CD REVIEW
– HENRY MANCINI / THE BEST
OF MANCINI – VOLS 1&2
THE CONCERT
SOUND OF MANCINI & SALUTES
SOUSA
Vocalion 2CDLK4636
[68:09 & 75:01]
It is good to
welcome back to these pages the
Vocalion label, which has just
released four reissues from the
golden age of Easy Listening. The
lead reissue is of two 2-on-1
CDs, originally RCA, from a
master light music maker, Henry
"Hank" Mancini
(1924-94). In a career spanning
40 years as composer, arranger
and conductor he won four Oscars,
one Golden Globe and twenty
Grammys – also a posthumous
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
– setting an all-time record
for a non-classical artist.
Mancini is
probably second only to the great
John Williams in the pantheon of
the finest film composers and
also, of course, wrote memorable
themes for numerous TV shows and
other popular pieces. The first
disc, THE BEST OF MANCINI, opens
with a half dozen tracks 'From
Television': the 'Peter Gunn'
and 'Mr Lucky' series,
followed by 'From Motion
Pictures': Moon River,
Experiment in Terror, which
features a couple of autoharps, Baby
Elephant Walk (still my
favourite), Days of Wine and
Roses, Hatari! and Charade,
the piece which got him
internationally recognised. Then,
in THE BEST OF MANCINI –
VOLUME 2, there are a further
dozen of his compositions
including the film themes from 'Soldier
in the Rain', 'The Pink
Panther', 'Breakfast at
Tiffany's', 'A Shot in
the Dark' and 'Dear
Heart'; and a big band
sounding Cheers! There
is a chorus on eight tracks
across the two albums. Following
them is a BONUS TRACK –
FIRST TIME IN STEREO/SURROUND: a
1962 7'' single of the 'Man
of the World' theme from
that TV series. This has been
remixed in stereo and surround
sound from the original 3-track
master tape by Michael J Dutton,
who has remastered the entire
contents of both discs in the
set.
The second disc
has THE CONCERT SOUND OF HENRY
MANCINI with Hank turning his
attention to three suites of
music written by other composers:
'Academy Awards Selections',
'A Tribute to Victor Young'
and 'The Music of David Rose',
and by the man himself: 'Peter
Gunn Meets Mr ‘Lucky'.
Among the 30 largely well-known
tracks are Never on Sunday,
Buttons and Bows, the
Latin American-tinged High
Noon and Three Coins in
the Fountain, Golden
Earrings, When I Fall in
Love, Sweet Sue-Just You,
Around the World in Eighty
Days, Holiday for
Strings, The Stripper,
Dance of the Spanish Onion,
Our Waltz, Lightly
Latin, Dreamsville,
March of the Cue Balls
and My Friend Andemo.
Prominent among the eight named
soloists are Erno Neufeld
(violin/leader), Vincent DeRose
(French horn) and Jimmy Rowles
(piano).
Mancini completes
the disc with The Henry Mancini
Concert Band on the ten tracks of
MANCINI SALUTES SOUSA. John
Philip Sousa (1854-1932) wrote an
incredible 136 marches and ten of
the best – the likes of Semper
Fidelis, Washington Post,
El Capitan and The
Stars and Stripes Forever
– are here in Mancini
arrangements that remain
respectful to "The March
King's" originals. The
band's personnel are listed in
the booklet, together with other
useful information and Oliver
Lomax's six-and-a-bit pages of
extremely well-researched notes.
Altogether an
appealing release and in these
inflationary times, at £6 per
original album, is Vocalion value
not to be passed by.
©
Peter Burt, November 2023
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