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

MM Digs Simon & Garfunkel

Monsieur Maurice digs lots of things. But the music of Simon and Garfunkel takes him way back when he was a little kittycat and he played the records of his older brother and sisters. There he found the Bridge over Trouble water album, and he loved it. So today he home-baked a  new version of that album and added some extra's.

1  Medley Sound of Silence/Scarborough FairCanticle -The Mystic Moods Orchestra
2  El Condor Pasa - Antony Ventura & His Orchestra
3  So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright - Paul Desmond
4  The Sound of Silence - Carmen McRae
5  Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall - Wout Steenhuis & The Wedgewoods
6  Homeward Bound -The Mystic Moods Orchestra
7  Keep the Customer Satisfied - Marsha Hunt
8 Cecilia - Frank Pourcel
9  April Come She Will - Carlo Monteverdi & his Orchestra
10  The Sound of Silence - Sisters of Charm
11  I Am A Rock - Carlo Monteverdi & his Orchestra
12  Mrs Robinson - David Snell
13  Scarborough Fair - Gershon Kingsley
14  Bridge Over Troubled Water - Enoch Light
15 The Boxer - Terry Baxter
16  For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her - Paul Desmond
17  Scarborough Fair - Tony Mottola
18  Feelin' Groovy - Doris Day
19  Cloudy -The Mystic Moods Orchestra
20  Bye Bye Love - Carlos Piper Orquestra

Let's do it again !

As George Gershwin so eloquently wrote... My friends I'm gonna 'Do it again' !
Today is the new start of Chez Monsieur Maurice 2.0
As you can read in the header, I'm not going to post any full albums anymore. I just want to share my home baked compilations. I know that's not for everybody's taste... but that's how it's gonna be.
Take it or leave it.
I make these compilations mainly for the enjoyment of myself and especially my sister. She asked me a few weeks ago if she was my only fan ? That got me thinking and the idea of starting up the old blog started to brew.
So here it goes.
I will be posting every two weeks or so. The files will be available for 1 month. After that it's Sayonara. No reposts.
As much as I enjoy putting together these compilations, I also enjoy designing the artwork. I'm adding the covers of my own design inside the file. They are made to fit the slim, wraparound, made in China cd boxes that I use.  So cut and crop to make them fit the ones you use if necessary.
I would love some feedback of course. But I especially hope that you all will become my new fans and enjoy this music as much as I do.

Love
Heidi