cover that you no longer remember what tbe first one sounds like and you can start all over again. In his most headlong passages at the keyboard, Mr. Williams remains noncom mittal but the blend of piano and orchestra is very easy to take. Recorded during more than one session, the orchestra is led by a succession of conductors-Hal Kanner and lIiarty Gold. This may explain why the piano is hjlard in the right channel during some ~g HT------ selections, in the left during others. Listening to Jane Morgan-but only when you have finished soldering-you may note that tape has a way of smoothing out her vowel sounds in a manner that reminds one of t he British songstress, Vera Lynn. These predominantly Latin love songs are sung in English and Spanish but the listener seldom ~ThNi~~ is able to forget that Miss Morgan r emain ~ , throughout the undertaking, an int~res tingly normal Anle l'ican girl. If you ' tOe willin g to CHESTER SANTO N':: place glamour above a search for a uthenticity, you'll like this engaging collection of songs ill which the vocalist, fortunately, was not al bring up the presence of the right channel to lowed to crowd the mike. that of the left. Adjustment of levels alone The symbol 0 indicates t he United does not restore complete balance in this case. Stereo Tapes 4-track 7 V2 ips tape Later stereo recordings by London exhibit bet Ray Conniff: Concert in Rhythm Vol. 2 number. When Mr. Santo.n has lis ter channel balance. When relegated to usage Columbia CS 8212 tened to the tape only, the tape as background mUSiC, this reel's length should prove qui te welcome. One of the complain ts Flexibility in a stereo preamp is not a lux number is listed first. Otherwise, the against two-track stereo was the playing time. ury when dealing with some of Columbia's pop corresponding tape number is fur Items short enough for the average budget releases. Engineering in Ray Connifi"s best nished by United Stereo Tapes. provided a relatively'-brief period of unin selling stereo albums-this is his eighth in terrupted music. This reel holds the contents the last two years-appears to be veering to· of two discs, giving side one the duration ward the low-price console market. This Con of two sides of a record. The twent y-four cert in Rhythm was geared to the assump ONDON RECOR'!lS, reversing a long-stand movie tunes offer fe,,,, surprises,. unless you're tion that playback in the home was going to ing position on the question of tape vs. one of the rare mortals still unfamiliar w ith be effective only to tbe viCinity of 10,000 cps. elisc, decided a few months ago to Mantovani's treatment of Three Coins in the I took sbelter in the NARTB position. Other L major labels, apparently -more optimistic about Fountain. The tape really spotlights the actual make its top recol'dings available on 7.5 current playback conditions, manage quite ips, four-track reels. News of London's plunl, of objects that could be COins as they strike the water in three locations--dead cen nicely with a reasonably fiat curve tbrough agreement with United Stereo Tapes re ter and then at each side of the stereo area. ou t a greater part of the hearing range. In polished the morale of everyone interested that way, tbey have little or no need for the in the future of tape as a home medium. echo Columbia introduces here in order ·to ob A few days before tile word l'eached the Stanley Black: Cash Bo x Instrume ntal tain presence. The rhythm section takes on a gbostly ring when tbe chorus and orchestra secondary circle of insiders, tape dealers Hits 0 LPM "'700 11 ; London 158 have their quiet moments. If you've beard in New York City were alrea dy tallying Ted Heath: Hits I Missed Vol. 1 of this series, you're partially prepared their future profits in Mantovani tapes. o LPM 70007; London 116 for the new and u rbane designs that Conniff fashions with a wordless chorus as he raids The prospect of more symphonies, con If the in it ial release is an example, it will certos, and operas by top artists could be t he opera house and concert hall. Mixing be some time before London artists of only voices and instruments in the writings of the shot in the arm that reel -to-reel has average popularity appear on theil' tapes. Puccini, Coward, and Lehar, he has evolved ~'hese best sellers are logical candidates to needed in the classical market. Pop fans, a homogenized sound that is unique in th~ who have never been starved for stereo re lead the parade. In all probability, disc sales industry. . leases from the earliest days of two-track will continue to be an important factor in the choice of material selected for release on tape. tape, can now roam in greener pastures. Neither of these gentlemen (nor Edmundo Ros How The West Was Won who is also prominent in the first release) can RCA Victor LSO 6070 STEREOPHON Ie be classified as unknown, in the field of popular RCA has farmed out the western balf of music. the country to an ouside producer-Project Mantovani Film Encores, Vol. 1 and 2 Close miking brings out blazing detail in Records, Inc. This is a West Coast outfit in o LPK 70003; London 124 and 164 the Stanley Black orchestrations. Holiday 101" which Bing Crosby has been taking more than St.