The Ray McVay Band [1976]

Nice collection of 60s and 70s pop songs arranged in an Easy vocal and instrumental style.

It is the latest dated McVay LP i own or am aware of, and my favourites on here are Mahna Mahna, Kaiser Bill's Batman, Black Is Black, and That's The Way [I Like It].

If you like McVay, Joe Loss, James Last, Geoff Love and indeed any Easy Disco, you'll love this!

I hope you enjoy it and please leave a comment or feedback.

McVay

They Sold A Million - The Young Generation [1973]

This is a very nice vocal Easy Listening album, mainly consisting of Early 70s pop songs in The Young Generation's easy vocal style.

Burning Love, I Can See Clearly Now and The Guitar Man are my picks from this album, and I can recommend it for your listening pleasure!

The arrangements from Alyn Ainsworth are top quality, and I was very pleased to find this one on my travels recently!

Generation

Reminiscing - The Midnight Strings Orchestra Conducted By Syd Dale [1980]

Very nice collection of 70s pop tunes arranged in Easy orchestral style.

Native New Yorker would be my choice from the album, being a great piece of Easy Disco, but Too Much Too Little Too Late, We're All Alone, and Reminiscing are all nice 'n' smooth to the ear, too.

I hope you enjoy it, and comments and feedback are very welcome!

Midnight

Val Merrall's Big Sound At Butlin's [Rediffusion 1973]

This is an LP I was so pleased to find!

A joy from start to finish, it is a mix of cheesey pop covers, but mostly it is the less well known groovers and funkers which are the best, such as Flash and Open House, both of which were on the excellent RPM compilation Gypsy Creams and Ginger Nuts.

There were two other Val Merrall albums, Butlins Favourites and G.I.'s Favourites, both of which were posted some time ago on Lemoncat's Grooves Of Delight, but this one is the best, and the vinyl is in near perfect condition, amazing considering it is nearly 37 years old!

If you enjoy this you might like this LP from Jack Hawkins [Click Here], it is of a similar vocal and instrumental showband type.

I hope you enjoy it and please leave a comment!

Butlin's

Ye Olde Moog - Synthesonic Sounds [Pye 1974]

Hello again, and happy new year to all!

This fine LP from 1974 is the second by Synthesonic Sounds, a project by the great arranger and writer Mike Batt.

It features traditional British [and Irish] folk tunes played on the Moog synthesiser and wonderfully arranged by Mr. Batt humself.

Some of these have been included on some top easy compilations, so I hope you enjoy this, and that someone has the other Synthesonic Sounds album featuring movie themes, that they might post it sometime soon!

Moog

Salute to James Last - Stan Reynolds & His Orchestra

And so, I will leave you now until after Christmas, and most likely until 2010, with this storming Easy Listening collection of 36 fantastic tracks arranged by trumpeter Stan Reynolds in the classic James Last beat and brass style.

From the very groovy versions of Aquarius and Downtown, to the more relaxed Guantanamera, with cracking takes on American Patrol, La Bamba, Telstar and more, it is a marathon of Easy!

Reynolds

Love is a many splendoured thing - Nat Temple & His Orchestra [1969]

Very nice LP of standards and other light easy tracks.

Temple

Freddie Starr - From Me to You [1974]

I saw this one in a local charity shop, so just for a laugh bought it, and was surprised to find how serious it was.

It has some nice arrangements and vocals, so I hope you, like I did, enjoy it!

Freddie

The Seventies / Sounds of the Sixties & Seventies Part 2

Here are two very special and rare compilations of some great Library Easy Listening tracks, also featuring some top TV themes in their original versions.

There are too many tracks to list here, but the big names include Keith Mansfield, Syd Dale, Alan Parker, Alan Hawkshaw, Johnny Pearson, James Clarke, John Cameron, Brian Bennett, Alan Tew, and some vocals by Madeline Bell.

On 'The Seventies', tracks 42 to 48 feature tracks used in the classic TV series, The Sweeney.

There are two other compilations in this series, called The Sixties, and Sounds of the Sixties & Seventies Part 1, hopefully someone might post these as well, as I have been unable to find these as yet.

I hope you enjoy these!

Seventies

Sixties & Seventies Part 2

By George! - George Martin & His Orchestra [1968]

I wanted to post some very special and rare music for your delight at this time of year, so here is one of my favourites, an essential Easy Listening album, consisting of some brilliant Beatles and other 60s pop covers, and the rest is excellent Easy, too.

I think this is one of the most rare albums I have posted to date, and sounds great aside from a few crackles near the start of each side.

This album has been ripped as Side 1 & 2 because there are some sound effects between the tracks.

I hope you enjoy this and the other posts I am making today!

Merry Christmas to all from Mark in the Easy Listening World!

George