Raymond Lefevre and His Orchestra - Lanca Perfume

Music Fast Facts : Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.

RAYMOND LEFEVRE
The most famous of a long line of musical Lefevres, Raymond rivalled Franck Pourcel and Paul Mauriat as France's 'answer' to Mantovani after leading his orchestra beyond national celebrity into the US Top 40 in spring 1958 with a string-laden arrangement of Gilbert Becaud's 'The Day The Rains Came' ('Le Jour Ou La Pluie Viendra'). Judging by a prolific output licensed from Barclay Records, Lefevre's records continued to sell well in the interim preceding another international smash with 1968's uptempo 'Soul Coaxing (Ame Caline)' (from Volume Two) which was relentlessly plugged by the pirate radio ship Radio Caroline Singles chart windfalls were, however, secondary to trans-continental concert tours and the regular release of themed albums demonstrating the wonders of stereo. Often augmented with chorale, these consisted mainly of light classics (e.g. Operamania), film material, tributes to other artists, standards, Gaelic chansons - and trademark easy-listening versions of the hits of others, exemplified by 1977's Rock And Rhythm In Hi-Fi in which he reconciled with ease works originated by the Coasters, Beatles, Simon And Garfunkel, Silver Convention and further disparate acts. A showbusiness institution, Lefevre was even able to risk occasional stylistic tangents.

DID YOU KNOW ?
Co-composer and Original performer of the song "Lança Perfume", Rita Lee Jones, sold a total of 60,000,000 records worldwide. This song was written together with her husband, Roberto de Carvalho.

MHO
Raymond Lefevre had this failproof "musical sensor" with which he found pop and rock songs that would also make a great instrumental. Prior to this fabulous arrangement from 1981, Lefevre eg transformed major hits such as "Groovin'" and "Soul Coaxing (Ame Caline)" into major orchestral hits. In all these recordings, the "high pitch" strings, typical for Lefevre's music, play a dominant role. In mho, I'd even dare say that Lefevre's orchestral interpretations of the Original vocal songs are better than the originals. But that might be due to my passion for instrumental music ;-)
Hope you enjoy.