Monsieur Maurice digs Sgt. Peppers

I offer you an 'easy listening' take on the 'fab four's' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. As you can imagine, it's quite a trip trough the weird and wonderful.

01 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Hollyridge Strings
02 With A Little Help - Tony Mottola
03 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - John Keating
04 Getting Better - The Rubber Band
05 Penny Lane - Enoch Light & His Orchestra
06 Fixing a Hole - Jack Convery
07 She's Leaving Home -  The Laurie Steele Combo & Chorus
08 Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite - Les Miserables Brass Band
09 Within' You Without You - Peter Knight and his Orchestra
10 When I'm Sixty-Four - The Swingle Singers
11 Strawberry Fields Forever - The Ventures
12 Lovely Rita - Peter Knight and his Orchestra
13 Good Morning Good Morning - mr. Pickwick Players
14 A Day In The Life - Tartaglia
15 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - Beegees & Peter Frampton
16 With A Little Help From My Friends - José Pirata & His Orchestra
17 Lucy in the sky - John Schroeder Orchestra
18 She's Leaving Home - London Pops Orchestra
19 A Day In The Life - Peter Knight and his Orchestra
20 With A Little Help From My Friends - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
21 Lucy In The Sky - Enoch Light
22 When I'm Sixty-Four - Hollyridge Strings
23 A Day In The Life - The Laurie Steele Combo & Chorus
24 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Ronnie Aldrich
25 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Finale) - Beegees & Peter Frampton

Heartache in duplicate

Monsieur Maurice brings you the second installment of his 'UNDUN' series. 42 songs about heartache, love lost or never found, too much love, or too little...
Thanks to Roy for the cover (please don't sue me!)

Enjoy, or start sobbing relentlessly...

CD1
01  Without Her - Herb Alpert & TTB
02 Love is Blue - Nancy Wilson
03 If You Go Away - Glen Campbell
04 Reaching For The Moon - Ella Fitzgerald
05 Stormy Weather - Etta James
06 As Tears Go By - Nancy Sinatra
07 Heard it Through The Grapevine - Little Missy Walters
08 Breakin' Up A Happy Home - Dusty Springfield
09 Goin' Out Of My Head - Nancy Wilson
10 I Who Have Nothing - Tom Jones
11 Once I Loved - Wanda Sá
12 I Won't Cry Anymore - Dinah Washington
13 I`ve Never Been To Me - Nancy Wilson.
14 Don't Cry Out Loud - Melissa Manchester
15 You Were Always On My Mind - Gwen McCrae
16 Why Can`t I Cry - Tom Jones 
17 Where Can I Go Without You - Connie Francis
18 A Woman's Intuition - Beverly Kenney
19 Cry You Out Of My Heart - Ella Fitzgerald
20 Sweet Lover No More - Blossom Dearie
21 I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City - Peggy Lee

CD2
01 Without Him - Astrud Gilberto
02 You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry - Claudine Longet
03 What Becomes of The Broken- Hearted - The Supremes
04 You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield
05 Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - Roberta Flack
06 Começar de Novo - Simone
07 Walk On By - Isaac Hayes
08 Face it Girl, It"s Over  - Nancy Wilson
09 Sweet Lover No More - Dusty Springfield
10 To Make A Big Man Cry - Tom Jones
11 It's Too Late - Wanda Sá
12 Tired Of Waiting For You - Nancy Sinatra
13 Since I Fell For You - Teal Joy
14 Love Me Or Leave Me - Misora Hibari
15 Cry Me a River - Dinah Washington
16 Everything Happens To Me - Helen Merrill
17 Trouble Is a Man - Chris Connor
18 Softly as I Leave You - Shirley Horn
19 Bang Bang - Nancy Sinatra
20 It's Over - Roy Orbison
21 I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City - Julie London

MM Digs 'The Bard'

Monsieur Maurice brings hommage to a certain Nobel prize winner who brought us pure poetry in his lyrics. His voice though, is a matter of taste...
A whoppin' 27 tracks for you to enjoy 

