Music from Hollywood and Percy Faith

My friend David F. recently asked if I had anything against the arranger and conductor Percy Faith, given that I had never posted one of his many, many LPs.

Well, I do like Percy and have many of his multitudinous albums, including this one, the subject of David's inquiry. I've owned Faith records since I was a avid record collector of seven, when I acquired Vic Damone's record of "On the Street Where You Live," which has a Faith arrangement. I loved his sound then and still do.

Percy Faith

This present LP, dating from 1953, is a good choice because it contains four lovely melodies from the films of the period - Dimitri's Tiomkin's "Return to Paradise," Heinz Roemheld's "Ruby" (from Ruby Gentry), Georges Auric's "Song from Moulin Rouge" and David Raksin's "Theme from The Bad and the Beautiful." Three of the four are particular favorites of mine, and "Return to Paradise" is enjoyably kitschy proto-exotica. "Ruby" has appeared here before in the Les Baxter recording, and "The Song from Moulin Rouge" in Arthur Fiedler's version.

All these items are presented in extended, 6-7 minute versions, unusual for an easy listening LP. So much the better to appreciate Faith's orchestrations, which he took very seriously. There's a Columbia promotional film in which he explains his methods to label head Goddard Lieberson, in the process insisting that orchestrators are as much composers as songwriters are. That's debatable, but there is no question that the craft requires great skill and knowledge, and that Faith was a master.

That's not to say that he was sui generis. You can hear the influence of Ronald Binge's Mantovani-style cascading strings in his writing, for example, and I would find it hard to identify any stylistic fingerprints that are Faith's alone.

Percy Faith conducts, Mitch Miller solos

On this record, there is much to enjoy, of course. On "Ruby," Faith uses an English horn as solo voice, unlike the hit versions by Richard Hayman and Les Baxter, which employ a warbling harmonica. The English horn solo was probably played by Mitch Miller, who brought Faith to Columbia and who collaborated with him on two instrumental LPs.

"The Song from Moulin Rouge," also known as "Where Is You Heart," was a gigantic hit for Faith, but in a different, shorter version featuring the impassioned voice of Felicia Sanders singing the William Engvick lyrics. I've included the vocal rendition in the download as a bonus, along with its flip side, "Swedish Rhapsody (Midsummer Vigil)," which itself was a hit for Faith. (You can hear Hugo Alfvén's original version, "Midsommarvaka," here.)

To me, the high point of the LP is "The Theme from The Bad and the Beautiful," gorgeous and extraordinarily well suited to the glamour and decadence of this story of Hollywood. Composer Raksin, who composed hundreds of film and television scores, is remembered today primarily for this theme and for the theme for "Laura," which became a much-recorded standard with Johnny Mercer's apt lyrics - which Raksin reportedly hated. The composer also had a hit in 1962 with his theme to the Ben Casey television show.

The LP was recorded in April 1953, I believe in Columbia's 30th Street studios. The sound is excellent. Columbia later added a few other songs to this 10-inch original to fill out a 12-inch LP.

Billboard, February 28, 1953

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Felicia Sanders Sings Kurt Weill

I am belatedly filling a request from some time ago with this fine recording from Felicia Sanders, performing the songs of Kurt Weill.

This is an exceptionally good record, with Sanders is excellent voice and in total sympathy with the material. The opposite of the cool singers then in vogue (although she may have picked up a trick or two from Chris Connor), her intense approach is much more along the lines of Judy Garland.

Felicia Sanders

The repertoire is drawn from Weill's American works, starting with 1935's Johnny Johnson. (Side note: the jacket doesn't mention it, but the lyrics for that play were by Paul Green.) "Mon Ami, My Friend" from Johnny Johnson is the closest in its sound world to Weill's German works. The liner notes aver that Sanders is evoking the music hall singers of Weimar Germany in her approach, but I also think she may be paying homage to her idol, Edith Piaf, and perhaps Lotte Lenya, who had recorded the song for the musical's 1955 studio cast.

Sanders' husband, Irving Joseph, authored the excellent arrangements, which stay away from the Die Dreigroschenoper sound for the most part, except for "Mon Ami, My Friend."

Original cover

The Time label marketed this LP in 1960 with a cover mimicking the minimalist style that Josef Albers had developed for Command records. My copy is from the Mainstream reissue of a few years later, which had a more appropriate cover. Unfortunately my pressing is mono, although the sound is well balanced and pleasing.

Felicia Sanders first came to public notice in 1953, with her vocal on Percy Faith's hit recording of "The Song from Moulin Rouge." She went on to be a popular cabaret singer at The Blue Angel and other New York boîtes. She died of cancer at a relatively early age.