Not the best quality, I know, but you can cleary see Ray and his amazing fake moustache!
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...I was doing my usual check for Ray McVay LPs on eBay - imagine my surprise when I saw one of the sellers has used my picture of Ray from the back of the Roadshow album to illustrate the sale.
It's obviously mine, because I doubt anyone else in the world has stuck a fake moustache on the picture of Ray from the back of the Roadshow album.
How random.
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( 3 / 149 )Diversion Projects: the world's number one Ray McVay resource! Here's the latest additions to my Ray McVay collection. They're not nearly as good as the albums I used for the special, but it's worth logging them for the sake of completion, and to provide info for other collectors.
There may be 50 tracks on this album, but only about 5 of them are worth listening to. There's a decent cover of Vehicle, and the upbeat take on Bad Moon Rising is quite funny when you hear "Hope you are quite prepared to die" sung in a Mecca dancehall style. The rest of the album consists of too many medlies and tacky party music to be considered worthy, especially when the best tracks are repeated on Top Pop Party (below).
Interesting album cover, though - what on Earth is the guy on the right wearing?
Let's Singalong and Dance to 50 Great Party Hits (1969 - 1974)
Tracklist
Since there are 50 tracks on this album, I won't write a long tracklist, just a quick summary of each side.
Side A: Party Dancers (Simon Says, Knees Up Mother Brown, E Viva Espana) - Pretty terrible stuff (the tracks say it all).
Side B: Party Pops & Rockers (Vehicle, Bad Moon Rising, Spirit in the Sky) - Decent covers of more poppy tracks.
Side C: Party Sing Songs (Oh! Susannah, Camp Town Races, La Bamba) - Did people really listen to this stuff at parties in the 70s?
Side D: Party a Go-Go (Yellow River, Greensleeves, Mexican Samba) - Well, it's got the decent cover of Greensleeves on it, but it's generally pretty bland.
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Well, that's an unflattering picture. How bad were the photos they didn't use? Anyway, musically, it's the usual hit-and-miss covers of popular hits, with the version of Na-Na-Hey-Hey being particularly noteworthy. Since this album is similar to 50 Great Party Hits, if you had to choose between one or the other, I'd go for this album.
Top Pop Party A Pop Singalong (1970)
Tracklist
01. Good Morning Freedom
02. Yellow River
03. Love Grows Where my Rosemary Goes
04. Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town
05. Melting Pot
06. Hitchin' a Ride
07. Goodbye Sam Hello Samantha
08. Na-Na-Hey-Hey
09. All Kinds of Everything
10. In the Summeertime
11. Don't You Know
12. Gimme Dat Ding
13. Bad Moon Rising
14. Cottonfields
15. Early in the Morning
16. United We Stand
17. Everything is Beautiful
18. Down the Dustpipe
19. Young Gifted and Black
20. Spirit in the Sky
21. All Right Now
22. It's All in the Game
23. Up Around the Bend
24. Vehicle
Just to be nice, here's a picture of the inside of the album, and proof that the lady on the front doesn't always look that bad...(I have no idea whose signature that is)
And to finish, here's a picture of Ray on the back of the album (no moustache!).
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Don't let the glitterball on the cover fool you. This is smooth big band all the way, the kind of music that people dance to in movies set during World War 2. It's not bad, but disappointingly it's not funky, either.
Dance Dance Dance the Modern Way (1971)
Tracklist
01. Those Were the Days
02. A Wonderful Day Like Today
03. Poeme
04. The Last Waltz
05. Deep Purple
06. Tara's Theme
07. Fascination
08. Greensleeves
09. My Own
10. I Wanna Be Around
11. Noche De Estrellas
12. Tango for Two
Another rare picture of Ray without his moustache from the back of the album.
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Like Dance Dance Dance the Modern Way, this is an album of pleasantly forgettable big band music. At least the cover doesn't lie this time. Isn't £2.21 an odd price?
The World of Old Time & Sequence Dancing (1974)
Tracklist
01. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree
02. Memory Lane
03. Welcome Home
04. Lili Marlene
05. A Man Without Love
06. Tango Now or Never
07. Dance of the Hours
08. Poem
09. The William Two Step
10. When the Saints Go Marching In
11. Yellow River
12. On Mother Kelly's Doorstep
13. The Skye Boat Song
14. Serenade
15. The Ugly Duckling
Another picture of Ray on the back of the album...