01 Lay Lady Lay - Harry Roche Constellation
02 Blowin' in the Wind - Enoch Light & The Brass Menagerie
03 It Ain't Me Babe - Nancy Sinatra
04 I Shall Be Released - The Sound Symposium
05 The Mighty Quinn - Lulu
06 All I Really Want To Do - The Gene Norman Group
07 It's All Over Now Baby Blue - The Golden Gate Strings
08 Mr. Tambourine Man - Don Sebesky
09 Just like a woman - Hugo Montenegro
10 Like A Rolling Stone - James Last
11 If Not For You - Sounds Orchestral
12 Mr. Tambourine Man - Hugo Montenegro
13 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight - José Feliciano
14 All Along The Watchtower - Brewer & Shipley
15 Subterranean Homesick Blues - The Gene Norman Group
16 Rainy Day Women 12-35 - Colonel Jubilation P Johnston & His Mystic Knights Band & Street Singers
17 Knockin On Heavens Door - Inger Lise Rypdal
18 Positively 4th Street - Jerry Murad's Harmonicats
19 Lay Lady Lay - Alan Tew
20 If Not For You - Olivia Newton-John
21 She Belongs To Me - Mystic Moods Orchestra
22 All Along the Watchtower  - Wilton Felder
23 A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall -  The Gene Norman Group
24 Tomorrow Is A Long Time - The Golden Gate Strings
25 Don't Think Twice It's All Right - The Seekers
26 Rainy Day Women 12-35 - Pancho Purcell His Bambuco Players
27 Blowin' In The Wind - Bob & Phil And The Orchestra

Monsieur Maurice Mixes again !

Monsieur Maurice made another mixtape for you. This one with a definitive jazzy feel to it.
Check it out. It's fingersnapping good!

1    Midnight Cowboy - Young Holt Unlimited
2    A Whiter Shade of Pale - The Jimmy Castor Bunch
3    Both Sides Now - Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
4    Spinning Wheel - Lonnie Smith
5    Sunny (Alternate Take) - Wes Montgomery
6    Suicide is painless - Jimmy Smith
7    One Note Samba - Dizzy Gillepspie
8    The Girl From Ipanema - Walter Wanderley
9    My Funny Valentine - Doc Severinsen
10    Superstar - George Shearing Quintet
11    Theme from Valley of the Dolls - Ahmad Jamal   
12    Theme from A Summer Place - Julie London
13    More - Dizzy Gillespie
14    Wichita Lineman - Pete Moore Orchestra
15    Macarthur Park - Stan Kenton And His Orchestra
16    If - Henri Mancini & Doc Severinsen   
17    Somewhere - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
18    Everybody's Talkin' - Harry Pitch   
19    The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
20    You're My World - Dionne Warwick



Because I wanted the tracks to fit a single CD I cropped track 4. Bur for the purists among you I added the complete version of the track in the file.

Monsieur Maurice's Mixtapes

Do you remember when you still made mixtapes? Sometimes even with the microphone of your tape recorder next to the radio's speaker? Hoping the DJ wouldn't cut the end of the song, or talk trough the intro... Coloring the little inlay cards with magic markers. Giving the tapes to your friends...
Monsieur Maurice made some mixtapes for you all.
The 'tapes' consist of 20 of his favorite songs, in different versions by different artists in different styles.
Today you get Volume 1.
Enjoy

01 Midnight Cowboy - The Frank Barber Percussion
02 A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Big Ben Hawaiian Band
03 Both Sides Now - Terry Baxter
04 Spinningwheel - Arthur Lyman
05 Sunny - Toots Thielemans
06 Suicide Is Painless - Alex Bollard & London Starlight Orchestra
07 One Note Samba - Quincy Jones & His Orchestra
08 La Ragazza di Ipanema - Giovanni Fenati
09 My Funny Valentine -  Martin Denny
10 Superstar - Anita Kerr Singers
11 Theme from Valley of the Dolls- Enoch Light & the Light Brigade
12 Theme from A Summer Place - Arthur Lyman
13 More (Theme from 'Mondo Cane') - Si Zentner
14 Wichita Lineman - Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66
15 Macarthur Park - 101 Strings
16 If - The Orchestrah
17 Somewhere - Marian McPartland
18 Everybody`s Talkin` -  The Exotic Guitars
19 The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face - Shoji Yokoughi Quartet and Symphonic Fusion
20 Il Mio Mondo - Umberto Bindi

Monsieur Maurice Digs Again !

