Liner notes from original albums and CDs for proofreading
Percy Faith is no newcomer to the field of Latin music. His albums of Mexican, Brazilian and Cuban music have delighted aficionados and non-aficionados alike for many years now. It is with great pleasure that we present Maestro Faith’s latest album of Latin music, Latin Themes for Young Lovers.
The songs chosen for this album are the very pick of the new crop of Latin music that has been sweeping America. The warm subtleties of the bossa nova are captured deliciously in One Note Samba, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars and The Girl From Ipanema. Echoes of the pomp and pathos of the plaza de toros are exquisitely relived in The Lonely Bull. Some of the excitement and color of our own native Latin colony is caught in Percy Faith’s eloquent rendition of Spanish Harlem. Mix yourself a Margarita, adjust your tweeters and castanets, and without giving a thought to whether you can drink the water or not, you will be completely captivated by a world of Latin Themes for Young Lovers.
E.L.K.
When attendance of recordings sessions becomes part of the everyday routine, it’s easy to take what you hear for granted. In a week’s time a regular session-goer can easily become jaded, become accustomed to hearing fine performances from fine musicians and vocalists.
The evening of December 2, 1969, at the Columbia Records studios in Los Angeles, I must admit, turned this “regular session-goer” into a believer again. After ten years of sessions, I was at that very first session again; as impressed as the first time I saw live musicians and singers recording. (I’m afraid that I had nearly forgotten the feeling.) That’s what a Percy Faith session does to you: The brilliance of the strings and the richness of the chorus transport even the most jaded listener into that too infrequently visited land of spectacular sound. Whether your bad is contemporary music or tends to lean toward the more pop items, there is something for you here: two movies (Ballad Of Easy Rider, and Everybody’s Talkin’ from “Midnight Cowboy”) and nine of the biggest of today’s hits.
You won’t hear Percy playing an instrument on this album (in spite of the fact that he’s a fine pianist). What you will hear is Percy playing thirty-five musicians and a chorus of sixteen.
The next session beings whenever you like, and the nice part is that Percy’s next session can be wherever you play it.
Enjoy, Bil Keane
Why is it with fads constantly coming and going—Rock & Roll, Country & Western, Psychedelic, Folk, Blues—why is it that this man has been able to remain in the mainstream of the American pop music scene?
Percy Faith’s secret (if I may be allowed to reveal it) is simply his ability to listen; to be aware. A discussion with Percy today is likely to touch on Feliciano, The Doors, Blood, Sweat & Tears or Donavan. Had you spoken to him ten years ago, Buddy Holly would have been the center of the conversation.
Blend an awareness and perhaps more importantly an understanding of contemporary music with an expertise at arranging and conducting an orchestra and voices and you have the brilliant sound of the Percy Faith Orchestra and Chorus. The sound of today!
They’re all here, the biggest of today’s hits, a cross-section of the American musical taste. Songs like Aquarius and Good Morning Starshine from the smash musical “Hair,” Love Theme From “Romeo and Juliet” and Blood, Sweat & Tears’ Spinning Wheel—just to mention a few. All 1969 and all have been residents of the coveted #1 slot on the nations best-seller charts.
As if this weren’t enough of a musical experience for one album, there’s more—a very special gift from Percy to you: Summer Place ’69 (The original was done by Percy Faith’s orchestra in September of 1959 and has sold in excess of three-million records.) A beautiful song when Percy first recorded it with his orchestra, even more beautiful today with the addition of the chorus.
Here they are, today’s songs in today’s sound for today’s people—for you.
— Bil Keane
As any visitor knows, there is more to Cuba than rum and sugar, more than gambling and good times, more than historic shrines and beautiful scenery. There is music, fascinating and unusual music, and it is constantly in the air. For this dazzling musical journey to Cuba, Percy Faith has selected a program of characteristic Cuban melodies, some familiar, some relatively unknown, and arranged them in that vivacious fashion for which he has become famous.
