Odyssey The Sound Of Ivor Raymonde Vol II

Description

Odyssey: The Sound Of Ivor Raymonde Vol II is Bella Unions follow-up to the critically acclaimed Paradise: The Sound Of Ivor Raymonde.

This new compilation is a further celebration of the great British arranger, musical director, producer and songwriter Ivor Raymonde, who died at age 63 in 1990. Bella Union, the label behind both releases, is run by Ivors son Simon Raymonde.

Like Paradise, Odyssey has been compiled by Simon with author, journalist and music historian Kieron Tyler. Simon explains that: The research Kieron and I did for Paradise showed us that there was still an extremely rich seam of his music to be uncovered. A follow-up volume was increasingly inevitable.

Paradise told the story of a British musical great for the first time. Classic Sixties hits like Billy Furys Halfway To Paradise, Dusty Springfields I Only Want To Be With You (co-written by Ivor) and The Walker Brothers Make It Easy On Yourself were collected. All were arranged or produced by Ivor and heard alongside just-asfantastic tracks by David Bowie, Sonny Childe, Cindy Cole, Tom Jones, Los Bravos and Helen Shapiro. Odyssey is additional confirmation of the seemingly limitless scope of Ivors talents. More hits are featured: the Alan Price Sets irresistible Top Five interpretation of Randy Newmans Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear, Dusty Springfields kinetic Little By Little, Frankie Vaughans epic chart topper Tower Of Strength and the aural drama of Marty Wilde And His Wildcats Endless Sleep.

There are also lesser-known tracks by best-sellers: Los Bravos Raymonde-composed soul stomper Brand New Baby, Cat Stevens moody Blackness Of The Night and the extraordinary 1966 Walker Brothers album track Wheres The Girl, which pointed to where the solo Scott Walker would soon be heading.

Although Ivor Raymonde was a back-room figure, he made the Top 30 in early 1963 as the clandestine vocalist with The Chucks a studio demo had been made with no intention of it ending up in record shops. Then, it was issued and a band name needed. Ivor plumped for The Chucks and Loo-Be-Loo began rising up the charts. On Odyssey, it is at last given its context.

Going into the reasons for a follow-up to Paradise, Simon adds I knew there was more but even a serial curator, late-night trawler like me, at some point thinks the best stuff must now surely be all discovered. But finding tracks like Christopher Colts Girl In The Mirror is like unearthing a rare Donovan track produced by Ray Davies. Probably my favourite discovery was The Martells Time To Say Goodnight which Ivor produced when he worked at Decca Records. They only released one seven-inch single which sells for over, so its quite a rarity and more importantly a banger of a track.

Instead of Ivor, the cover image of Odyssey is of Ivors wife Nita.

Double LP format includes digital download code.