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If you're looking for bland, ballroom dancing background music, then this is the album for you! If you're looking for something on a par with the 'Theme From 2001' cover from the Roadshow album, avoid at all costs (as if the covers of Grandad and Lily the Pink wasn't warning enough).
Old Tyme with Ray McVay (1971)
Tracklist
01. Try to Remember
02. Grandad
03. Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
04. Lily the Pink
05. Yellow Submarine
06. All I Have to do is Dream
07. Almost There
08. Steptoe & Son (Old Ned)
09. Music to Watch Girls By
10. If I Were a Rich Man
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( 3 / 205 )Here are pictures and details of the Ray McVay albums I used in the special.
This is definitely one the best Ray McVay albums out there. No duff tracks whatsoever. It's also a rare picture of Ray without his moustache (more on that later).
Showcase Ray McVay and His Orchestra (1969)
Tracklist
01. Gentle on my Mind
02. Light my Fire
03. Galveston
04. Time is Tight
05. Mexican Scavenger
06. Mission Impossible
07. Aquarius
08. This Girl's In Love with You
09. My Way
10. Oh Happy Day
11. The Lonely Mexican
12. Theme from Department S
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Hmmm...the orchestral arrangement is up to the usual groovy standard, but some of the vocals are pretty dismal. I suppose that's the problem with covering songs that are best known for the original singer...
We Got Soul (1969)
Tracklist
01. Soul Finger
02. Mr. Pitiful
03. Respect
04. Funky Street
05. Soul Man
06. You Don't Know
07. I Can't Turn You Loose
08. Soul Sister Brown Sugar
09. Knock on Wood
10. Hold On, I'm Coming
11. Sweet Soul Music
12. 25 Miles
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Ah, Ray, what were you thinking? Well, I suppose it was the 70's, the era of cheesy album covers. On the upside, this album has a majority of standout tracks including La Bamba, Mas Que Nada and a truly stunning version of Scarborough Fair. Definitely enough to forgive Ray for his poor choice in tiny waistcoats.
Ole McVay (1970)
Tracklist
01. La Bamba
02. Scarborough Fair
03. Little Green Apples
04. So Nice
05. Sunlit Stream
06. Mas Que Nada
07. Quando, Quando, Quando
08. Let the Sunshine In
09. Carnival In Majorca
10. Coffee Song
11. How Insensitive
12. Fly Me to the Moon
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Not the best album. It's a bit over-reliant on the dreaded medlies, but there is a rather awesome version of Greensleeves (rock on!), and I'll always have a soft spot for El Condor Pasa.
Ray McVay Plays (1971)
Tracklist
01. Viva Trini Medley (Down by the Riverside, If I Had A Hammer, La Bamba)
02. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
03. Theme From Love Story
04. Cecilia
05. Latin Lovers Medley (O Sole Mio, Guantanamera, La Golondrina)
06. Granada
07. March of the Toreadors
08. Yellow River
09. Greensleeves
10. Bridge Over Troubled Waters
11. Happy Swinger Medley (In Them Cotton Fields at Home, Clementine, Hava Nagila)
12. El Condor Pasa
13. Viva Mexico Medley (La Cucaracha, Mexican Hat Dance, Mexican Samba)
14. Viva El Paso
15. Sweet Rock Medley (My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, Shortnin' Bread, When the Saints Go Marching In)
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This album covers most of your atypical ballroom dancing music types. Most of it is fair to middling. The quick steps tunes aren't too bad, and Something Tells Me is pretty catchy (plus, there's El Condor Pasa, so I'm happy). However, things totally wig out with Sultana, a blistering track with awesome hammond organ through it. Oh, and nice purple suit, Ray.
