#ray conniff

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[billboard-hotties-tourney]

HOT SHOTS ALBUM COVER TOURNEY - ROUND ONE

Ray Conniff, His Orchestra, and Chorus - Say It With Music (A Touch of Latin)

Nelson Riddle - Sea of Dreams

Voting ended onApr 2, 2025

REMINDER: Vote for the ALBUM COVER that is HOTTER, not the hotter artist or the better cover/album

Propaganda for Say It With Music (A Touch of Latin): none

Propaganda for Sea of Dreams: none

[cosmonautroger]

[oldshowbiz]

The sound of 1960s "frothy" comedies.

[greighish]

Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O'Sullivan, one of my favorite songs.

The first half of the original song is about suicidal ideation brought on by a broken heart after being left at the alter and feeling forsaken by God. The latter half is about the author's grief over his father's physical death and his mother experiencing death of the spirit over the loss (of someone who was not kind to her) followed by death of the vessel and the author's greater grief over losing his mother twice; a sense of desertion, once again. It has the feeling of a little ditty shared by someone whose soul is tired. The juxtaposition.

The title is also the chorus, if you can call it that. It only stands alone once in the whole song, and it's almost like an afterthought. Every other utterance is sung with little more than a breath and no musical change between it and preceding verse, though it might be better to call it a pre-chorus. I love unconventional structures.

I also love covers...

FULL YT PLAYLIST

AWOLNATION f. Midland - A music box on its last leg. It has the overlapping reverb quality AWOLNATION is fond of. Feels more like psychosis and less like grief.

Pet Shop Boys f. Elton John - Sounds exactly like what you'd think a collab between them would sound like. I like the high hat and the rain. I love Elton's voice. I also love that he sings the line "I was cheerful, bright, and gay."

Sarah Vaughn - Very lounge. Sad lounge. Genderflip for the first half. My BFF hates her voice, or rather her vocal arrangements. I don't share her sentiments.

Shirley Bassey - No genderflip. Not lounge. More like mid-seventies movie theme song. Is that a clarinet? Some versions really try to bring Big Band back for a minute. I'm always fascinated watching her sing, her gestures and the way she contorts her mouth...

Neil Diamond - A guitar diddy. His tone along with the cadence is almost matter-of-fact.

Ray Conniff & The Singers - How should I say…? Very "I was popular in the 60s but now it's the 70s" White? I mean that observation-ally, of course.

Andy Williams - A little Spanish guitar... and bongos. It's Andy Williams, so a variation on the very 70s White theme.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Maybe a little too happy? Jaunty? I think that's a marimba. But if I didn't know the lyrics, I'd say it was par for the Herb Alpert course.

Esther Phillips - That voice! Local bar singer. She put some soul on it. I like the strings. Better bongos, well better percussion all the way around. I can't help but think of her when I listen to early Erykah Badu.

Bobby Darin - They couldn't decide which flavor of lounge they were going for. From piano bar to wannabe bossa nova; they really ran the gamut. It has its merits, but the changes are somewhat distracting.

And then there's…

Nina Simone - She definitely put her stamp on it. Musings on her father's dying, their relationship while he was alive, pity for her mother who mourned him, and honesty with herself (if not with others) while in a child's grief after his passing. Leave it to Nina to inject a bridge that's reminiscent of a funeral dirge. And that slightly giddy piano phrase.

Just when I needed him most He was already a ghost And for all my life there were promises And they always have been broken

[oldtimesnew]

Concert In Rhythm

Volume II

Ray Conniff His Orchestra And Chorus

Columbia Records/USA (1960)

Photo by Jon Abbot

[howardhawkshollywoodmusic]

78. Somewhere My Love (Lara's Theme from Dr Zhivago) by Ray Conniff and The Singers debuted Jun 66 and peaked at number nine, scoring 851 points.

Ray was born in Attleboro, Mass. and had six chart entries. This was the only one to crack the top 40.

[taevisionceo]

💭 #ThoughtInTheNight THERE'S AN ANGEL IN MY LOOK… AND YOU'RE THAT ANGEL… I KNOW YOU'RE AN ANGEL… I SEE IT IN YOUR EYES… I SEE IT IN YOUR SMILE… I SEE IT IN EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU… YOUR EYES AND YOUR SMILE ARE THAT MELODY THAT FILLS ME WITH HAPPINESS. JUST THINKING ABOUT YOU… YOUR SMILE LIGHTS UP MY LIFE… LIVING WITHOUT YOU WOULD BE LIVING IN THE DARK… I 'M LIVING IN A NEW WORLD… AT LAST, I'M LIVING IN THE VALLEY OF MY DREAMS. TO BE AN ANGEL YOU ONLY NEED TO BE SPECIAL AND ESSENTIAL IN THE LIFE OF ANOTHER PERSON… AS YOU ARE IN MINE…. YOU CAME INTO MY LIFE… AND NOW, YOU'RE MY LIFE, WITHOUT YOU NOTHING MAKES SENSE… YOU CAME INTO MY LIFE TO LOVE YOU…. LOVING YOU MORE AND MORE EVERY DAY IS MY ONLY GOAL… NOTHING ELSE MATTERS… YOU ARE AND WILL BE MY SPECIAL ANGEL… FOR ALL ETERNITY. I LOVE YOU ❤ I LIVE TO LOVE YOU AND I LOVE YOU TO LIVE…