There's a small note on the back of this album that
says 'File Under STANDARD: Party Records'. If I had been a record shop owner
back in 1974 then I'd have been glad of the steer - I myself would not have had a clue
where to rack this. I know that Geoff Love (and his orchestra) had a veritable
cottage industry going in the seventies in releasing albums of themed film
soundtracks (with 'Big Western Soundtracks' being one), but the music on this is
not that.
Rather, it's a collection of songs with a vague cowboy/American south theme ('South Of The Border', 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas', 'On Top Of Old Smokey', 'Home On The Range' etc.), sung by what sounds like a drunken chorus of complete strangers who were rounded up from outside a pub at closing time and asked if they wanted to make some easy money. That just about sums up what's going on here.
True, it does sound like a 'sing-along Western party', but it sounds like one that's already been and gone and that you weren't invited to; it's like listening to a field recording of someone else's night out. Musically, every single song is bashed out in the same key and 'hopalong' time signature and each is taken at a fair clip (even the languid 'Wandrin' Star') with the only variation coming from a barrelhouse piano that's pushed up front on every other track.
Rather, it's a collection of songs with a vague cowboy/American south theme ('South Of The Border', 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas', 'On Top Of Old Smokey', 'Home On The Range' etc.), sung by what sounds like a drunken chorus of complete strangers who were rounded up from outside a pub at closing time and asked if they wanted to make some easy money. That just about sums up what's going on here.
True, it does sound like a 'sing-along Western party', but it sounds like one that's already been and gone and that you weren't invited to; it's like listening to a field recording of someone else's night out. Musically, every single song is bashed out in the same key and 'hopalong' time signature and each is taken at a fair clip (even the languid 'Wandrin' Star') with the only variation coming from a barrelhouse piano that's pushed up front on every other track.
On the one hand, none of this matters much because those involved sound like they were having a blast, but it does beg the question as to what the record buying listener is meant to be doing with it? In order to 'sing-along' yourself you're going to need to know the complete lyrics to a load of songs that probably aren't that familiar in full outside Texas, and then you're going to need to crank up your own vocals in order to be heard over the baying herd on the record. And even if you could tick those boxes, why in god's name would you want to? Seriously? Just how many people would want to host their own 'Sing-along Western Party'? I guess you just had to be there, though saying that, I'm kind of glad I wasn't.
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