Crossing Over Easy

Michael Crétu's attempt at fusing everything from easy listening sex music and hip-hop rhythms to centuries-old Gregorian chants couldn't have been more designed to tweak the nose of high art, a joyously crass stab straight at a mainstream, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. The result is something that shouldn't exist, but in its own way results in as much of a cultural scramble and explosion as anything Public Enemy were doing around the same time, crossing over the Euro-disco and new age spheres with style…

Michael Crétu's attempt at fusing everything from easy listening sex music and hip-hop rhythms to centuries-old Gregorian chants couldn't have been more designed to tweak the nose of high art, a joyously crass stab straight at a mainstream, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. The result is something that shouldn't exist, but in its own way results in as much of a cultural scramble and explosion as anything Public Enemy were doing around the same time, crossing over the Euro-disco and new age spheres with style…

"Elegant Soul (1968)" was the penultimate release by the Three Sounds, and sees them leaving behind the cool instrumental jazz that had typified most of their previous output, and moving more decisively in the direction of easy-listening pop. While the group had always had something of a light, accessible take on post-bop, "Elegant Soul", with its string arrangements and pop-oriented ambitions, finds them crossing over into easy listening. The 2008 reissue, part of a Blue Note reissue project targeting rare groove collectors and fans of soul-jazz, contextualizes the album for what it is: a unique jazz-soul-pop hybrid.

Beginning in the 1950s, the immensely popular American conductor Arthur Fiedler and his Boston Pops Orchestra made a series of records covering not only the world's most-loved classical pieces, but also crossing over into popular music with great success. Whether it was the Beatles, Broadway, or Hollywood, eventually everyone who was anyone went "Pops." In 1966, Fiedler teamed up with the master of the Nashville sound, famed guitarist and producer Chet Atkins. The match was a good one, and the combo went on to produce many records together. Making its debut in the digital realm, courtesy of Real Gone Records, is a reissue of two of their excellent collaborations, The Pops Goes Country and The Pops Goes West.

Enigma - Classic Album Selection (2013) [5CD] {Virgin}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 1.58 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 765 Mb
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© 2013 Virgin Music / EMI / Universal | 0600753459843
New Age / Electronic / Ethnic Fusion / Dance Pop

Part of Universal's Classic Album Selection series, this multi-part package from the aptly named Spanish ethno-fusion dance-pop provocateurs Enigma features five complete studio albums, including MCMXC a.D. (1990), The Cross of Changes (1993), Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (1996), Screen Behind the Mirror (1999), and Voyageur (2003).