Old favorites.
Due to the age of the music, reproduction is not brilliant. A reasonable visit into the past.

Instrumental Bliss
Easily the hardest to find of all those in this volume had been the 1969 Charles Randolph Grean Sounde original Ranwood single release of Quentin's Theme from the old daytime vampire soap opera Dark Shadows. In mid-1969 it rose to # 3 Adult Contemporary (AC) and # 13 Billboard Pop Hot 100 b/w # 1 At The Blue Whale. And yet, until Eric Records came out with this volume it just wasn't to be found anywhere else in this quality.

Others in this category include: Armen's Theme by The Music of David Seville, an homage to his wife and fellow artist Kay Armen - a # 42 Hot 100 in December 1956; the Baja Marimba Band's first hit, Comin' In The Back Door, which just failed to make the Hot 100 Top 40 in late 1963/early 1964, settling for # 41; Ernie Freeman's Theme From "The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs" which charted at # 70 Hot 100 in 1960; I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman by Whistling Jack Smith [# 8 AC/# 20 Hot 100 in 1967]; and Sadie's Shawl by Bob Sharples And His Music [# 52 Hot 100 in 1956]. All rare gems.

The six pages of liner notes by Joseph E. Laredo are also a delight, with fascinating backgrounders on all the artists and tunes concerned, but especially enlightening [for me anyway] when it comes to Jorgen Ingmann, KoKoMo, Bob Sharples, Whistling Jack Smith (there was no such person), and the Baja Marimba Band and their "spin-off" from Herb Alpert & His Tijuana Brass. In terms of the music, the notes offer fascinating insights into Quentin's Theme, Dragnet, Bandstand Boogie, and Music To Watch Girls By.

Tracks 2 to 4, 9 to 16, and 18 are stereo, track 1 is digitally enhanced for stereo. The remainder are mono. As usual with Bill Buster's products you get the Billboard chart performance of each on the reverse. Just one more star in their growing list of must-have CDs.

Outstanding collection of '50s and '60s instrumentals
Like everything in Eric's line of "hard-to-find on CD" discs, this one is filled with gems that have been hard to come by on legitimate releases. What makes Eric's releases so unusual is that rather than scouring the obscure edges of pop music, they collect stellar examples of chart hits that somehow slipped though the cracks of other anthologies. That makes Eric compilations terrific musical and nostalgic experiences.

Volume two of their pop instrumental series is one of Eric's strongest discs to date. Instrumentals have a hard time cracking the American charts, and so those that do find an unusually rare resonance with listeners. On occasion these instrumentals are tied to cultural phenomena such as hit TV shows ("The Bonanza Theme," "Dragnet," "Quentin's Theme," and "Bandstand Boogie") or commercials ("No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)" and "Music to Watch Girls By"), but more often than not they're just unusual, maddeningly hummable pieces of music that won't leave a listener's mind.

High on the can't-get-it-out-of-your-head list is Bent Fabric's laconic "Alley Cat" and Don Robertson's "The Happy Whistler." The latter tune pairs nicely with Whistling Jack Smith's "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman," as rare examples of music that can oust "It's a Small World" from your cerebral cortex. Other tracks, such as Horst Jankowski's "A Walk in the Black Forest," capture a mood like no lyric ever could, and Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax" had three lives, first as a flop, then as a hit, then most eternally as Benny Hill's closing chase theme.

This is an incredibly rich collection of songs covering orchestral pop, lounge, rock, jazz, ragtime and more. The tracks are beautifully mastered and with plenty of true stereo (mono on #5-8 and 19-21). Joseph Laredo's liner notes are informative, and the packaging provides detail on chart and release dates.

For Water Aerobics, THE MOST POPULAR CD!
This CD Series (Hard-to-Find Pop Instrumentals I, and II) is THE MOST POPULAR at water aerobics classes (whose typical member is over age 50), and has been for a several weeks. It is even more popular than both "Abba Gold" and the "Hooked on Classics" series.

I've lent this CD Series to so many water aerobic instructors (four different ones), for so many days, that I've actually purchased second copies, something I've done with no other CD.

So, why this popularity? Possibly because: (1) The music is positive/upbeat, (2) the variety, and (3) the excellent sound quality. If you know why the popularity, please tell me.

Bonanza...
Eric Records rolls out a second volume of 50's and 60's pop instrumentals with the emphasis on tracks seldom, if ever, found on legitimate CD. Twenty-one tracks ranging from Del Wood's '51 "Down Yonder" through 1969's soap opera "Dark Shadows" theme, ie. "Quentin's Theme" by Charles Randolph Grean and company. In between are found familiar tunes such as Bent Fabric's "Alley Cat", Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax" and "Music To Watch Girls By" from the Bob Crewe Generation. In keeping with its title however, rarities such as David Seville's "Armen's Theme", one of his pre-Chipmunk era instrumentals along with Enoch Lights' "I Want To Be Happy Cha Cha" and Bob Sharples' "Sadie's Shawl" put this dead center into the more serious collector's radar screen. All save one of these tracks were top-100 charting singles, that exception being Les Elgart's "Bandstand Boogie", the tune that became the theme to TV's "American Bandstand". Add to all this Eric's usual high standards for sound quality and informative accompanying liner notes and you have a superb follow-up to their first volume in this series. A highly recommended piece for both the casual listener and avid fan.