Beatles, Turtles, Rolling Stones or Gary Lewis and the Playboys Lp’s. They bought Easy listening and heard easy listening all the time at the office, or just about every where else. I am not so sure that a large segment of this music wasn’t bought by kids out of high school that liked the music, but just did not want to hear it in a rock format. Not all kids “de Jour”, especially females, banged their heads to “Satisfaction” or Sky Saxon And The Seeds growling “I Can’t Seem To Make You Mine”.
I would really like to know the sales of these records. And BTW, this easy listening music could be heard in Los Angeles rock radio, circa 1966 in the form of The Tijuana Brass, The Association, The Lettermen, and Peter, Paul; and Mary. Lets not forget The New Seekers and the old dude with a twinkle in his eye, Burl Ives.
Here is The Mariachi Brass doing a Gary Lewis and the Playboys tune, “Sure Gonna Miss Her ” and that does sound like Tommy Tedesco on guitar. And if it is Tommy on guitar, then he played on BOTH the Gary Lewis song and The Mariachi brass tune.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+mariachi+brass&qpvt=the+mariachi+brass&view=detail&mid=F8816C2B5376F4A125B4F8816C2B5376F4A125B4&&FORM=VDRVRV&ajf=70
And if you want to get a glorious perspective on the studio musicians who rawked our world in the Beatle era 60’s, I cannot highly recommend the documentary “The Wrecking Crew” It is a documentary that was made in 2015 by tommy Tedesco’s son, Denny. You will want to access all the extras and watch it over again. It is that good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhl-3EOYTkc
I’m reminded of the exchange in Philip Roth’s, “Goodbye Columbus” between Neil and Brenda’s brother Ron:
“Thanks Ron. I didn’t know you were interested in music”
“Sure. I got all the Andre Kostelanetz records ever made. You like Mantovani? I got all of him too. I like semi-classical a lot.”
Angel of the Morning is available on Tidal for those wanting to hear it. Sadly it’s not MQA so one would still have to purchase the HDTracks version to hear it in glorious true hi-res.
I sent a link to this article to a buddy and he replied “Maybe someone will come out with a hi-rez download of Alvin & The Chipmunks.” I can’t wait.
Back around 1960 my parents had the 101 Strings Soul of Spain. I thought it was wonderful. They also had Leslie Uggams singing standards and show tunes with Mitch Miller. Both of these shaped my musical tastes to this day. I see that Soul of Spain (remastered from the original master tapes) is on Tidal. I will be giving it a listen.
‘Mark in St Paul’ and all. I have a whole bunch of CD’s of this kind of music and the “swingin’ bachler sounds of the 1950’s/60’s/70’s. There was a CD revival of this music in the late 1990’s/2000’s. My parents listened to this also, both pre Beatle and post Beatle. Keep rockin’ to “Soul Of Spain”. I have a Johnny Mann Singers album of 60′ pop. You have never been SLO-RAWKED ’till you have heard their mellow version of The Yardbirds tune “Heart Full Of Soul!!!! It is really a good song. I am Listening to it now. Join in below!!!
https://www.bing.com/search?q=heart+full+of+soul%2Fjohnny+mann+singers&form=EDGTCT&qs=PF&cvid=0f8506c14f1845b49306e8739bb2c186&refig=102df19206cc4c22e40f9e3da408212c&cc=US&setlang=en-US&plvar=0
I did pull up Soul of Spain last night. Tidal “Hi-Fi” resolution. Listened to my two favorite cuts from back when. They were awful! Weird placement of orchestra sections. Weird balance between orchestra sections. Thin sounding for the most part. although boomy at times. Screechy violins. And on and on… There was one part where a solo flute (piccolo?) played – that sounded really good. IMHO this recording is not a good candidate for a 192/24 “upgrade”.
Out of curiosity I also sampled Angel or the Morning. Also CD resolution. It sounded much better than Soul of Spain, but a bit too ping-pongy for my tastes. I heard nothing to indicate that a 192/24 transfer would improve it.
The “Soul Of Spain” album is available on CD-R on Amazon. The master for this album could be another vinyl disc. So much of this music may have been deemed musically useless some time in the late 20th century and the masters disposed of. Most of Johnny Carson’s Late night show is gone….sold for the silver nitrate in the film. The same with teen show “Hullabaloo”, that was on NBC along with Carson. Only a hand full of “Hullabaloo” episodes from masters exist. The vast majority are crappy kinescopes. This option may be the best available.
Here is the Who song “I Can See For Miles” as done by Lord Sitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=122__aBqSvY
As I told the lady at the liquor store about the peach-flavored whiskey next to the cash register: “If they like it, who’s to argue?”
This is one of the areas that points to one of the appealing attributes of vinyl. If a person does like this kind of music, you can get a lot of music for very little money that for the sake of fidelity is as good as it will ever be.
Along the same lines, it is a great way to try out other kinds of music, too. I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve bought a stack of records for $20 or less just to what was on them and made some amazing discoveries.
I realize a person can do much the same thing on a laptop from the safety of a couch, but for me, that’s just not as much fun.
You might enjoy my series on physical media 🙂
https://audiophilereview.com/audiophile-music/kiss-my-aura-dora-part-1-physical-media-matters-in-21st-century-times.html
https://audiophilereview.com/audiophile/kiss-my-aura-dora-part-2-physical-media-matters-for-artists-and-marketers.html
Though this kind of music was available to buy on vinyl disc back in the 1960’s/70’s and beyond, we were bombarded buy this music in the restaurant, food markets, malls, department stores and much more. We still are. I was at a Chinese restaurant several years ago, and the music coming from the speakers was a modern form of relaxing instrumentals. Updated One-Hundred and One Strings! Five days ago, I was at the dentist. There was mellow vocal tracks coming over the six inch overheads. I asked the hygienist what the music was and she did not know. It must have been from “The Mello 90’s Songbook” or something like that.
True story….About two years ago, I was in a food market and suddenly, the song “No Matter What” by Badfinger comes from the overhead system. I did not know there was any music playing but this is one of my favorite songs, so what did I do…..I whirled my shopping cart around and pushed it across the floor until I found a “sweet spot” so I could listen to the song. I have the friggin CD! Such is the power of mellow ambient music. Here is a nice short article on MUZAK, both the company and musical style. And, because this discussion is about old school, throwback easy listening music, a version of “To Sir With Love” by The Johnny Mann Singers is included. The video background shots are from the great English teen angst film of the same name, set in Beatle era Great Britain. The stills are not jump cuts, but rather “page turned” to lend to the mellowness of the song. The guy who made this video has the hots for the punky blond in the film, but that’s ok because so do I.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=johnny+mann+singers+youtube&view=detail&mid=EDBA21F320F87A169CCCEDBA21F320F87A169CCC&FORM=VIRE
https://www.edinformatics.com/inventions_inventors/muzak.htm