Film Albums: La Dolce Vita and Other Great Motion Picture Themes (1961)

In the early 1960s a plethora of great "motion picture theme" albums were released and honestly, it is hard to choose one over the other when comparing them. Ray Ellis and His Orchestra was not as popular as Ray Conniff or Ferrante and Teicher, but he had a large output and recorded equally stellar music. This album, La Dolce Vita and Other Great Motion Picture Themes, dating from 1961, was recorded in Living Stereo (LSP-2410) and features some sensational stereophonic sounds, especially on Theme from "The Misfits". As lovely as they sound on headphones, these Living Stereo sounds are even more impressive on a record player. 

Ray Ellis was a saxophonist but, unlike Billy Vaughn, he did not feature the saxophone in all of his recordings... in fact, most of these pieces are predominantly strings and piano. Oh, and how lush they are! Love is a Many Splendored Thing with its chorus, strings, and harps, will transport you straight to the hilltop above Hong Kong on that beautiful summer day where you hope William Holden will be waiting for you. Then listen to how imaginative the arrangement for Theme from A Summer Place is. Ray Conniff had a huge hit with his release in 1959 and many conductors simply copied his style in their own releases afterwards, but not Ray! And speaking of imaginative, listen to his ending to April Love - simply lovely. But I'll let you judge for yourself, as you can listen to the full album by clicking on the link below. Enjoy! 

Listen to the full album here on Youtube. 

Track List

Side One:

La Dolce Vita = The Sweet Life 

The High And The Mighty 

Theme From "The Misfits" 

Spellbound 

All The Way 

Parlami Di Me = Speak To Me 

Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing 

Side Two:

Tara's Theme 

Laura 

Theme From "A Summer Place" 

Ruby 

Que Sera, Sera 

April Love 

Theme From "Exodus"

Top Picks: The High and the Mighty, Spellbound, All the Way, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, April Love