Percy Faith 16 Most Requested Songs CD

Conductor-arranger Percy Faith made his greatest direct impact on popular music during the 1950's, and fully half of this 16 song collection represents the highlights of his output from that decade, from the spritely "Swedish Rhapsody" and "Moulin Rouge" through his instrumental of "A Summer Place." Highlights of this very nicely mastered compilation include "Delicado," which features Stan Freeman's rippling harpsichord, and the ethereal "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" . Faith and other makers of pop instrumental music were put on the defensive by rock 'n roll, to the point of fighting a rear guard action in the 1960's, but it had its virtues -- the articulation of the individual instrumental voices is rather bracing for the listener who can appreciate those attributes, and Faith does manage to capture the essence of the original material, no more so than in "A Summer Place." One of Max Steiner's final triumphs as a composer, the instrumental came to richer, more vibrant life in Faith's hands, so much so that the composer relinquished the baton to Faith at a recorded live performance in 1963. The 60's material here is more uneven -- "I Will Follow You," adapted from the Petula Clark/Peggy March hit, fares very nicely in the hands of Faith's string section, reeds, and winds. "The Girl From Ipanema" is nothing to write home about, however, and it's clear by the mid-1960's the conductor-arranger was selling tracks like "MacArthur Park" by emphasizing sides of the song that were markedly different from their chart hit renditions. The sound is superb and the annotation is excellent, although one wishes that more information about specific songs were included. ~ Bruce Eder
Perobably the best of the many single-disc Percy Faith compilations, Sony's 16 MOST REQUESTED SONGS collects the original recordings-many of the other reissues have later stereo re-recordings, and some are even new recordings of Faith's original arrangements!-of a well-chosen selection of Faith's best work from throughout his career. From his exquisite '50s work like the Latin-tinged "Malaguena" and the film theme "The Song From Moulin Rouge," through his early '60s career high point "Theme From A Summer Place" to his somewhat less interesting late '60s and early '70s work (including a rather bizarre and entertaining take on Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park"), 16 MOST REQUESTED SONGS condenses the entire career of this easy listening master into just under an hour of beautiful instrumental music.