Greatest Mancini LP Ever!!
5
By MR.ALARM
Symphonic Soul is Mancini's greatest achievement as far as I'm concerned, and most critics agree! Mancini started reinventing himself musically by the mid 70s, and SS is one of the earliest and best examples of this. This LP features West Coast jazz artists like Joe Sample on keyboards, Abraham Laboriel on bass. I love this LP, and it’s amazing that iTunes Store has it, as it’s been out of print for years and hard to find on CD (I own two though!) I listened to this LP when it came out in 1975 ‘till I wore the grooves out. You really should get the entire LP, not a dud anywhere. Outstanding and essential Mancini!
1. Symphonic Soul: the title track is one of those great pop-fanfares Mancini did so well in his later years. It gets your mind and heart moving! I remember this piece being used by one of the network broadcast news shows for their closing theme music around 1976, but it transcends any pigeonholing.
2. Pick Up The Pieces: the Australian Average White Band’s great rocker, well done. Upbeat, fun, memorable.
3. Butterfly: Herbie Hancock’s beautiful piece, with occasional owl-like winds that help makes it uniquely Mancini AND a great cover!
4. Sun Goddess: Ramsey Lewis’ great tune, with Hank’s intro that harkens perhaps to some actual idol worship (never could figure out what he was doing with that intro). A great piece made even more memorable and beautiful.
5. Slow Hot Wind: One of two Mancini-written tunes he updated for this LP, along with Peter Gunn. I love this piece, even in its original form, but here on SS it is a lilting, timeless melody, with beautiful flute and as always, haunting strings.
6. Peter Gunn: This is the revised version, with nice long intro jam by Abe Laboriel. It breaks into the familial tune, albeit with guitar and horns - the perfect melding of old Hank, who played with the Big Bands, and the new 70’s funk. Try listening to the many variations of Peter Gunn on iTS alone to see how original and smart Hank’s is. The horns near the end do get, as my grandma once yelled at me, to sounding like some squealing pigs though!
7. Satin Soul: This piece still always reminds me of a fast paced into to Peter Gunn, and I love that about it, as well as its strings.
8. Soul Saga (Song Of The Buffalo Soldier): The fast paced flutes and horns, and the battle-like surges mixed with the harmonica that sounds both Southern and tribal makes for a mini-epic sounding piece.
9. African Symphony: I once saw Mancini in concert, in the late 70s, and he introduced African Symphony - at least I think it was this piece - by telling us a little about the “Kalimba” the little box-like African instrument that makes the beautiful sounds unique to this cover, even playing it a bit. It was great to see him, and always great to hear this piece again.