The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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SOUNDS ORCHESTRAL

“CAST YOUR FATE TO THE WIND”

(VINCE  GUARLDI, Frank Werber)

Parkway 942

No. 10    May 8, 1965

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British producer John  Schroeder had been noticing with dismay that teens were just not appreciating

the sounds of big orchestras with Sousa horns and glockenspiels.  This rock’n’roll music, it seemed,

was raucous and lacking in hummable melody.   Schroeder’s ambition was to rectify the situation by

creating what he described, in the liner notes to Sounds Orchestral’s only album, as “a better music

…nearer to the understanding of the younger generation, keeping  within commercial boundaries

and retaining a teenage,  yet adult appeal.”

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To  shape  such music, Schroeder  enlisted pianist Johnny Pearson–BBC producer, radio personality,

and arranger for the likes of  Cilia Black, Connie Francis,  and SHIRLEY  BASSEY.   Schroeder

brought in  drummer  Kenny Clare and not one, but three bass players–Pete McGurk, Frank Clark,

and Tony Reeves.    The band laid down a sound  bottom that teen ears would like,  but that adult ones

could tolerate.  “Cast Your Fate To The Wind,”  a remake of the VINCE GUARALDI TRIO’s instrumen-

tal pop-jazz hit of 1963, was Sound Orchestral’s first effort at tailoring a “better music” for teens.    To

the surprise of many, the disk took off, eventually cracking the top 10.     The follow-up, an up-dating

of the Andy Williams/Eddie Heywood hit “Canadian Sunset,” appeared in the summer of 1965, and

scraped onto the Hot 100 at number 76.