Souvenirs Mantris

18 track compilation album featuring the best of Soul artists from the CBS catalogue. Truly one of the best ever soul compilations ever produced.

12 track compilation album featuring the best of Soul artists from the CBS catalogue. Truly one of the best ever soul compilations ever produced.

Collects the original 1974 and 1975 albums from the French orchestra leader, together on one CD! Includes covers of The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More" and Mikis Theodorakis' "Theme From 'Serpico". French composer/conductor Paul Mauriat is a classically trained musician who decided to pursue a career in popular music. His first major success came in 1962, as a co-writer of the European hit "Chariot." In 1963, the song was given English lyrics, renamed "I Will Follow Him," and became a number one American hit for Little Peggy March. Mauriat is best remembered for his 1968 worldwide smash "Love Is Blue."

Collects the original 1974 and 1975 albums from the French orchestra leader, together on one CD! Includes covers of The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More" and Mikis Theodorakis' "Theme From 'Serpico". French composer/conductor Paul Mauriat is a classically trained musician who decided to pursue a career in popular music. His first major success came in 1962, as a co-writer of the European hit "Chariot." In 1963, the song was given English lyrics, renamed "I Will Follow Him," and became a number one American hit for Little Peggy March. Mauriat is best remembered for his 1968 worldwide smash "Love Is Blue."

Singer Demis Roussos, known for his dramatic, operatic vocal stylings, was born Artemios Ventouris Roussos in Alexandria, Egypt, on June 15, 1946, to Greek expatriate parents. In the early '60s, however, the family decided to return to their homeland, and once there, the young Roussos (who had studied trumpet and sung in the church choir in Egypt) began playing in local bands. One of these was Aphrodite's Child, which also featured Vangelis Papatanassiou and Lucas Sideras. A huge hit in Europe, especially France, the band released a handful of albums before breaking up in 1971. With his label contacts in place, however, Roussos was able to secure a deal as a solo recording artist, and later that same year issued the single "We Shall Dance," also included on the album On the Greek Side of My Mind. The 1970s were a prolific time for Roussos, and he released a number of singles and albums that charted highly on the European and Latin American charts. In 1978 the singer decided to retire, and moved to Malibu Beach, where he kept a lower profile.

This double-CD release from Britain's Beat Goes On label should interest anyone who's even slightly serious in appreciating Dan Fogelberg's music. For starters, in the absence of any upgrades since the late '80s in the sound of Sony Music's domestic Fogelberg CDs, the remastering of Souvenirs is more than a little welcome – the man's whole early catalog ought to have been remastered long before 2006, based on the crisp results here and the fresh edge it adds to music that is otherwise extremely familiar. And then there's the contents of the first disc, containing Fogelberg's debut Home Free album, which was not a success at the time of its release. Fogelberg and original producer Norbert Putnam remixed the original multi-track tapes from Home Free when it was time to do the CD release, and issued what was, in effect, a somewhat different album, with instruments shifted around in the mix and alterations in the framing and conceptions of various songs.

Connie Francis played an important part in late-'50s and 1960s American pop music as one of the most versatile vocalists in the field (she has been likened to Pat Boone in that respect) and one of the few women to join the top ranks of Italian-American entertainers like Dean Martin and Tony Bennett. Souvenirs is a four-disc career retrospective that goes beyond the hits – of which there are many – to present her early recordings as a demo singer, offbeat novelties like "Robot Man," and many non-hit singles and album sides.