If the front
cover doesn't say it all, then it certainly takes you over halfway there with
the back cover blurb filling in any blanks. 'Come Dancing' is "an
entertaining mixture of waltzes, fox-trots, quickstep, tango and foot tapping
jive" is what it says, and Ray McVay and his Orchestra are a brass led, big
band that specialise in the sort of jazzy swing dance sound that was popular in
the 1930's and 1940's.
Nothing wrong with that when you have the right players playing the right music, but 'Come Dancing' sidesteps logic and reason by offering up a random mix of old standards ('On The Street Where You Live', 'The Desert Song'), film soundtrack music ('Theme From A Summer Place', 'Theme From Exodus') and the odd song from a musical ('A Lot Of Livin' To Do') It's another mixed bag and the only unifying theme I can identify is the almost total unsuitability of all them for a big band dance makeover.
Because it's a very strange world where the morose 'Too Soon To Know' and 'Green Green Grass Of Home' could be deemed to have potential to cut a rug to, and true enough McVay and his band thrash and flail around like a cat in water throughout, forever looking for a beating dance heart to music that simply isn't there. Even when something is offered up on a plate like 'Rock Around The Clock', McVay piles on embellishment after fussy embellishment until the whole thing becomes too bloated to swing. Too bloated to do anything really except sag under the weight of it's own arrangements like an Christmas tree piled with tat from the Pound shop.
The back cover also tells me that "the scene is set for polished, musical entertainment that everyone can enjoy and appreciate". Everyone except me it seems; all 'Come Dancing' and it's over egged racket does for me is give me a headache and a vague sense of regret that I'm not listening to something else. And lads, lads - did you really need to have such a tacky and suggestive cover? Why not go the whole hog and smear that mouthpiece with lipstick and add a trail of spittle from it to that woman's mouth too?
Nothing wrong with that when you have the right players playing the right music, but 'Come Dancing' sidesteps logic and reason by offering up a random mix of old standards ('On The Street Where You Live', 'The Desert Song'), film soundtrack music ('Theme From A Summer Place', 'Theme From Exodus') and the odd song from a musical ('A Lot Of Livin' To Do') It's another mixed bag and the only unifying theme I can identify is the almost total unsuitability of all them for a big band dance makeover.
Because it's a very strange world where the morose 'Too Soon To Know' and 'Green Green Grass Of Home' could be deemed to have potential to cut a rug to, and true enough McVay and his band thrash and flail around like a cat in water throughout, forever looking for a beating dance heart to music that simply isn't there. Even when something is offered up on a plate like 'Rock Around The Clock', McVay piles on embellishment after fussy embellishment until the whole thing becomes too bloated to swing. Too bloated to do anything really except sag under the weight of it's own arrangements like an Christmas tree piled with tat from the Pound shop.
The back cover also tells me that "the scene is set for polished, musical entertainment that everyone can enjoy and appreciate". Everyone except me it seems; all 'Come Dancing' and it's over egged racket does for me is give me a headache and a vague sense of regret that I'm not listening to something else. And lads, lads - did you really need to have such a tacky and suggestive cover? Why not go the whole hog and smear that mouthpiece with lipstick and add a trail of spittle from it to that woman's mouth too?
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