HARRY BELAFONTE - At The Greek Theatre [2LP 180g 33rpm]

RCA Victor

£82.78

Format: 2 x LP, 180g 33rpm
Catalogue No.: RCASCR-60092
Barcode: 4260019712752
Release Date: Jul 2023
Genre: Folk Pop

This Speakers Corner production was made using analogue master tape and mastering 100% purely analogue.

The show, which rolled over the open-air stage of the Greek Theatre night after night in the late summer of 1963, attracted fans as if on a pilgrimage to the mountains of Hollywood. Many who could not get hold of a map climbed the surrounding trees to be able to admire the Calypso man at least from a distance.

Also on the lookout and with sound equipment at the ready were the people of the company RCA, which released the eagerly awaited album the following year. Some of the songs like the wriggling "Zombie Jamboree", "Look Over Yonder" and the wonderfully dripping Schmonzette "Try To Remember" were previously only available as studio versions. Most of the other numbers were brand new and sounded for the first time in a sparkling live atmosphere, which is authentically reproduced on this record.

Here a laugh as a receipt for a casual saying, there a rumble of boards, then again concentrated silence of a spellbound listening audience - something like this only happens on stage.

For Belafonte connoisseurs, these recordings are regarded as the crowning glory of the artistically highly productive phase of the years 1959 to 1963. Of the many good albums, this is one of the best.

Personnel: Harry Belafonte (voc); Howard Roberts (cond); William Eaton (clavietta); Ernest Calabria, Jay Berliner (g); John Cartwright (b); Percy Brice (dr); Ralph MacDonald (perc), choir and orchestra

Track List:
Side A
1. Look Over Yonder - Be My Woman, Gal
2. Glory Manger
3. Shake That Little Foot 4. Windin' Road 5. Hoedown Blues

Side B
1. Try To Remember
2. Why 'N' Why
3. Contemporary Dance
4. In My Father's House

Side C
1. Hayoshevet Baganim
2. Cruel War
3. Pig
4. Sailor Man 5. Merry Minuet 6. Boot Dance

Side D
1. Zombie Jamboree