Rock & Roll Symphony 1 / Var

So what is a ROCK & ROLL SYMPHONY anyway? Well, as David L. Miller, '50s pop orchestral producer-extraordinaire wrote, it's 'Rock & Roll in the Sound of Magnificence!' This is the majesty of the symphony - but with a solid beat and in spectacular concert-hall stereo to demonstrate your high-end system with real speakers (remember those?). When rock and roll came along in the 1950s, the older generation panicked. What was this crazy new music that teenagers were listening to, they wondered, with it's pounding beat and wild vocalists? Where was the melody? And where was the appreciation for the classics and pop standards? a handful of bandleaders decided to take matters into their own hands. Instead of sitting idly by and watching their album sales dwindle while unschooled and unruly musicians scored on the hit parade with 'awful' rock and roll records, these bandleaders set out to make better rock and roll. Rock and roll with real melodies! ROCK & ROLL SYMPHONY NO. 1 (A 1959 Stereo Concert) chronicles their orchestral effort to save rock and roll from itself. These 28 thoughtfully selected and carefully mastered recordings, some classical, some familiar standards ('Blueberry Hill', 'My Prayer', 'Cry') combine gorgeous lush orchestral pop arrangements with a real old-school rock & roll back beat, all in audiophile fidelity and the kind of 'wide' stereo you remember from the early days.