Not unnaturally, a large portion of the program has been chosen from the works of Ernesto Lecuona, Cuba’s most brilliant composer. The Malagueña of the title is followed by such lastingly enjoyable numbers as Danza negra, Andalucía (known in an adaptation as “The Breeze and I”), Damisela encantadora, the flashing Siboney, La cumparsa and Para Vigo me voy, also known as “Say Sí Sí.” In addition, another Lecuona is represented, Marguerita Lecuona, who wrote the provocative Tabu. Other familiar names will be those of Gonzalo Roig (Quiéreme mucho, or “Yours”), and Moises Simons, present with Marta and that most famous of all Cuban songs, El manisero or “The Peanut Vendor.”
El manisero was almost the first of the Latin-American melodies to become a success in the United States, and did much to help popularize the then-new rhumba. It has since been followed by scores of lovely and lively tunes, and by other dances as well, many of them originating in Cuba. In fact, when Percy Faith designed this collection of Cuban music, he made sure that each of the five major ballroom dances of Cuban origin were included—the rhumba, the conga, the guaracha, the samba and, of course, the most recent, the cha-cha.
The excitement and color contained in this collection is fulfillment of the primise of the title and artist. For Cuban music is enormously invigorating, and Percy Faith has long been famous for his arranging and conducting of Cuban and Latin American melodies. Among the most popular and rewarding collections of recent years have been his “Viva!” (CL 1075), a fiery exposition of the music of Mexico, and “Delicado” (CL 681), which takes its title from a Faith composition that sold well over a million records. His sympathies are not confined to those regions, of course, as demonstrated by his “Continental Music,” and the splendid omnibus collections of the music of George Gershwin and Victor Herbert, to say nothing of his instrumental albums of Broadway musicals. But Canadian-born Mr. Faith seems to find a special delight in the frisky rhythms and sultry airs, in arranging them for unusual combinations of instruments, and introducing novel—to mainland ears—effects. In Malagueña he has accomplished this agreeable feat with even more than his customary richness, and the profile of Cuba he presents is entirely winning, a colorful and enchanting likeness of a colorful and enchanting island.
The legendary composer and orchestra leader Percy Faith, who had many best-selling recordings in his own right, as well as working with some of the top recordings artists of the Fifties and Sixties, was actually born in Toronto in April 1908 and started his professional musical career working in Canadian radio – most notably the Canadian Broadcasting Company – before moving to the United States in 1940 when he joined NBC. Faith’s earliest musical ambition had been to work as a pianist but, after seriously injuring his hands in a fire, he turned to conducting and composing.
Faith had learned to play the piano and violin as a child and his musical skills came to the fore in the early Fifties when he was appointed by Mitch Miller, the head of A&R at Columbia, to be musical director of popular music for the company. His first big recording success was with a very young up-and-coming Tony Bennett with whom he had three million-selling singles. Later Faith worked with Guy Mitchell whose successes included My Heart Cries For You and Doris Day, another Columbia signing. In his own right, Faith arguably became the pioneer of the ‘easy listening’ genre thanks to hits like Cross My Fingers, All My Love, On Top Of Old Smoky (with vocals by the legendary Burl Ives), Delicado, Where Is Your Heart (from the hit film Moulin Rouge and reached the top of the American pop charts in 1953), and Return To Paradise which was also a big hit the same year.
During the Fifties Percy Faith moved into the movies with great success, writing the music for such silver screen hits as Love Me Or Leave Me in 1955, starring Doris Day and based on the life story of the singer Ruth Etting. Later, the Sixties, he composed the soundtrack music for Tammy Tell Me True (starring Sandra Dee), I’d Rather Be Rich in 1964, The Third Day in 1965, and The Oscar the following year. His biggest recording success however was with Theme From A Summer Place, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States for nine weeks in early 1960. The music for the film, which starred Dorothy McGuire, Sandra Dee, Troy Donahue and Arthur Kennedy among others, had been composed for the 1959 film by Max Steiner. Percy Faith’s recording of the song was released in September 1959 but didn’t enter the American charts until the following January. After a six week climb, it finally reached number one and also became Billboard’s number one single of 1960.
