|
Article - Lounge
Legends
Universal
585 317-2
Geoff
Leonard
On
the face of it, Lounge Legends seems to be yet another re-working
of John Barry’s Polydor back-catalogue. However, a more careful
look through the tracks reveals a few gems.
The
advantage the German arm of Universal had in putting together this
compilation was that since Polydor UK did their own early nineties
release, Universal have joined forces with MCA, Decca & Polydor
to form a vast empire. By a stroke of good fortune, this re-structuring
also brings into play other Barry releases from those labels. So
along with the standard fare from the ‘Play It Again’ sessions,
we also get a first release on CD for Paul Williams’ unused vocal
from ‘Day Of The Locust’, Scott Walker’s version of ‘This Way Mary’
and an extended version of ‘Down Deep Inside’ from Donna Summer.
The
Cass Elliott vocal from ‘Monte Walsh’ has been out on CD, but it’s
nonetheless welcome here, as is the inclusion of the theme from
‘The Ipcress File’, making its debut on a Universal compilation.
Aside
from this, we have the mixture much as before with small scale versions
of ‘Play It Again’, ‘Billy’ & ‘A Doll’s House’ competing with
the much richer ‘Midnight Cowboy’ (from ‘The Concert’), the delicate
and haunting ‘The Whisperers’ and the two quite different TV themes
– ‘Orson Welles Great Mysteries’ & ‘The Adventurer’.
The
liner notes, satisfyingly printed in English, are disappointing
only in length. There are virtually 3 blank pages out of the 8-page
booklet – a shocking waste of resources. Though it’s a nice idea
to show a montage of cover artwork from some of the original sources
for these tracks.
The
only real disappointment with this compilation is the absence of
any tracks from ‘Americans’ with the suggestion that Polydor no
longer own the rights to this sought-after album.
1. This
Way Mary
2. Diamonds Are
Forever
3. Play It Again
4. A Doll's House
5.
The Good Times Are Comin’ - Cass Elliott
6. Follow, Follow
7. Lolita
8.Theme from The
I.P.C.R.E.S.S. File
9.
Lonely Hearts - Paul Williams
10. Sail The Summer
Winds
11. Midnight Cowboy
12.
Down Deep Inside - Donna Summer
13. Orson Welles'
Great Mysteries
14. Boom!
15. The Whisperers
16. Walkabout
17.
This Way Mary - Scott Walker
18. The Adventurer
19. Billy
20. We Have All
The Time In The World
Geoff
Leonard |
