Beautiful Music’s Greatest Hits!

Radio’s Easy Listening or Beautiful Music format––of which I have been called a pioneer and pace-setter, even the Father of its modern-day version, which we launched in Philadelphia in 1963––over the years has introduced a number of melodies and recordings, which never took hold in the mainstream of popular music … yet would become immense favorites among our millions of devoted listeners.

While I’ve listed several of these tunes in my memoir, RADIO, My Love, My Passion, and even discussed a few in this space previously … I thought I’d get a consensus of opinion by turning to Warren Schoeger, the force behind the website The Elegant Sound … the superb re-creation of Boston’s WJIB-FM, a dominant in listenership in Beantown for more than 25 years beginning in 1967 … requesting he provide his list of the top 10 of the genre’s titles and arrangements.

Well, I’ve combined our two lists, resulting in what I consider to be the 15 all-time “turntable hits” of the Beautiful Music/Easy Listening genre (not necessarily listed in the order of greatest popularity):  

1. James Last – Music From Across the Way
2. Caravelli – Wigwam
3. Jean Claude Borelly – Dolannes
   Melody
4. Johnny Pearson – Sleepy Shores
5. Abba – I Have A Dream
6. Zamfir & James Last – Lonely
   Shepherd
7. Ennio Morricone – Chi Mai
8. Caravelli – Midnight Blue Theme
9. Dick Bakker – Mull of Kintyre
10. James Last – Elizabethan Serenade
11. Hagood Hardy – The Homecoming
12. Nana Mouskouri – Even Now
13. Alain Morisod – Lake Como   
14. Frank Mills – Music Box Dancer
15. Richard Clayderman – Ballad for
    Adeline

Now, let’s take a look at these individual titles and give you the ability to listen to each one:

Starting off … James “Hansi” Last appears three times in our lists of 15 tunes. The melody, which became known as “Music From Across the Way” after lyrics were added, began life as “The Last Guest Is Gone.” My favorite instrumental arrangement can be heard in my Musings in January of 2019, which discusses the life of James Last and is titled “The King of Happy Music.”

James Last’s recording of “Elizabethan Serenade” was recorded in the 1960s, although the melody by English composer Ronnie Binge was written in the late 1940s under a different title and renamed when Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the British throne in 1952.

Of course, closely tied to Hansi is the famed master of the panpipes, Zamfir … playing the James Last composition “The Lonely Shepherd,” which I wrote about and you can listen to in a Marlin’s Musings from July of 2018 titled “Is There A More Haunting Melody!”

French composers Paul De Senneville & Olivier Toussaint collaborated on two of the titles which appear on our list, Jean-Claude Borelly’s “Dolannes Melody” and  Richard Clayderman’s “Ballad For Adeline” … the latter of which you can hear by going to my earlier Musings, “Uplifting Music for the Ages”. Reportedly, in both cases, the composers would search for and choose the artists who’d record these two compositions and would launch them into successful careers based on the success of these initial recordings.

Swiss pianist Alain Morisod, sometimes recording under his own name, other times under the Sweet People group name, is not the most popular artist we ever played, yet his composition Le Lac de Come … or “Lake Como” in English, has long been a favorite of many of the tens of thousands who have listened to this musical format over the years. 

There is a variation of the basic melody available, which includes the sound of birds chirping throughout and is titled “And the Birds Were Singing at Lake Como.” Also, while I’ve not been able to find any direct evidence … I am confident that the first recording of “Lake Como,” which we played by Alain Morisod back in the 1970s, was performed as a piano solo – regardless, beautiful in any rendition!

Nana Mouskouri – Even Now – Boy, was I happy that on that day in the fall of 1969, while rummaging through the vast music library at New York City’s WRFM, I came across an album by a lady named Nana Mouskouri––whom I was not familiar with––and a song which I knew but had not paid much attention to, the Mexican mariachi tune “Cu-cu-ru-cu-cu Paloma.” I was intrigued enough to put it on the turntable and knew instantly that I had to see what our WRFM listeners thought. As I wrote in my memoir, minutes later, when it was played on WRFM’s air, the telephone began to ring. And, it never stopped ringing every time the song was aired. Then, each time a new Nana album arrived, I’d listen with great anticipation, hoping to hear another gem by this Greek folk singer; however, ten years would pass before I found a new “hit” … the year was 1979 and I had chills the moment it began to play … the song: “Even Now!”

Abba – I Have a Dream – This is one which Warren did not include, but is significant in my mind because of what you’ll learn through the Marlin’s Musings post from October of 2018, titled “Abba … the Group”.

Renowned French maestro Caravelli takes two of the slots in your “top hits” list, first with a superb instrumental arrangement of folk singer and songwriter Bob Dylan’s intriguing melody, “Wigwam”:

Several on the list I claim as being my own personal discoveries, yet with “Wigwam” and a couple of others, including James Last’s “Music From Across the Way,” … the credit goes to a protégé of mine who would later become the Music Director with Schulke Radio Productions, Phil Stout. However, some time would pass before I could include Wigwam in my programming, as many of the copies of the LP were defectively pressed, with the side containing “Wigwam” totally distorted.

And, a major listener favorite is Caravelli’s other recording on our Easy Listening’s “hits list” … one of the last arrivals during the golden years of the format on radio, the “Midnight Blue Theme.” It along with Ennio Morricone’s “Chi Mai” and Richard Clayderman’s “Ballad for Adeline” are discussed and can be listened to by going to my Musings of August 1, 2019, titled “Uplifting Music for the Ages,” which I referenced earlier.

Another “oldie” is pianist Johnny Pearson’s own composition, “Sleepy Shores,” which became a Top Ten hit in Britain’s pop music world in 1972, at least partially because it was the theme for a British TV series, Owen, M. D. Once we heard it over here on “this side of the pond,” we knew it was perfect for inclusion in our programming … and our listeners agreed!  

Dick Bakker’s “Mull of Kintyre” is from an album of his titled “Around the World” with melodies native to locations indicated by the album title, released in the early 1980s. As I write in my memoir, “RADIO … My Love, My Passion” … the recording landed in my hands via a very direct route while at CTS Studios in London for a John Fox recording session:

One day, as I was walking down a hallway there, a gentleman stopped me and asked if I was the American radio person working with John Fox. When I answered in the affirmative, he introduced himself as Dick Bakker from Holland and handed me his album “Around the World.” The one selection from this album that became a favorite is “Mull of Kintyre.” We’ve played other  recordings of this Paul McCartney melody—which John Fox told me is based on a couple of different Scottish folk tunes—but Dick’s, with a chorus featuring a bagpipe sound, is most people’s choice to hear.

“The Homecoming” by Canadian composer and pianist Hagood Hardy was released in 1975 and is included in the soundtrack he composed for the Canadian-produced film “Anne of Green Gables,” which originated as a novel written by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, published in 1908. If you read some of the comments posted on the YouTube page, it’s very apparent how many hearts this melody impacted!

“Music Box Dancer” was composed by another Canadian musician … Frank Mills, whose own performance of it became an international hit in the late 1970s. As it may not quite qualify as a “turntable hit,” you’ll not likely find it anywhere today other than on SiriusXM’s Escape and at The Elegant Sound.

That covers all 15 of these Beautiful Music listener favorites! If you are or were a listener to this radio programming, did you have a favorite, and is it on this list? If not, what was it? I’d love to hear from you now!