Percy Faith died in February 1976 at the age of 67 years but the musical memories live on, and this new collection of Faith favourites includes such classics as Theme From A Summer Place, Moulin Rouge’s Where Is Your Heart, Delicado, And This Is mY Beloved, Under The Bridges Of Paris, Cole Porter’s What Is This Thing Called Love?, March Of The Siamese Children (from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King And I), Stranger In Paradise (from the film and stage musical Kismet, and a huge hit for Tony Bennett), and The Syncopated Clock. Percy Faith’s easy listening music brought great pleasure to countless millions of fans around the world, via his many recordings, and works in films, television and radio, and this CD is a more than worthy tribute to his enormous musical personality and versatility.
Chris White
| CHANGING WITH THE TIMES | |
| Being a play in two scenes, with an epilogue in which is contained the moral. | |
| TIME: | A year ago. |
| PLACE: | Johnny's Room. |
| FATHER THYME: | Will you please turn your radio down, Johnny? Don't you youngsters ever listen to good music nowadays? Why in my day we had music. Real melody, like . . . |
| JOHNNY THYME: | (factually): YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS, SHOO FLY PIE AND APPLE PAN DOWDY, MAIRZY DOATS. You mean like those, Dad? |
| FATHER THYME: | No, hang it all, we could hear the melody in those days. They didn't throw in all that bangin' and twangin'. |
| JOHNNY THYME: | Have you heard this new Percy Faith album, THEMES FOR YOUNG LOVERS, Dad? |
| FATHER THYME: | Percy Faith. Now you're talkin' about a real musician. Great arranger, that Faith, and a superb conductor. What has he got to do with bangin' and twangin'. |
| JOHNNY THYME: | Nothing, Dad, but in this new album of his he does all our favorite tunes, new songs every one of them, with a big orchestra, a great beat, and melody to spare. It's really beautiful. |
| FATHER THYME: | This I have to hear! |
| TIME: | The present |
| PLACE: | Father Time's den. |
| FATHER THYME: | Oh, Johnny, on the way home from the office I happened to pick up this album I thought might interest you. Let's see now, YOU DON'T OWN ME, WIVES AND LOVERS, FORGET HIM, BLUE ON BLUE, SEE THE FUNNY LITTLE CLOWN. The album is called MORE THEMES FOR YOUNG LOVERS, by Percy Faith. Ring a bell? |
| JOHNNY THYME: | I guess you're really not so old after all, Dad. |
| EPILOGUE: | Bringing the musical generations together, and for the entertainment of all, Percy Faith returns to the scene of his recent hit album, and offers you this bouquet of late-blooming hits. Have a ball! Have some MORE THEMES FOR YOUNG LOVERS! |
| E.L.K. | |
Can a 52-year-old arranger-conductor cut one of the best-selling instrumentals of the rock era? The answer for Percy Faith was a resounding yes. The man known for Theme From A Summer Place was well into middle-age when he did an easy listening version of the theme from the popular movie. He already had a long string of hit albums and singles, had provided instrumental backing for other artists on their successful recordings and was a noted radio and TV arranger.
He was born April 7, 1908, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. By the time he was 6, Faith had demonstrated musical abilities, drumming out rhythms on family chinaware. Unwilling to encourage his drumming interests, Faith’s dad responded to his son’s musical interests by buying him a violin and paying for lessons. After three years of fiddling, Faith turned to the piano, which provide to be his forte.
By the time he was 11, Faith was working professionally, providing “Cowboys and Indian” music for silent films in a Toronto theater. The youngster was so short he had to sit on a stack of sheet music to reach the piano. For his efforts, he took home $3 a night and carfare. When he was 15, Faith debuted as a concert pianist and at 18 was writing special arrangements for other musicians and touring with a small concert group.
In 1928, Faith and Joe Allabough, who would go on to manage a radio station in Chicago, formed a radio team they called “Faith and Hope.” Faith was responsible for the music and Allabough, or “Hope,” was the comedian. By 1933, Faith was a staff conductor, arranger and pianist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a position he would hold for seven years. His duties included writing music for special programming including coverage of a visit to Canada by the King and Queen of England.
