| One of the founding
fathers of easy listening, Faith recorded something like 85 albums
for Columbia over a period of thirty years, he died in 1975 and
was composing and recording music right up to his death. Faith's
strings and Ray Conniff's choral band gave Columbia a combination
that dominated easy listening sales for nearly three decades and
now fill the shelves of charity shops around the country. Like
Ray Conniff, Faith's worst sin may have been that of being too
good a craftsman; his strings, woodwinds, and brass blend together
so seamlessly that the result often achieves a surface of schmaltz
that belies the fine work underneath. And with that many albums,
there is a certain amount of crap to be expected... |
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We only start
looking for Faith albums in the early 1970's when things took
a definite turn for the funky. However, one that didn't fulfill
any of this potential was 'The Beatles Album' (CBS, 1970) which
despite using some raw materials that could have proven interesting,
all you get is a great big wad of sloppy string arrangements
- bah!
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Those of you addicted to the murky
delights of God-bothering musicals will rightly be tempted by
Percy's take on 'Jesus Christ Superstar' (CBS, 1971), for 'tis
indeed a good 'un! He belts out the 'Superstar' theme not once
but twice in fine funky style and delivers the goods on the usual
banker 'What's The Buzz' too, so now we are off and cooking! |
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With the arrival
of 'Black Magic Woman' (CBS, 1972) something must have been
stirring in the Hollywood hills as funky session men like Axelrod-cohort
Earl Palmer started appearing on his albums and as a result
some killer cuts emerge, Great takes on contemporary favourites
like 'Oye Como Va', 'Sun King' and 'Black Magic Woman' make
this one well worth digging up.
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Another one from the same year,
'Joy' (CBS, 1972) is pretty similar, being largely big orchestra
type guff, but coughing up a couple of nice 'uns too. There's
a fairly decent stab at 'Shaft' for a start, and examining the
tracks on offer you wouldn't expect much more. You'd be mistaken,
'cos 'Diamonds Are Forever' is one of the best versions anywhere
and 'Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves' is big and brash and full
of guts. Sweet! |
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Now then, 'Corazon'
(CBS, 1973) is an absolute beauty of an album and comes highly
recommended from us! The title track finds the orchestra in
a Latin mood, making a handsome job of covering Carole King's
classic track. A cover of Lalo Schifrin's 'Enter The Dragon'
is as good as any version you've heard - including the original.
The standout track is at the end of side two, a cover of Freddie
Hubbard's 'First Light' which is as good as any early 70's Space
Age Bachelor Pad sounds you're likely to hear...swirling strings,
wah-wah guitar stabs and a great Fender Rhodes piano solo.
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'Dueling Banjos'
(CBS, 1973) continues in the funky vein now established with
two blaxploitation soundtrack themes now included in the Faith
repertoire. Released as 'Claire' in the US, there's a revisititaion
of 'Shaft' and a really rather excellent 'Superfly' and there's
also one of his own funky numbers - 'We Were Having Fun In The
Conservatory When...' being a groovy mish-mash of classical
and contemporary tunes - boss!
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Once again we are into big track-skipping
territory here on 'My Love' (CBS, 1973), as the prescription two
decent tracks per album are present among the schlock. There's
another of his own patented wah-wah meets the classics with a
big smile on it's face cuts in the shape of 'Viva Vivaldi', which
is pretty nice, and then for lovers of breathy scat singing by
lush burds, the magnificent 'Pillow Talk' might even be the icing
on the cake as far as our Percy is concerned. A very dreamy and
beautiful thing it is indeed, so hunt it down! |
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Faith continued
his occasional forays into funky territory on his next release,
'New Thing' (CBS, 1974), but once more it's a real shame that
you have to wade through the good half an hours' worth of utter
plop that surrounds a few groovy cuts. The real gem here is
'Land of a Thousand Dances', which will have any upstanding
person shaking their booty! It's almost as if Faith was never
completely at ease experimenting with the up tempo tracks which
are those that truly stand the test of time from his massive
output, and insisted on burying them deep in schmaltz so as
not to scare off the audience he had spent decades wooing with
slushy string arrangements.
