George Benson - Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon

Styles: Vocal And Guitar
Size: 102,4 MB
Time: 44:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2024
Art: Front

1. At Last (4:12)
2. A Song For You (3:36)
3. Pretend (3:59)
4. A Long Time Ago (4:32)
5. Love Is Blue (4:16)
6. My Romance (4:07)
7. Autumn Leaves (4:19)
8. Can't We Be Friends (3:01)
9. My Prayer (4:35)
10. Yesterday (4:18)
11. One Goodbye (3:01)

When the best intentions are to put a record release on hold for whatever the cause, occasionally those masters are overlooked and/or lost for an indefinite period of time. Multi Grammy winning and Hollywood Walk of Fame recipient, guitarist/vocalist George Benson, spent over a decade with Warner Bros. Records including his crossover (Pop, R&B and Jazz) classic in 1976, Breezin’, and Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon, a 1989 project saluting the song standards in various genres through the years. However, the masters on Dreams Do Come True slipped thru the cracks for 35 years before the original recording was finally found.

Now the time is getting closer for an extraordinary collaboration bridging Benson’s jazzy scat and guitar and a richly soulful vocal delivery with Farnon’s orchestral arrangements. The Canadian born Farnon, who passed at age 87 in 2005, arranged for many vocal legends including Tony Bennett and Lena Horne. This updated version of Dreams Do Come True (Rhino/Warner Music) is retouched up with love by Benson’s friend co-producer Randy Waldman. Meanwhile, fans can experience a sneak peak of Benson and Farnon from these long, lost sessions, teaming up on the R&B disco flavored, big band edged “Love is Blue,” the first French single release that hit #1 on the U.S. charts in 1968.
https://news.theurbanmusicscene.com/2024/07/dreams-do-come-true-when-george-benson-meets-robert-farnon/

Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon

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Robert Farnon And His Orchestra - Pictures In The Fire

Styles: Jazz, Easy Listening 
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:58
Size: 88,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:36)  1. Pictures In The Fire
(2:50)  2. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
(3:17)  3. To A Young Lady
(3:37)  4. Hey There
(2:48)  5. Secret Love
(3:14)  6. Lazy Day
(2:57)  7. Friendly Persuasion
(2:39)  8. Sophistication Waltz
(3:07)  9. When I Fall In Love
(3:33) 10. A Summer Love
(2:38) 11. The Story Of Tina
(3:36) 12. The Nearness Of You

'Pictures in the Fire' includes three original Farnon tracks apart from the title single, these are: 'Lazy Day and 'Sophistication Waltz' together with the sentimental 'Summer Love'. These contain the touch of the master but his interpretations of Young's, 'When I Fall in Love', Adler's 'Hey There' and the ubiquitous 'Story of Tina' are also as good as it gets. Dutton's remastering brings out the original colour and sweet string sound and David Ades' contribution is an entertaining read altogether. I cannot recommend this album too highly, especially if you enjoy the vintage 50's period which was such a success for light music re-incarnation. http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/d/dut04112a.php

Pictures In The Fire

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Robert Farnon & His Orchestra - A Portrait of Johnny Mathis

Styles: Jazz, Easy Listening
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:45
Size: 84,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:49)  1. Misty
(2:17)  2. The 12th of Never
(3:00)  3. It's Not for Me to Say
(2:49)  4. What Will My Mary Say
(2:41)  5. When Sunny Gets Blue
(2:49)  6. Maria, from 'West Side Story'
(3:08)  7. Chances Are
(2:34)  8. A Certain Smile
(3:14)  9. Gina
(2:37) 10. Small World
(3:34) 11. Wonderful, Wonderful
(3:08) 12. Someone

Robert Farnon, a composer of light classical and "mood music," is a rival to figure such as Eric Coates, David Rose, and Percy Faith. He has also been notably successful in the field of film music since the 1940s. Robert Joseph Farnon was born into a musical family in Toronto, Canada in 1917. He showed a natural aptitude as a musician, and at age 19, was already being employed as an arranger with the Canadian Broadcasting Company Orchestra in Toronto, under the direction of Percy Faith. Farnon succeeded Faith as director of the orchestra when Faith departed Canada for America. Farnon's main interest at the time lay in writing serious music, despite the fact that he enjoyed great success with his arrangements. At age 22, he composed his first symphony, which was performed by the Toronto Symphony in 1941, and later by the Philadelphia Orchestra. A second symphony followed a year later, and it, too, received performances in Canada, but Farnon discovered that he had little personal affinity for writing works of that depth and dimension, talented though he might have been. It was during his service with the Canadian army during World War II, when he was assigned as a bandleader and sent to England, that Farnon discovered the light classical music of composers such as Charles Williams and Eric Coates. This was something of a revelation to him their brand of music was internally complex while not overly profound, inventive and expressive without being pretentious. Their work became something of the model upon which he chose to build his career as a composer, and that brand of light classical music led naturally, in turn, to film composition. Farnon made his career in England after the war, writing mood music for Chappell Music, a task at which he was eminently successful, his music not only popular in the broadcasts for which it was intended, but also entering the repertory of numerous pops orchestras in England and around the world. Farnon soon entered the field of film music as well, writing his first score in 1948 for the upper-class romantic comedy Spring in Park Lane, produced by Herbert Wilcox, and the music for its direct sequel Maytime in Mayfair.In 1951, Farnon was assigned to write the score for his first major international film, Captain Horatio Hornblower, based on the exploits of C.S. 

Forrester's naval hero of the Napoleonic era, starring Gregory Peck. A British Warner Bros. production directed by legendary action filmmaker Raoul Walsh, Hornblower was a hit around the world and remains one, as an oft-revived and telecast film; it is Farnon's best-known screen work as well, virtually his magnum opus. He subsequently had assignments for films such as Gentlemen Marry Brunettes and the screen adaptation of The Little Hut, which, as films, left relatively little impression on the public. In the '60s, his screen assignments included some slightly higher profile work, such as the music for the Hayley Mills film The Truth About Spring and also the all-star western adventure drama Shalako. Farnon has remained a top composer in his field for 50 years. In addition to his film scores, his popular instruments include "How Beautiful Is Night," "Journey into Melody," "Pictures in the Fire," "Westminster Waltz," and "A Promise of Spring." In addition to its melodic content, Farnon's music is noted for its deceptively complex internal structure, which makes it as interesting as it is attractive. A quiet, self-effacing man, without the gift for self-promotion that rivals Percy Faith or David Rose showed, Farnon has never had a high-visibility creative role, preferring to work quietly and show himself through his work. In 1992, Reference Recordings issued a CD of Farnon conducting his own concert pieces, and a suite derived of the Captain Horatio Hornblower score. ~ Bruce Eder https://www.allmusic.com/artist/robert-farnon-mn0000831796/biography

A Portrait of Johnny Mathis

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