Faith’s work in Canada was not unnoticed by broadcasters in the United States, and, in 1940, he left his home country to serve as musical director for NBC. By 1950, he was working for Columbia Records, charting with Cross My Fingers, featuring a vocal by Russ Emery. He went Top 10 that year with All My Love, followed by the holiday themed Christmas In Killarney, done with the Shillelagh Singers.
Besides arranging and producing hits for himself, Faith worked his musical magic as an arranger and producer for a number of artists including Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day and others. He was also an accomplished writer and his My Heart Cries For You was a hit for Guy Mitchell, Dinah Shore and Vic Damone in the ‘50s.
Although he was busy with other Columbia artists, Faith continued to have his own hits. In the spring of 1951 he went Top 10 with On Top Of Old Smoky, an old folk song that featured a Burl Ives vocal. He also did well with When The Saints Go Marching In and its flip-side, I Want To Be Near You. In the spring of 1952, he topped the charts with Delicado, featuring Stan Freeman on harpsichord.
In the spring of 1953, Faith had a hit with Swedish Rhapsody. After about a month, the B-Side, Song From ‘Moulin Rouge’ (Where Is Your Heart), with a strong vocal by Felicia Sanders, charted and went all the way to No. 1, where it stayed for 10 weeks, earning Faith his first gold record. He followed with another movie theme, Return To Paradise, and closed out the year on the charts with Many Times.
Faith continued to score popular singles with his lush instrumental sound even as rock ‘n roll took over the pop charts. In 1954 he did well with Dream, Dream, Dream and The Bandit. In ’56, he charted with Valley Valparaiso, We All Need Love and With A Little Bit Of Luck. He continued to do well with albums, especially the romantic “Passport To Romance,” issued in 1956, and a collection of songs from “My Fair Lady” that went Top 10 in 1957. His albums were also popular in the ‘60s, as he opened the decade with the Top 10 “Bouquet.” Faith also went Top 10 in 1960 with “Jealousy” and did the same in early ’61 with songs from “Camelot.”
Faith would go to #1 again with another movie theme. “A Summer Place” was a 1959 film that starred veterans Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire as disapproving parents while teen stars Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue played misunderstood young lovers. The theme was written by Max Steiner and recorded by Faith in September 1959.
There was some radio play for Theme From “A Summer Place,” but it took almost six months for the record to finally catch on. It charted in the second week of 1960 and headed to the top of the Billboard pop charts, where it remained for nine weeks, selling more than a million copies. It also won a Grammy as record of the year and picked up nominations for best performance by an orchestra and best arrangement.
Theme From “A Summer Place” was followed by the Top 40 Theme For Young Lovers. Meanwhile, Faith’s albums continued to reflect his more adult-oriented sound, as “Mucho Gusto! More Music Of Mexico” sold well in 1961 and “Bouquet Of Love” and “The Music Of Brazil!” were hits in 1962. In 1963, Faith tried something different. That summer, the “Themes For Young Lovers” album was issued, featuring 12 current pop hits that got the warm Faith treatment, including Go Away Little Girl, Our Day Will Come and I Will Follow Him. It became an immediate best-seller, was certified gold and nominated for a Grammy in the best performance by orchestra category.
After “Shangri-La” in 1963 and “Great Folk Themes” in ’64, Faith was back in the summer of that year with “More Themes For Young Lovers.” He would continue into the ‘70s with popular albums that focused on movie themes and pop hits of the day, from “Dr. Zhivago’s” “Somewhere My Love” to Santana’s Black Magic Woman. His last charting album, “Day By Day,” was issued in 1972.
Faith died of cancer on February 9, 1976, not long after overseeing an updated disco version of Theme From “A Summer Place.” He left a rich legacy of music for humself and other artists that covered 50 years and hundreds of records. This collection of two of his best albums for Columbia clearly demonstrates his talent and versatility.