·ings, Ap,-il in Po,-tugal, Blue 'Pango, and a fatherly intel"est. A wedding of popula r and Originally promised for release in the early other top bits sound fresh all over again. The follr talent, this recording is tied in wi th the weeks of 1960, the first London tapes ar harp is more prominent in t he shimmering series of articles on the Old West that ap rived in time for review in this fssue. Several arrangement of Ebb Tide. If you take the trou peared not too long ago in Dile magazine. questions occupied my mind when I unpacked ble to memorize the -topmost layer of sound The plan of the producer, Simon Rady, calls the first shipment. Would a four-track tape that issues from the Latin percussion section for a collection of songs actually used by the recording by London make possible a closer in DeUcado, you'll have a handy reference in pioneers. This two-record album, in its nine approximation in the home of the sound con dicating that all is well in the response of a sections, covers the days of t he first explor tained in their master tapes? The answers be stereo playbacl, bead. Other four-track tapes ers, the rancheL·s and Indian raiders, the Gold gan to tumble forth after the first dozen revo may have the range- covered in this particular Rush and the railroads in addition to the in lutions of the reel. On a wide-range system, selection but very few of them have the clean evitable desperadoes and cowboys. The cast the characteristic London sound is very much liness of sound, bas quite a contingent of Hollywood folk in evidence. A moderately experienced listener Tape does little to enhance the appeal of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, the John Hal will probably be able to spot a London tape the Ted Heath album. The sound is no better loran Singers and conductor Bob Thompson. blindfolded even when the artist Is not so than average, A good l ikeness of tbe ranks However, with the aid of Jimmy Driftwood well Imown as this one. My first move in play of a large dance band is preserved in the (can you top that Ilame for a folk singer?) back was a reduction of treble Similar to that stereo layout but some of the arra ngements and Sam Hinton, who- bring a more direct dictated by mouo Londou LP's of pre-RIAA are not up to par for the Heath folio. The authority to the old songs, mhlimum require days. (But then, my new ultra-narrow gap Twelfth St.·eet Rag, with its overtones of ments are met for home-spun atmosphere. Per playback head still gleams with a gem-like Spike Jones, is still rather hard to believe. haps the most vaIn able contribution is the flame.) Definition of the upper str ings is scholarship of John and Alan Lomax who slightly better than that found In the disc adapted and edited many of the songs. A lav version of t hese film hits. Particularly in high Roger Willi-ams: Songs of the Fabulous ish booklet, in color, offers paintings of pio level passages, the eighteen violins used in a Century 0 KT 45006; Kapp 5005·S (2) neer life. The producers deserve credit for the typical Mantovani arrangement show less ten measure of authenticity maintained in an Item dency to coalesce or "bleed" together on stereo Jane Morgan: Jane in Spain aimed at the widest audience. tape. With the banks of strings mostly in the KT 41016; Kapp 3014 left channel, many listeners may obtain a o more pleasing balance through use of dissimi The next time you're looking for "music Music From Million Dollar Movies lar rolloff of treble in the two channels. I to solder by," investigate this reel starring the RCA Victor LSC 2380 found that a smaller amount of treble rolloff qUiet pianist, Roger Williams. This twin in the right channel acted somewhat in the album is so bland in nature you can play it If the last word exists in big-orchestra re manner of a balance control. It helped to all evening during the connections of the cordings of current movie music, this may trickiest circuits. By the t ime you've finished well be it. There are several impressive fac the eight hundred tunes on the reel (six hun tors "going" for us In this Boston Pops re * 12 FOTest Ave., Hastings on Hudson, dred is probably a more accurate count- they lease. The newest of these is the one that will N . Y. just sound llke eight hundred) you may dis- (Continued on page 69)
8 AUDIO • MAY, 1960