Another installment from the 'Monsieur Maurice Digs' series.
This series contains easy listening compilations paying tribute to one particular artist. Mostly artists that hold a special place in Monsieur Maurice's heart.
This installment pays tribute tot the wonderful sound of the Carpenters.
It's basically a 'Best Of' - Lounge Style.
Enjoy !

01 Yesterday Once More - Sounds Orchestral
02 Superstar - Tony Mottola
03. Rainy Days and Mondays - Dick Hyman
04 Goodbye to love - John Pineguy
05 It's going to take some time - Tony Mottola
06 I Won't Last A Day Without You - Sounds Orchestral
07 For All We Know - Tony Mottola
08 I Need To Be In Love - Shirley Bassey
09 Jambalaya (On the bayou) - Brenda Lee
10 Solitaire - John Keating
11 We've only just begun - Tony Mottola
12 (They Long To Be) Close To You - Brian Bennett
13 This Masquerade - Shoji Yokoughi Quartet
14 Top Of The World - David Snell
15 Sing - Peggy Lee
16 There's A Kind Of Hush - Kai Warner
17 Bless The Beasts And Children - The Ventures
18 Yesterday once More- Manuel and the Music of the Mountains
19 For All We Know - Floyd Cramer
20 (They long to be) Close to you - Tony Mottola
21 Top of the World - Ronnie Aldrich
22 There's a kind of hush - Franck Pourcell
23 The Rainbow Connection - Judy Collins

Monsieur Maurice presents Depressing Songs

Not that these songs are a representation of the mindset of Monsieur Maurice... Oh No. Au Contraire!  Monsieur Maurice is happy as can be.
But songs about love gone wrong, heartbreak, unrequited love are often so so beautiful.
This is the first compilation (yes, there's more) on this subject that I've made. It's mostly female singers (a few exceptions), mainly because a woman can do heartbreak so much better than a man✌
There's the lovely Nancy Wilson. Queen of heartbreak IMO. And the Aussi sensation Lana Cantrell. Australia's answer to Barbra Streisand. Only a handful of albums in her name, but hey there are some gems to be found there.

It's a Double Feature, so you are in for a 2 hour long journey into the world of melancholia.
I've added my original artwork, with thanks to the great Roy Lichtenstein.
In the 'booklet' you can find some more info on the individual tracks. There I've chosen to provide the original album and date of release to the best of my knowledge. If I've made mistakes, please feel free to correct me in the comment section. I like it when facts are actually factual.

I would love to receive some feedback on these compilations.  Did you like my selection? What's good?  What can be done better? Do you have suggestions ? Please feel free to comment in the comment section.

Now go and grab a pint of ice cream and a spoon, curl up on the couch, and listen...


Disc 1
01 Dave Berry - The Crying Game
02 Claudine Longet - Cry Me a River
03 Blossom Dearie - Yesterday when I was Young
04 Dinah Shore - It is Over
05 Dionne Warwick - (theme from) Valley Of The Dolls
06 Ella Fitzgerald - But Not For Me
07 Nancy Wilson - Guess Who I Saw Today
08 Julie London - The End Of A Love Affair
09 Chris Connor - The Thrill Is Gone
10 Keely Smith - One Less Bell To Answer
11 Lana Cantrell - If You Go Away
12 Nancy Wilson - Glad to be Unhappy
13 Nina Simone - I Can Get Along Without You Very Well
14 Peggy Lee - Is that all there is
15 Lena Horn - Softly As I Leave You
16 Shirley Bassey - A House is Not a Home
17 Eartha Kitt - All by Myself
18 The Guess Who - Undun

Disc 2
01 Sue Raney - How About Me
02 Claudine Longet - The End of the World
03 Bobbie Gentry - I'll Never Fall in Love Again
04 Dionne Warwick - Walking Backwards Down The Road
05 Nancy Wilson - I'll Only Miss Him When I Think of Him
06 Ella Fitzgerald - The Man I Love
07 Peggy Lee - (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me -
08 Frances Faye - I Cried for You
09 Lana Cantrell - Stay
10 Lena Horne - In Love in Vain
11 Nancy Wilson - You Can Have Him
12 Nina Simone - Little Girl Blue
13 Etta James - Willow Weep For Me
14 Peggy Lee - Me And My Shadow
15 Julie London - Can't Get Used to Losing You
16 Julie Wilson - Trav'lin Light
17 Sarah Vaughan - The Thrill Is Gone
18 Hugo Montenegro - Undun