Les Humphires - Piano Concerto
Published December 25th, 2007 in Obsessions, Treasure Tags: Cheese, Music.
We’re big fans of the Les Humphries Singers here at the Bostworld. Listening to the LHS is like mounting a helium-filled inner tube and sailing back in time, right over the the last 35 years of musical disappointment to a time when young singers would don funky futuristic costumes to sing in unison at their highest registers to up-tempo arrangements full of loud drums and frenetic full orchestras. If the original LHS canon ever comes out on CD, I’ll be queing up for my copies on day of release.
Even as he plied the youth circuit, Les Humphries courted the easy listening crowd with a sporadic series of instrumental albums. “Piano Concerto” is one of his his earliest solo efforts. Adorned in a nondescript cover perfect for its future role as cut-out bin fodder, this album delivers such in-demand MOR material as “Wichita Lineman,” “Up Up And Away,” “Classical Gas” and “Cast Your Fate To The Wind.” As such, it follows the same path as most other piano-driven instrumental pop albums of the early seventies. However, since this is Les Humphries after all, you can be sure that the groove is a little more muscular and the backing tracks are a little more hectic than your average Roger Williams project.
Online Humphries resources continue to be scarce, just as they were when I wrote about him last year. Happily, another Les keyboard record surfaced a while back on the Space Debris site. The truly patient among you can fire up this six-LP torrent file and sit tight long enough for someone to come along and seed it. In the meantime, you can enjoy “Piano Concerto.”
Hi Derrick,
I couldn’t find a regular email address for you on your website, so I’ll just say it here. I really enjoy your website. The Meat Puppets drew me in, but your area keeps me coming back for more. I’ve downloaded your music compilations, and really enjoyed the country ones. I’m still a big fan of the Meat Puppets, and have grown tired of music radio over the past 20 or so years. I have to look back to find good music, I know there is good music out there, but there sure is a lot of hay to look through before finding a needle. Going back is easier and more fulfilling, for sure. Oh, and your travel, stamps, and political writing is quite enjoyable also. Keep up the great work.
Health & Happiness to you in the new year,
Dan
Thanks for the vote of confidence Dan! It’s fun to share some of the stuff I’ve enjoyed over the years, and it’s nice to know that others get a kick out of it as well!
Les was a great piano player!
Les was one of the best and CLASSICAL GAS, THE FROG and PIANO CONCERTO are amont the best piano instrumentals ever.