VA - Odyssey: The Sound Of Ivor Raymonde Vol. 2 (2019)

Odyssey: The Sound Of Ivor Raymonde Vol II is Bella Union’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed Paradise: The Sound Of Ivor Raymonde. The new compilation is a further celebration of the great British arranger, musical director, producer and songwriter Ivor Raymonde, who died at age 63 in 1990. Bella Union, the label behind both releases, is run by Ivor’s son Simon Raymonde.

Paradise told the story of a British musical great for the first time. Classic Sixties hits like Billy Fury’s Halfway To Paradise, Dusty Springfield’s I Only Want To Be With You (co-written by Ivor) and The Walker Brothers’ Make It Easy On Yourself were collected. All were arranged or produced by Ivor and heard alongside just-as-fantastic tracks by David Bowie, Sonny Childe, Cindy Cole, Tom Jones, Los Bravos and Helen Shapiro. Music biz insiders knew Ivor Raymonde’s significance. At the end of 1966, the American trade magazine Billboard ranked him one place above Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler in their annual world-wide survey of the top independent producers.

Odyssey is additional confirmation of the seemingly limitless scope of Ivor’s talents. More hits are featured: the Alan Price Set’s irresistible Top Five interpretation of Randy Newman’s Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear, Dusty Springfield’s kinetic Little By Little, Frankie Vaughan’s epic chart topper Tower Of Strength and the aural drama of Marty Wilde And His Wildcats’ Endless Sleep. There are also lesser-known tracks by best-sellers: Los Bravos’ Raymonde-composed soul stomper Brand New Baby, Cat Stevens’ moody Blackness Of The Night and the extraordinary 1966 Walker Brothers’ album track Where's The Girl, which pointed to where the solo Scott Walker would soon be heading.

Ivor Raymonde also worked with American stars who, while visiting the UK, recorded in London. Roy Orbison’s September 1963 session with Ivor resulted in the Xmas hit Pretty Paper. Del Shannon became the first American to cover a Beatles' song when he made From Me To You with Ivor. Although Ivor Raymonde was a back-room figure, he made the Top 30 in early 1963 as the clandestine vocalist with The Chucks – a studio demo had been made with no intention of it ending up in record shops. Then, it was issued and a band name needed. Ivor plumped for The Chucks and Loo-Be-Loo began rising up the charts. On Odyssey, it is at last given its context.

Not everything was a hit. Paul Slade’s epic Odyssey missed out on the charts. So did Giles, Giles and Fripp’s baroque psych-pop gem Thursday Morning: three-quarters of the band, which featured Robert Fripp, became the first version of King Crimson. One track could never have been a hit: “Twinkle’s Michael Hanna was recorded with Ivor in 1971 as a potential single but never released. Now, it is united with 24 other examples of Ivor Raymonde at his best.

Every track but one was originally issued or recorded in mono: stereo became standard in the pop market in 1968/1969. Keeping the integrity of the compilation in mind, all but one track appears in mono. With tracks issued as singles, the masters used are those of the singles themselves.