Percy Faith Albums (28)
'Passage to Romance'
Release Date 3/12/2007
Tracks 18
Label Hallmark Music
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Percy Faith and His Orchestra'
Release Date 1/22/2007
Tracks 20
Label Flashback
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
ASV/Living Era's Delicado collects two discs' worth of Percy Faith's sweeping orchestral pop from 1944 to 1953, including his first commercial recordings, "Amor" and "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year." Disc one follows Faith's career at his first label, Decca, and his subsequent stints at Majestic and Royale; tracks such as the aforementioned "Amor" and "Negra Consentida" trace the beginning of Faith's Latin-influenced productions, while "I Love You" and "Long Ago and Far Away" find him applying his lush but mellow approach to Cole Porter and Jerome Kern. Disc two enters Faith's '50s salad days at Columbia, and features his first big hit and the collection's namesake, "Delicado," as well as "The Song from Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart?)." More of Faith's own compositions are also here, including "Da Du," "Fiddle Derby," "Flight 33 1/3," "Nervous Gavotte," and "Perpetual Notion," all of which reflect the more playful direction of his work and of instrumental pop at the time. Nevertheless, his thoughtful productions of "Solitude" and "Soft Lights and Sweet Music" show that Faith still had a way with luxurious yet appealing-sounding arrangements. Although this collection doesn't quite function as a greatest-hits compilation (16 Most Requested Songs still makes a good introduction), Delicado is nevertheless a thorough and entertaining look at Faith's early career. ~ Heather Pares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Percy Faith suffered two blows as a record seller in his career. First, his LPs stopped being big successes after the British Invasion of 1964, although they continued to do well enough to rank consistently among the Top 200 bestsellers for another nine years. But by the early '70s, a generation of soft rockers had emerged to steal the audience from easy listening veterans like him. Clair, his first album of 1973, only "bubbled under" the Billboard chart, his first newly recorded LP to miss the main chart since it was expanded to 200 titles in 1967. Then, inevitably, his next release, My Love, became his first to sell too poorly to rate any recognition at all. Looking at the selections, you can see why. Nine of the 11 tracks are Faith versions of pop hits from the first half of 1973. But when the likes of Paul McCartney and the Carpenters are already making lush, easy listening-style records like "My Love" and "Sing," who needs Percy Faith's versions? As usual, the conductor is at a loss when he tries for something up-tempo; his treatment of Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" is bizarre, and "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" loses a lot without its whodunit lyrics. The two oldies among the selections are "The Twelfth of Never," Johnny Mathis' 1957 hit, which was arranged originally by Faith's Columbia Records colleague and competitor Ray Conniff, and one of Faith's classical borrowings, "Viva Vivaldi," a "switched on" treatment of the Spring movement of The Four Seasons. By 1973, albums like this had become inessential because the artists people like Faith watered down for their relaxed audiences had learned to do their own diluting. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Theme from The "In" Crowd'
Release Date 1/1/1966
Tracks 11
Label Columbia
See Album Tracklist and Review
