by Ted Mills
The craze of stereophonic sound that arrived in the late '50s led to a race to discover newer and more advanced ways of delivering high fidelity to the high-end consumer. Enoch Light, apart from his other innovations, introduced the concept of recording on 35 mm magnetic film. Because of the sprocket holes that help carry the tape along the heads, there was less stretching and "wow and flutter" in the recordings. At least that's the theory; though Light used the technique for the rest of his tenure at Command, it did not become mainstream. The album, the third of Light's 35 mm series, presents a selection of movie themes, with the usual European exotica like "La Dolce Vita" and "Never on Sunday" -- which received the most varied, colorful arrangements -- and the romantic warhorses ("El Cid," "Tender Is the Night") full of swirling strings, almost too bold. There's nothing too daring here, and any technical advances in sound are unfortunately undercut by the probable condition of the used vinyl copy you might encounter.