Robert Maxwell- Shangri-La

This was a bit on the high end at the time at $4, but I really like good harp albums. Also pretty women on covers draw me to purchases.  So I figured I would check this out.

Robert Maxwell (1921-2012) was an American harpist and song writer and the British pension plunderer you may think of.  Born in New York City, he had a great little career as a harpist on stage, radio, television, and movies.  He was a true innovator of the instrument, pushing the boundaries and challenging the conventional views of the harp.  As a songwriter, he is most famous for two exotica classics “Ebb Tide” and “Shangri-La” as well as “Solfeggio”, best known for its use on the Ernie Kovacs Show (which is probably somewhat racist in today’s context).  Who says I am not current with my references?

Maxwell’s Spaceage Pop page

This album, released by Decca in 1963, comes 18 years after the title song composition.   The album itself is a wonderful collection of exotica that is heavy on orchestration, most notably, the harp. Besides the title track, there are a lot of great songs on this record including “Old Devil Moon”, “Magic in the Moonlight”, “It’s Magic”, and “That Old Black Magic”.  As described in the paragraph above, Maxwell’s harp playing is beautiful, yet in many ways, unconventional at times. The overall arrangements are wonderful.   In some songs the harp is the driving center. In others, it is purely background.  Just an overall great piece of exotica.

For a sample, I present the bedazzling “Bewitched” from Rodgers and Hart.  The opening harp is haunting indeed.  I also went with one of this blog’s favorites ” The Breeze and I”, mainly because a cannot 100% identify the instruments used.

Excellent record.  Top Billing.

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