The Distinctive Piano Style Of/The Magic Touch Of

Product Description:
This 22-track audio CD contains two Floyd Cramer albums originally released on the RCA Victor budget label Camden.

The Distinctive Piano Style Of/The Magic Touch Of,Floyd Cramer,Collectables,Country,Country-Pop,Instrumental Country,Instrumental Pop,Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan,Pop

Average customer rating: Two mid-60s RCA Camden LPs on one disc.

The Distinctive Piano Style Of/The Magic Touch Of Floyd Cramer Manufacturer: Collectables ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Nashville Sound | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Pop | Styles | Music Orchestral Pop | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Blue Skies Piano Masterpieces (1900-1975) The Essential Floyd Cramer The Piano Magic, Vol. 2 Forever in Love ASIN: B0002DRDHS Release Date: 2004-07-27

Tracks:

1. Chattanooga Choo Choo
2. For Those That Cry
3. Hot Pepper
4. (Theme From) Story of Three Loves
5. Suddenly There's a Valley
6. Sophisticated Swing
7. Marilyn
8. Shrum
9. Losers Weepers
10. Night Theme
11. Tuxedo Junction
12. Cryin'
13. Three Bells
14. All Night Long
15. Naomi
16. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
17. Tomorrow's Gone
18. Goin' Home
19. Kisses and Tears
20. Hong Kong

Album Description

This 22-track audio CD contains two Floyd Cramer albums originally released on the RCA Victor budget label Camden.

Customer Reviews:

Two mid-60s RCA Camden LPs on one disc........2004-09-11

I'd easily give this disc five stars because I think that the ten songs that comprise "The Magic Touch Of Floyd Cramer" are really good and the sound quality on these particular tracks ranges from good to excellent. But I have to deduct from the rating for other reasons. For one thing, I have to question Collectables decision to choose these two particular albums for this "two-fer". Both are really short mid-60s releases on the budget Camden label. Both are hodge-podge gatherings of tracks recorded several years prior to the albums' releases. Not to say that the music isn't good. A lot of Floyd's finest performances are included here, but why not pick two of his more cohesive RCA efforts like the two organ albums or two from the "Class Of..." series or an excellent title like "Country Piano, City Strings"? Maybe Camden is all BMG would license to them at this time. The inside of the cover lists 22 other recent Collectables releases and, looking over the titles, I believe most (if not all) of them are Camden albums.
Getting back to the sound quality, it should be noted that all of the tracks on this disc are in mono. This is understandable I suppose, because the original LPs were in mono. They were later reissued in stereo but for many of the songs, this meant fake "rechanneled stereo" since they were mono recordings. The few actual stereo recordings from the bunch could have been included here in stereo ("Shrum" is in true stereo on "The Essential Floyd Cramer") but they're mono. I don't really mind, and actually like having "Shrum" in both stereo and mono versions.
At any rate, the sound quality really takes a dive once the second album begins. There are so many drop-outs on "Tuxedo Junction" that the first half of the song is virtually unlistenable. After that song, the sound levels off and most of the rest of the disc sounds pretty good despite a little cloudiness to "Tomorrow's Gone" and "Naomi" and excessive treble on "Cryin'". The BMG Pair CD, "Country Classics" from 1988 also contained "Tuxedo Junction" and although the sound quality on that disc wasn't all that great, I don't remember all those drop-outs. I'm gonna make my own CD of these albums and replace this version with the one from the Pair CD.
Musically, this disc is all over the map. Aside from "Junction", Cramer knocks off covers of several other big band standards: "Sophisticated Swing", "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", and his hit single version of "Chattanooga Choo Choo". "Sophisticated Swing" sounds much better here than it did on the aforementioned "Country Classics" CD. The sound quality is at it's highest on the Pete Drake tune "For Those That Cry". I'm glad because this track was one of the main reasons I wanted "Magic Touch" on CD. "Tomorrow's Gone", "Shrum", "Losers Weepers", "All Night Long" and "Kisses And Tears" are all Cramer originals. The track "Hot Pepper" is a remake of Cramer's 1958 hit "Flip, Flop And Bop". Two tracks, "Story Of Three Loves" and "Goin' Home" are retitled classical pieces by Rachmaninoff and Dvorak respectively.
So you can look at this disc two ways. It's either a pairing of two Camden budget LPs, or just a collection of 20 Floyd Cramer favorites. The poor sound quality on "Tuxedo Junction" aside, any fan of Floyd's will find a lot to like here.

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