Easy Hits

6-23-2011

Easy Hits

LIGHT SINGERS, ENOCH – Born To Be Wild

HARMONICATS – Theme from “The Avengers”

MEXICALI SINGERS, THE – Sweet Talkin’ Guy

MELVOIN, MIKE – Ruby Tuesday

ZENTNER, SI – House of the Rising Sun

CARE PACKAGE, THE – Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again)

MONTENEGRO, HUGO – Just Like A Woman

LETTERMEN – Touch Me

LIGHT SINGERS, ENOCH – Hello, I Love You

VENTURES, THE – Mighty Quinn

MARBLE ARCH ORCHESTRA – Whiter Shade of Pale, A

FRANGIPANE, RON – Venus

SOUND SYMPOSIUM, THE – Respect

BAJA MARIMBA BAND – Along Comes Mary

PAGE, BILL – Somethin’ Stupid

LETTERMEN, THE – Light My Fire

FERGUSON, MAYNARD – Living In The Past

LAST, JAMES – I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock ‘N’ Roll Band)

FAITH, PERCY – Oye Como Va

ALDRICH, RONNIE – My Sweet Lord

BATT, MIKE – Come And Get It

KALLMAN CHORUS, GUNTER – Goodbye

DAVIES, BILL – We Gotta Get Outta This Place

HOLLYRIDGE STRINGS – Big Girls Don’t Cry

SEVERINSEN, DOC – In The Court Of The Crimson King

BUTTON-DOWN BRASS, THE – Theme from “Shaft”

For years, I have amused myself and others with volumes of “Easy Hits”.  The track listing above is typical of the 10 volumes of this stuff that I have originated – painstaking pulling these treasures off of old easy listening LP’s, dragging them kicking and screaming onto CD-R’s.

In this volume, there are some fairly unlikely candidates ofr the “EX Hit” treatment – I mean, a jazzy easy listening cover version of “In The Court Of The Crimson King”?  Doc must’ve really been bored to tackle that one!

But all of the volumes in this series contain “hits of the day” (roughly ’65 – ’70) performed in the easy listening orchestra (and / or chorus) style.  I think the “EZ Hit” style continued in England and Europe for quite a while after it was given up in the US (think: Geoff Love, Swingle Singers, Swingle II etc.)

If you’d ever like to hear examples as such, drop me a line.  I have tons of this stuff.  Can’t believe some of the material that was chosen to form into “EZ Hit” versions!

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