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Doctor Percy pays us another house
call with his regular prescription of a few funky little belters
amid some awful toss on 'The Entertainer' (CBS, 1974). Hmmm, with
an album title like that its no surprise which track is the main
offender in the crapiness stakes. Don't be dissuaded from taking
this one home though, as you'll find a fair few brassy versions
of old jazz tunes like 'I'm Gonna Go Fishin' and 'What'll I Do'
that will spring a surprise or two, and there's also a cracking
take on 'Bend Me, Shape Me' that's a million miles better than
Amen Corner. Add to that a decent funk up of 'Fifth Movement'
from Tubular Bells and top it off with Percy's own smasher '1,2,3,4'
and there's no doubt that your temperature will be rising! |
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Here's a little oddment of undecernable
age, it having escaped from one of those Reader's Digest box sets;
'Master of Melody' (Reader's Digest, 197?) is in fact no way as
awful as the title suggests, with a decent shot at 'Aquarius'
and a complete surprise with a funky disco take on the normally
terrible 'Theme from a Summer Place' that you just will not believe. |
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Aha! So here's where that track
came from then! 'Theme Form A Summer Place 76' (CBS, 1975). Well
obviously! But that's not all - not by a long way; how about a
pair of banging dancefloor burners that must rate as highly as
any Percy mustered elsewhere. 'Ding Dong' is full of funk and
fabby scat singers, while 'Sha Bumpin' really gets down and shakes
its booty all over the shop! Nice one! |
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So, here it is,
what we believe to be Percy Faith's last album before his death.
'Disco Party' (CBS, 1975) contains a number of disco-fied cover
versions here, from Neil Diamond (ooof!) to Clout's 'Substitute',
but what you DO need this album for is the excellent Faith-penned
'Chompin' and his orchestra's well funky take on '7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Blow Your Whistle'. God rest Percy's funky soul !!
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| Jose was born blind,
one of eleven children born to humble beginnings in Puerto Rico.
When he was five, his family immigrated to the USA. He taught
himself to play the guitar and, inspired by the rock-n-roll of
the 50's, Jose played bars in Greenwich Village before undertaking
his first professional engagement in Detroit. His major break
in the industry, however, happened when the RCA executives in
Buenos Aires encouraged Jose to record an album of Spanish music
in Argentina. Three albums followed and the name Jose Feliciano
was known throughout South and Central America, Mexico and the
Caribbean. Thereafter, the RCA exec's in Los Angeles recommended
Jose record a Doors' song he had been singing in his concerts
- 'Light My Fire'...you could say that the rest is history...
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| First up is the definitive Feliciano
album 'Feliciano!' (1968, RCA Victor), containing the aforementioned
"Light My Fire" in an arrangement that was subsequently used by
many easy-listening groove merchants. The rest of the first side
is a tad syrupy, side two livens up with the bossa rhythms of
'Nena Na Na' and lightly-orchestral 'Always Something There To
Remind Me'. The remaining tracks are all very laid-back, they've
got Sunday morning listening written all over them, which is somewhat
ironic, seeing how the time you're most likely to find a cheap
copy of this album is trawling around the nearest car-boot fair...
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'Feliciano -
10 to 23' (RCA Victor , 1969) contains one of our fave Jose
tunes; a cover of The Beatles 'She's A Woman'; a lively little
number with organ grooves, flute, rattling percussion and 'the
happy gorilla noise' - well, that's what we call it, it's the
"ooh-aah-ooh-ahh-oooh" noise that sounds like you're
the lucky one holding all the bananas.
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'Souled' (RCA, 1969)
is up there with his first album - a belter, stuffed full of
contemporary Latin-isations of some great songs - Dylan and
Nilsson for example. The overall winner is his version of 'High
Heeled Sneakers' that's as good as anything he's done.
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| Released in the same
year, 'The Voice And Guitar Of...' and 'Fireworks' (both RCA Victor,
1970) couldn't be more different. The latter contains the sultry
'Suzie Q', charged with breathless flutes with an orchestral arrangement
by Perry Botkin (of 'RPM' soundtrack fame - check out the
'Funky Soundtracks' page). There's also good covers of '(I
Can't Get No) Satisfaction' and 'Norwegian Wood'. But, the former
album is empty in comparison, Jose and his trusty six-string produce
some lackluster versions of lame tracks. Not worth pence. |
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Next up is 'Encore'
(RCA Victor, 1971) a career-resurrecting 'Best Of' style album
that features a couple of live tracks and different versions
of his hits, including the quite splendid 'Hi-Heel Sneakers'.
Worth a few pence for this track alone. 'That The Spirit Needs'
(RCA Victor, 1972) is another album worth pickin' up, if only
for a small change. There's just the one decent track, a luscious,
slinky slow organ groover called 'Mellow Feeling', which does
exactly as described.
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Our latest and probably
last edition to Jose's entry into this smorgasbord is 'And The
Feeling's Good' (RCA Victor, 1974). This album is trading for
good money on the back of his cover of Stevie Wonder's 'Golden
Lady'...but we don't understand! Not a quarter of the funkiness
of 'Virgo' - an instrumental finding Jose in an electrified
mood, giving Dennis Coffey a rare old run for his money! A far
better track and the real reason why this album is one that's
definitely worth tracking down.
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