Light & Sound International – February 2021

Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Sound Of Philadelphia Volume 2 celebrates the 50th Anniversary in 2021 of the hugely influential Philadelphia International Records ( 8 CD & 12" Box ).

An artist steeped in Southern roots music of all sorts, Jimbo Mathus first earned attention as one of the founders of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, who became an unlikely success when their skewed take on vintage hot jazz, "Hell," became a modern rock hit in 1996…

Starcatcher doesn't find Greta Van Fleet returning to their roots – that'd be a premature move, they're only a half-decade into their career – so much as making a bid for street cred: they're stripping away the studio gloss so they can stand on their merits as a rock & roll band. Smartly, the group hired Dave Cobb, the Nashville musician who made his name as one of the sharpest and earthiest producers in Americana. Don't take Cobb's presence as a sign that the pride of Frankenmuth has suddenly discovered downhome roots. Cobb's résumé is littered with such credits as Sammy Hagar, Slash, and Whiskey Myers, so he's on firm footing with Greta Van Fleet.

Ronald Binge was responsible for creating in 1951 the ‘cascading strings’ sound that made the Mantovani Orchestra famous throughout the world. This was achieved purely by clever scoring, dividing the violins into several parts, each allotted a different melody-note in turn, which they sustain and then fade out, until called upon to move elsewhere. Binge’s inspiration came from his love of church music, particularly Monteverdi. Composers of sacred music had to allow for the long reverberation inevitable in cathedrals, and this is reflected in their writing. The first big success was ‘Charmaine’, followed by many others that made Mantovani’s albums million-sellers, especially in the USA. Binge’s association with Mantovani dates from 1935 when he played in, and did all the arrangements for, Mantovani’s Tipica Orchestra…