–Mark Marymont
Billboard chart numbers courtesy of BPI Communications and Joel Whitburn’s Record Research
Once again, Percy Faith and his band of Mariachis arrive beneath our balcony to present another album of the music of Mexico. To all of you who so enjoyed Percy’s first album of Mexican music, Viva! (CL 1075/CS 8038), we must apologize for taking almost five years to fill requests for a sequel. But Percy has been busy. Since Viva! he has recorded: the music of Gershwin and Victor Herbert; the music of Cuba while he could still visit the island; music from motion pictures including Porgy and Bess and A Summer Place; the scores of the Broadway hits The Sound of Music and Camelot; three albums of great popular favorites in which his unique arranging talents brought new life and beauty to the music of other composers (Bouquet, Bon Voyage and Jealousy); and an album of his own compositions, Carefree. (In fact, Carefree reveals more about Percy’s musical tastes and styles than any other, for this is his own music, which describes in a composer’s personal language a world full of places and people he has remembered.)
But all the while, Percy has talked of another group of Mexican compositions. For in the music of this country seems to lie the essence of Percy’s own musical enthusiasms, the perfect reflection of his varied style. Now he has found, once again, a half dozen familiar melodies, perfectly suited to the soaring string sound of his orchestra. He has found, too, another half dozen inspirations for his famous rhythmic vigor, punctuated with the wonderful sounds of shakers, scratchers, clappers, and whip cracks. And now that Percy has moved to California, the scent of tacos, enchiladas, and beans is wafted over the mountains to his front door as a daily reminder to begin making music, Mucho Gusto!
The album begins with the title song, an original composition by Percy as his tribute to Mexico and its gifted musicians. Mucho Gusto! is a wild, galloping tune filled with whistles and whip cracks. It features brass and three guitars as a rhythmic phalanx. Besame Mucho is the famous hit by Consuelito Velasquez, who still lives in Mexico. Over the stereophonic conversation of tambourine and maracas, soft strings and woodwinds carry the melody. La Negra is typical son from Jalisco, featuring solo trumpet and the fury of a colorful Mexican dance rhythm. Lorenzo Barcelata’s famous Maria Elena has been the subject of a fine Mexican mystery for many years; while the song is obviously a beautiful serenade to a beautiful woman, Senor Barcelata’s wife was named Maria Theresa. Percy’s cascading strings, a solo guitar with cello counterpoint, and woodwinds are featured.
Moncayo is one of Mexico’s two or three most famous composers. Huapango, featured here, is an excerpt from his longer work adapted by Percy for this album. Again, the Mexican flavor of trumpet, guitar, and tambourine is highlighted. Las Mananitas is a song played most often on a Saint’s Day or birthday by the Mariachis, the strolling players who got their name form the French word for marriage. It is a moment of romance, a melody for the pretty girl who listens on the balcony.
Las Altenitas is a tune identified with the girls of the mountains around Guadalajara, full of gaiety and color. High strings and an easy dance rhythm are Percy’s choice for Perfidia, perhaps the most famous of all Mexican songs. An Cielito Lindo is almost as well known. Percy uses muted strings and woodwinds for this famous waltz. Adios Mariquita Linda is a Mexican “goodbye” song, again familiar to most of us north of the border. Cocula is a little town near Guadalajara, and this charming arrangement describes it. Finally, La Chaparrita ends the album with slow, stately rhythm, a melody for strings which seems to sum up the beauty and life of this music and Mexico.
Irving Townsend
Music for her, music about her, music that sings of romance and tenderness and the pleasures of love . . . these are the melodies that Percy Faith presents in this collection. This is the music of romance, when all’s right with the world and when the heart sings even though the lips are silent. The melodies and the ideas are those that course through the minds of lovers, and would find utterance if they were able to phrase them so neatly. Each of them is addressed to what grammarians call the second person singular, to Her, and it is for her this music is played.
Who is she, what is she, for whom this serenade is intended? She is his, certainly, and is everything he needs. She is the face he finds in the morning sun, the person he loves to spend long evenings with. She is lovely, too, and her presence is inviting. A home-maker and a personage of dreams, a pillar of strength and the sharer of all his possessions. Her spell is magical, and her breathless charm unchanging.
