Who remembers "Easy Listening" albums from the 50s-60s-70s?

Posted by Scott R L @scottrl, Oct 20, 2023

I'm really showing my age here, but...

Who remembers easy listening music?

Groups like 101 Strings, orchestra leaders like Mantovani, Kostelanetz, Mancini, etc.? Or remembers some lesser-known arrangers/conductors like George Melachrino or Hugo Winterhalter?
Jackie Gleason had a bunch of albums, too. Readers Digest put out a number of CDs in the 90s, too.

My father loved this stuff. I rediscovered it a few years ago, and it sounds pretty good. Romantic, relaxing...just as advertised, easy to listen to.

A lot of this music is on YouTube, or you can buy CDs on Ebay if you don't like annoying ads.

Highly recommended when you need to unwind.

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I love music of all genres and from all years! Well, 50.s is about as far back as I go! LOL! Music is my refuge from all my health conditions, stress. painful relatioships..........from just about everything! I joined the AMZN Unlimited Music and I have over 25k saved songs, numerous playlists that I have created and that AMZN provides. I have an involuntary neurological body sway and I can't stand up and move to the music, but Man, can I "dance" in my chair!! Right now, I am listeneing to an Aretha Franklin playlist I created. Love it, love it, love it! 😁😊🤣 Thanks for sharing!
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I had a paper route in a midwestern town in the 50s and earned enough to join the Colombia Record Club. A dollar a week as I recall, and I received a 33 1/3 vinyl record of my choosing. With each record, if I’m remembering correctly, was a flyer that had photos of the album covers. I was pretty young, so I chose the picture most intriguing and placed my order. It really expanded my love of music, and included things on occasion far beyond what was popular at the time. I loved it all and learned a lot that’s still indelible, plus… it was truly exciting.

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Add in the Norman Luboff choir and the Robert Shaw choral to those mentioned above.

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I spent last night listening to Etta James [an extensive playlist of nearly every song AMZN Music has!] and Aretha Franklin, my Soul Queens. Etta James is heavy on the Blues, which is one of my favorites, too. One of my favoties by her is called, "A Lover Is Forever", which is bluesy and beautiful! You can listen to it on Youtube, if interested. It is soooo Sweet! The way I carry on, singing along, you would think I had a voice......trust me, I don't! Oh, how I love my music!
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I was raised on music from the 40s and 50s and love the Big Band sound.
But my go-to on Pandora is Christian music either Maranatha praise & worship from the 90s or Southern Gospel - Gaither Vocal Band, etc. ❣️

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Those are great sounds! I loved Henry Mancini! I am 77 and was born in 1946 but I loved the music from the 1940's! Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Guy Lombardo (New Year's Eve isn't anything without Guy Lombardo's Auld Lang Syne!) I was a teenager in the 1960's so I also liked Frankie Avalon and Annette. Also western music such as Merle Haggard, Hank Williams (and Jr. too). It's hard to find these songs these days except on CD's. There is a wonderful radio show that you can get online called "It Seems Like Old Times." (https://oldtimesradio.com/) You can pick a year and hear the popular music from that date all the way back to the 1920's! They also tell you the news of that date too. It's very interesting!
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Although I’m 56 I do remember my dad playing easy listening quite often. I find myself downloading songs and really enjoying it now. Those were the best times of my life. Those were the days.

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Wasn't the term "semi-classical" used in the 60s and 70s for easy listening? That would be instrumental rather than for voice. It went along with the advent of bigger speakers with a broader sound range. People seemed to be wanting to build a den atmosphere to mellow out in.

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I heard a version of Guantanamera once that I loved by one of those guys: Percy Faith or Montovani or someone like that. I've been through everything on YouTube w/o finding it. Any suggestions?

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@pml

Those are great sounds! I loved Henry Mancini! I am 77 and was born in 1946 but I loved the music from the 1940's! Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Guy Lombardo (New Year's Eve isn't anything without Guy Lombardo's Auld Lang Syne!) I was a teenager in the 1960's so I also liked Frankie Avalon and Annette. Also western music such as Merle Haggard, Hank Williams (and Jr. too). It's hard to find these songs these days except on CD's. There is a wonderful radio show that you can get online called "It Seems Like Old Times." (https://oldtimesradio.com/) You can pick a year and hear the popular music from that date all the way back to the 1920's! They also tell you the news of that date too. It's very interesting!
PML

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Pay $10-15 per month to get a YouTube Premium account and off you go! Pretty much everything I've ever searched for shows up before I can blink twice. If you're searching for nothing in particular, the algorithms figure out what you're in the mood for and feed a lot of choices. The monthly fee is to get rid of the ads: a bargain at twice the price.

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