Come Dancing to the Hits of Today (1972)
Tracklist
01. Till (Fox Trot)
02. For All We Know (Fox Trot)
03. Never Ending Story of Love (Quick Steps)
04. Brand New Key (Quick Steps)
05. Mother of Mine (Waltzes)
06. Sun Rise Sun Set (Waltzes)
07. Something Tells Me (Jive)
08. Love Story (Rhumba)
09. El Condor Pasa (Rhumba)
10. I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (Cha Cha Cha)
11. Un Rayo Del Sol (Cha Cha Cha)
12. Sultana (Samba)
13. Pop Picker's Samba (Samba)
14. Viva El Paso (Paso Doble)
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Ladies and Gentlemen, this is it! This is the album that got me into Ray McVay, and I haven't looked back since. It's all about the first track, Theme From 2001, which combines flutes, vocals and funky, funky hammond organ to deliver a first-rate cover, and a guaranteed floor-filler. There's also covers of Jean-Michel Jarre's Popcorn and Isaac Hayes' Shaft, and a Ray McVay-penned original Everybody Get Ready, another funky classic! The rest of the album is kind of so-so (I have never, and will probably never understand the popularity of Little Brown Jug), but the the sheer quality of tracks 1,8 & 9 make this an absolute gem of a record.
The Ray McVay Roadshow (1974)
Tracklist
01. Theme from 2001
02. The Peanut Vendor
03. Theme from Shaft
04. Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me
05. Little Brown Jug
06. Spanish Eyes
07. Oh Babe
08. Popcorn
09. Everybody Get Ready
10. E Viva Espana
11. Kalinka
12. I Don't Know How To Love Him
13. Ave Maria
14. Michael Row the Boat Ashore
15. Matrimony
This is the picture of Ray on the back of the album. The fuzzy moustache isn't really his. It's been on the picture since it got stuck there during a housewarming party a year ago (someone just so happened to bring a pack of fake moustaches, you know how it is)...it suits him, so it's stayed. Plus, the glue has probably fused to the vinyl sleeve, and I don't want to risk tearing it.
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( 3.1 / 201 )Ray McVay was born in Gourock, Scotland, and started playing clarinet and sax at the age of 15. After a stint of National service in the Royal Tank Regiment, Ray's musical career started in the 50's when he became the Musical Director for Larry Parnes, through which he worked with stars including Billy Fury, Gene Vincent (Ray provided the tenor sax solo on Gene's 'Pistol Packin' Mama), and Eddie Cochran, among others. In 1960, Ray was on tour when he gave up his seat in a taxi to Eddie Cochran, who later died when the taxi crashed into a lamp post.
Ray was approached by Eric Morley, the founder of Miss World, to start his own big band to provide music for the Mecca Leisure venues in the UK. Although the idea seems somewhat alien these days, Mecca dancehalls were the place to be on a Saturday night in the UK in the 60's, and Ray was there, providing the music.
Ray also led the band for another Eric Morley project, the TV show Come Dancing. Ray's output at this time became more traditional and cha-cha-cha-inspired, as the dancehall scene became more about ballroom dancing and less about rock 'n' roll and northern soul.
Ray has won numerous awards for his music, including the Carl-Alan award for most Popular British Dance Band.
A long-time fan of Glenn Miller, after his Come Dancing stint, Ray brokered a deal to direct the Glenn Miller Orchestra UK, and continues to tour the world with them to this day.
Ray McVay, Mecca dancehall king, and provider of groovy sounds, we salute you!
Incidentally, don't you think he also looks like Jason King? Oh Yeah!
Longest introduction to a playlist so far? You bet. So here we go! A Ray McVay special! Once again the show has been cut short (by about 4 songs *RAGE!*). You can go to the album covers section for even more info, including album cover shots!
(01. Coffee Song - Ole McVay)
02. Light my Fire - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
03. Fly me the the Moon - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
04. Galveston - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
05. El Condor Pasa - Ray McVay Plays
06. This Girl's in Love with You - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
07. Sunlit Stream - Ole McVay
08. Mission Impossible - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
****I can't beleve no-one got this one! Last week's competition sound effect was the merchant from the truly wonderful Resident Evil 4. Ah well, guess it's rollover time!****
09. ??????????? - ????????? (competition music)
10. Theme from 2001 - Ray McVay Roadshow
11. Time is Tight - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
12. Soul Finger - We Got Soul
13. Mas Que Nada - Ole McVay
14. Aquarius - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
15. Greensleeves - Ray McVay Plays
16. Popcorn - Ray McVay Roadshow
17. Sultana - Come Dancing to the Hits of Today
18. Revenge - The Easy Project
19. Oh Happy Day - Showcase Ray McVay and his Orchestra
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