Does such a paragon exist? In lovers’ dreams, yes, and in these glowing songs, as presented by Percy Faith and his Orchestra. Songs of romance seem invariably to draw forth the loveliest melodies composers can offer, and some of the most sensitive verses of lyricists. There is a gentleness in these songs that is lacking in those that deal with thwarted love, and a pleasantly affirmative feeling. These are memorable songs, all of them, and their description of romance is as evocative as ever.
Percy Faith’s arrangements of these melodies is superbly in keeping with the atmosphere. Perhaps no other arranger-conductor has been so successful in the presentation of romantic music, keeping the feeling properly rich and yet not letting the tunes get smothered in masses of sound. The Faith technique, famous from the earliest days of his radio broadcasts, has become even more famous with his splendid recordings, and the development of high-fidelity sound has enhanced the sonorous depth of his arrangements. Whether he is presenting music from a Broadway show, lively Latin tunes, the lilting music of Europe, or, as in this case, romantic music, he tastefully points up the mood of the music with a fascinating interplay of orchestral voices and countermelodies.
In this collection of music for her, the suave, flowing components of the Faith style are wonderfully displayed, and they form a perfect complement for the music. These expressive songs, all of them favorites for several years, provide a splendid medium, for orchestral magic, and the magic, in turn, enhances the songs in a way that is both intimate and expansive. Here, then, is music for her (and music for you, too) in a collection designed to mirror the many-faceted qualities of a woman of dreams.
It is not particularly likely that when Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II set about putting “Tales of the South Pacific” to music they consciously went about creating a theatrical classic. A good show, yes. One that might take its place with “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel,” too. But what they produced was one of the most fabulously successful musicals ever written, one not even challenged until the appearance of “My Fair Lady.” The original production ran in New York City from April 7, 1949 for 1,925 performances and has since been twice revived. Only statisticians could compute the total number of performances by touring companies, foreign productions and those in summer theatres. In his biography of Richard Rodgers, David Ewen has pointed out that “by January 1957, the profit was just under five billion dollars.” And this did not count the screen version, in which the parts created by Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza are portrayed by Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi. Moreover; the Lp recording of the score, with the original cast, was the first long-playing record to sell more than a million copies.
There are a few diehards around who still have not succumbed to the charm and drama of “South Pacific;” there is always someone who legitimately does not like a show. But those millions who loved it when it was new have found that its charm does not diminish, but grows with the passing years. (This is also true of “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel.”) It is possible, though, that repeated hearings of the songs made them temporarily over-familiar, but in this superb recording, Percy Faith restores the original freshness. Who can hear Some Enchanted Evening without feeling again the warmth of the initial hearing? Or Younger Than Springtime, the joyous A Wonderful Guy or any of the other songs of that miraculous score? In Mr. Faith’s new arrangements, they take on all their old, familiar glow, and prove that it does not require a decade for a song to become a standard.
“South Pacific,” like so many other classic productions, was almost perfect from its first try-out performance. All that remained to be done, really, was to cut here and there so that the running time would fit within reasonable standards. Since there were no dances, as such, in the action, only dialogue and music could be removed, and so tightly was the show constructed that some of the songs had to go. One of these was a melody sung by the young naval lieutenant, called My Girl Back Home. Another, and severer loss, was the beautiful Loneliness of Evening, hitherto recorded only by Mary Martin on a now rare 78rpm record, and by Andre Kostelanetz in his two-record album of music by Richard Rodgers. It has been restored in the film version, and Percy Faith includes it in this recording in a singularly affecting arrangement.
This collection, like Percy Faith’s other souvenirs of fine Broadway musicals, presents the music of “South Pacific” not in the order of appearance, but in the form of a suite. Contrasts in tempos and moods that are effective on the stage are not necessarily the best for records, particularly without their lyrics, and so Mr. Faith has re-arranged the sequence to form an orchestral panorama of the score, moving from one number to another with that remarkable combination of ebullience and tragedy, romance and comedy, that is so uniquely a part of the production. This is a record to enjoy again and again, a splendid addition to the show-music shelf.
