Godfather 1973

Following the first Andy Williams greatest-hits album on Columbia by only three years (available in a three-for-one with Vol. 2 and Love Story), Vol. 2 focused primarily on Williams singles of the early 1970s, among them the easy listening chart Top Tens "Home Lovin' Man," "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story," and "Love Theme from 'The Godfather' (Speak Softly Love)." There were also a couple of big easy listening hits from the '60s that had been left off the first volume, "Music to Watch Girls By" and "In The Arms of Love," as well as re-recordings of two of the singer's 1950s hits, "The Village of St. Bernadette" and "Lonely Street." The result was hardly adequate as a survey of Williams's best early '70s work, but it was a typical compilation of its time.

Big Walter Horton was one of the key architects of modern blues harmonica. Blues legend Willie Dixon referred to him as "the best harmonica player I ever heard." Along with Little Walter Jacobs and Sonny Boy Williamson II, he is considered to be one of the most influential harpists ever. He was capable of both intense power and fragile delicacy, often in the same song. He was endlessly melodically adventurous, and always unpredictable. His only Alligator Records album, - "Big Walter Horton With Carey Bell", came out in 1972. It paired him with his young protégé, who had played under Walter's tutelage since Bell's arrival in Chicago. Walter's long-time partner Eddie Taylor joined them on guitar. It was Alligator's second-ever release, and received widespread critical acclaim, especially for the fiery harp duets that pitted the two harmonica masters against one another.

Werner Müller (1920-1998) was an orchestra conductor and popular music arranger during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1946 Müller joined the orchestra of Kurt Widmann, one of the most successful bands in Berlin. In 1949 Müller, age 30, started his musical activities in radio at the RIAS Berlin. He was concertmaster for RIAS radio and of Hans-Georg Arlt Tanzorchesters with 18 radio channels. After almost two decades in Berlin, he moved to Cologne, where he conducted performances of the WDR orchestra on radio and television.
He also contributed numerous albums to London's Phase Four label, the longest-running of the Space Age Bachelor Pad series.

"Beautiful Music" used to be a genre in the realm of popular music. It's also been called "easy listening" and then morphed into "adult contemporary". But today's adult contemporary is really just soft rock (albeit today's soft rock is harder than a lot of Top 40 was in the late 70s and early 80s). There used to be stations that played "beautiful music" exclusively: Stanley Black, Ray Conniff, Percy Faith, Frank Chacksfield, etc. Most of the playlist would be recent contemporary hits covered by choral groups, pianists, and orchestras. During that time, London Records sold a lot of their patented Phase 4 Stereo LP records and reel-to-reel tapes. The series was renowned for it's technical brilliance, using state of the art recording, mixing and mastering techniques. Ronnie Aldrich was among London's best selling artists and Tony D'Amato produced many albums using Aldrich's twin pianos backed by The London Festival Orchestra. These albums were not only known for their technical brilliance (which is still quite impressive even in the 21st century) but also for their glossy, gatefold covers featuring colorful artwork and graphics and maybe a sexy model or two. The two LPs featured on this CD were originally released in 1973 and 1972, respectively.