Hugo Montenegro – Others by Brother & Scenes and Themes (2016) {SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz}

Hugo Mario Montenegro was a composer, arranger, and conductor who is primarily known for his movie work in the ’60s, as well as his adaptations of film scores like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Montenegro began to branch out after the Hang ‘Em High album, recording a diverse array of albums, ranging from show tunes to electronic experiments. Throughout the late ’60s and ’70s, he continued to score films, including Lady in Cement, The Undefeated, The Wrecking Crew, Tomorrow, and The Ambushers, among many others. He continued composing and recording until his death in 1981. This SACD release combines 2 LP on 1 SACD – “Others By Brothers” (1975) and Scenes & Themes (1972).

With Vocalion’s Christmas 2015 release, a new world of audio is opened up. Remember the Quadraphonic boom of the 1970s? It was when many of the major record companies decided that stereo was no longer enough and launched four-channel (quadraphonic) sound. For that section of the record-buying public fortunate enough to own a hi-fi system capable of reproducing four-channel recordings, they were able to hear music literally in a new dimension, because now not only did the sound come at them from front-left and front-right (as it would in conventional stereo), but also from back-left and back-right too.

This “surround” effect placed the listener in the centre of the music instead of just in front of it, and as a result new meaning, depth and clarity was brought to the music that emanated from the LP spinning on the turntable or the 8-track cartridge whirring in the tape player. Thankfully, many of the artists who appear so regularly on Vocalion were originally recorded in glorious quadraphonic sound, and we’re excited to present twelve quadraphonic albums across six discs in the SACD – Super Audio Compact Disc – format. (These SACDs also play on any standard CD player, in which they’ll yield full stereo sound.) The artists involved are among the giants of the easy listening field and, we’re very glad to say, have become fixtures on the Vocalion label.

American conductor-arranger-composer Hugo Montenegro is featured on an SACD compiling two remarkable albums he recorded in the early and mid-70s. Others by Brothers (1975) saw him blending his bank of ARP synthesizers with conventional instrumentation in arrangements of soul, jazz and funk hits. The Duke Ellington staple Caravan comes up shining anew in this funky, electric version, and you’ve certainly never heard the soul classics What’s Going On and Nothing from Nothing in such inventive and colourful orchestrations as you will do here – and adding to the excitement is their rendering in quadraphonic sound. Scenes and Themes (1972) presents a selection of popular film themes in Montenegro arrangements designed specifically for the four-channel recording process.

Now for the technical bit. Vocalion’s Hybrid SACDs consist of three layers: a standard stereo CD layer at 16-bit 44.1khz, and two separate high-resolution layers, each of which have been mastered at 24-bit 352khz – one in stereo, the other in four-channel 4.0. Michael J. Dutton remastered both the stereo and four-channel elements from the original analogue tapes: for the stereo element the original ¼” stereo masters were used, and for the four-channel element the original four-channel “discrete” masters were used. These were used respectively to cut the original stereo and quadraphonic vinyl LPs.

Tracklist:
01. Caravan
02. Never can Say Goodbye
03. Noah’s Arp
04. Feel Like Makin Love
05. Whats Going On
06. Nothing From Nothing Suite
07. Creeping
08. I Heard it Through the Grapevine
09. Aint No Mountain High Enough
10. Lost Horizon (from the same titled film)
11. A man and A Woman (from the same titled film)
12. Love Story (from the same titled film)
13. Lara’s Theme (from the film “Doctor Zhivago”)
14. The Shadow of your Smile (from the film “The Sandpiper”)
15. Tara’s Theme (from the film “Gone With The Wind”)
16. Alfie (from the same titled film)
17. The Look of Love (from the film “Casino Royale”)
18. Love theme from Romeo & Juliet
19. Learn to Say Goodbye (from the film “Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole”)
Tracks “1-9” is “Others By Brothers” (LP 1975)
Tracks “10-19” is Scenes & Themes (LP 1972)