Post #350179 by I, Zombie on Tue, Dec 18, 2007 8:32 AM

On 2007-12-16 23:06, Carmine Verandah wrote:

If you could compress Velveeta into a flat, hard disc it would sound like this "music." Reader's Digest was obviously too cheap to get recordings of these lovely old standards done by the people who made them lovely old standards. It hired a bunch of knock-offs insteads.

Carmine,

As a friend once challenged me (without irony) by asking "What's Wrong with MUZAK" I will paraphrase and ask "What's Wrong with Schmaltz." :)

On a weekly basis I plow through LPs and box sets like these that have been discarded into the record bins of Thrift Store USA, looking for the hidden EZ listening gems amongst the dreck. It's a lonely job, but someone has to do it.

I think there are 5 really good tracks on that box set. And THAT is a pretty good average for Reader's Digest. But I own lots of LPs with one good song on each, so maybe I'm off the deep end with this stuff. Anyway, check out:

Rosemary Squires / Shells
Alfred Apaka / My Hawaiian Souvenirs
Johnny Gibbs, his Orch and Chorus / Quiet Village
Douglas Gamley, His Orch & Chorus / Blue Coral
The Islanders / Hawaiian Village

"Shells" especially I remember as being great. AND If you ever see the Reader's Digest Box Set "Happiness Is..." get that. Amazing Big Band NOW sound stuff from the late 60s and 70s.

I, Z