Customer Reviews

The Winner's Circle/Today's Greatest Hits

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As someone who likes the music of Arthur Lyman especially his warm, romantic and tender melodies I am highly delighted about the release of this set of 9 CDs as a reissue of part of his recordings. The reissue appears in good quality close to the original issues of vinyls in the late 50's and 60's.
Unforunately there are a few remarks:
Examples:
1. at least on Lyman '66 "The Boy From Laupahoehoe": a rhythm error
exists at 1:33 where some portion of the recording is missing. This
could have been corrected resp. compensated easily. I have tried it
successfully.
2. "Colorful Percussions": Dropout on left channel between 2:41,900 and
2:42,700. That dropout appears on the original vinyl too. Even that (I
have also tried to correct successfully) could have been done during
mastering.
3. There are a few tracks in mono, but why the complete 12 tracks
of "Bwana á" are in mono cannot be understood.

Hawaii-born Arthur Lyman joined with Martin Denny to invent "exotica" on the latter's 1957 debut album. Exotica combined the melodic sounds of the islands with unusual percussion (notably the scratching sound of the guiro), pop changes, and human-voiced bird calls to create a soundtrack to the late `50s fascination with all things tiki. As a vibraphonist, Lyman's jazz background added an element of cool to Denny's classical training. Splitting after their debut release, Lyman created a new quartet and recorded dozens of exotica-inflected albums for the Hi-Fi, Life and Crescendo labels. Collectors' Choice latest series of reissues gathers eighteen of Lyman's releases from Hi-Fi and Life, fits them two per CD, includes full-panel reproductions of both album covers, adds a full-panel back cover and new liner notes from Scram's Kim Cooper and David Smay.

The Winner's Circle, waxed in the latter half of 1968, picked its song list primarily from the pop-charts. Even the film and stage selections were drawn from among the popular songs of the day. The selections are thus less inventive, and in retrospect appeal as kitschy. The arrangements, including guitar and full-kit drums, are adventurous in the context of Lyman's earlier catalog, but can also sound to be trying too hard to "get with it." Still, the haunting "Windmills of Your Mind" is nicely spiced by the interplay of guitar and vibraphone riffs, and the album's jazz arrangements of "Talk to the Animals," "Love is Blue," "Mrs. Robinson," and "Sunrise, Sunset" range from light and cool to fast-rolling and freely swinging. With the exotica touches stripped away, Lyman really shines as a straight vibe player. His mallets strike chords that are playful, nostalgic, moody, and moving. Highlights include a haunting arrangement of Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence," and a superb bossa nova of "With a Little Help From My Friends" that adds a gear to Sergio Mendes earlier hit.

"Today's Greatest Hits" closed out Lyman's eleven year run on the Hi-Fi/Life labels with eleven contemporary selections. The album opens with a spare harmonica-led arrangement of John Barry's title theme to "Midnight Cowboy" that's even more downcast for its lack of the original's overt percussion. The film's other hit, Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'," is given a Latin beat and light vibes for its melancholy melody. As on The Winner's Circle LP, some of the well-worn contemporary titles (e.g., "Aquarius" and "Hey Jude") lend a kitsch factor, but Lyman's playing rescues just about every one. "Love Theme From `Romeo and Juliet'" is forlorn, searching and dramatic, and a bossa nova beat turns Oliver's "Good Morning Starshine" into a real dance floor mover. The album's best treat is a cover of the theme song to television's "Hawaii Five-O" that opens with a flute against heavy exotica percussion before developing a swinging go-go beat.

The performances on both of these albums are fine, but neither the arrangements nor song selections break any new ground. Production notes: "Windmills of Your Mind" is presented here in mono, and the track listing for "Today's Greatest Hits" is printed incorrectly on the liner card. The correct track order is: Midnight Cowboy; Aquarius; Everybody's Talkin'; Love Theme From "Romeo and Juliet"; Spinning Wheel; Abergavenny; Hey Jude; Good Morning Starshine; California Summer; Hawaii Five-O; Theme From a Summer Place. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]