The Brass Ring - Lara's Theme (1966)

Less than four months after releasing the Brass Ring's debut album Love Theme from the Flight of the Phoenix (1966), Phil Bodner's New York-based instrumental ensemble issued their follow-up Lara's Theme (1966). As their first long player merely bubbled beneath the Top 100, the question as to why they were so eager to issue a second volume can be traced back to Dunhill Records' desire to create a catalog of product as efficiently as possible. As was the occasional custom of the day, producers chose to recycle the title track from Lara's Theme directly off of their first LP -- not even going so far as to re-record it. Unlike anything that was attempted on their previous effort, Bodner and company make an initial venture into the concurrent pop charts for inspiration. Not surprisingly, the Mamas & the Papas' -- who just happened to also be on Dunhill Records -- Top Five smash "California Dreamin'" is among the project's hipper entries. Similarly, Pete Seeger's translation of "Guantanamera" would have been another melody familiar to listeners as the Sandpipers had a hit with it just a few months earlier. The sassy interpretation of Pérez Prado's "Patricia" and the Dick Hyman-penned "Uncle Jose" lean heavily on the Brass Ring's West Coast contemporaries, the Herb Alpert-led Tijuana Brass. The style has an obvious effect on Bodner's own "Bahama Shuffle," which also recalls the bandleaders days as a mainstay in Enoch Light's late-'50s Provocative Percussion-era recordings. In 2007, Collectors' Choice Music compiled Lara's Theme with its long-playing predecessor Love Theme from the Flight of the Phoenix onto a single compact disc.~Lindsay Planer