I would not have out Ray Conniff’s HAPPINESS IS album on. oh my. Seriously awful stuff. Even if it was decent.. it’s actually warped from someone who really DID love it. They killed Blue Moon. Choral hell. “This is really the very whitest of white bread. Incessant shreaking punctuated by some catchy zylaphone” ~thanks husband (who was baking gluten-free choc macadamia nut cookies in the kitchen, as I type this).
Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. A review from ALLMUSIC.COM: by Greg Adams
An aggressively “happy” album by Ray Conniff and his singers, Happiness Is combines exuberant singalongs, wordless vocals, and instrumentals in a grab-bag album that covers many — if not most — of Conniff’s bases. A couple of mellow moments don’t detract from the overarching sunniness of the album, which lapses into delicious self-parody with “Popsy” and the hilarious title track (co-written by former teen idol Paul Evans). “The Sheik of Araby” is whistled to a shuffling soft-shoe rhythm, and the joyous ba-ba’s totally eclipse the inherent loneliness of “Blue Moon.” Happiness Is is a fun and very funny album that once again shows Conniff’s self-effacing sense of humor.
dropping the needle...
