RCA Living Stereo

RCA LIVING STEREO

"LIVING stereo? Has it ever been dead?"

With the release of the three excellent "History of Space Age Pop" volumes, RCA USA hit right on the Space Age Pop/exotica/lounge revival.
Then, the (stereo) action switched to Germany, where RCA is rereleasing a steady flow of Living Stereo albums on CD. Not all of them are Space Age Pop or Exotica classics, but the reviews and sleeve notes contained in these pages will hopefully help you to identify the real beauties.

All these rereleases have the original front & back cover art work (including the "Miracle Surface" label), and all except one contain bonus tracks, which are mentioned in the track lists in these very pages.
RCA USA also rereleased Morton Gould's "Jungle drums", but that has very little to do with Space Age Pop or Exotica, although the cover, title and sleeve notes are giving the impression they do. What a swindle...

What SHOULD have become an ongoing flow of Living Stereo reissues, seems to have stopped, at least in the German BMG headquarters. Those people (just like the folks at Capitol) really don't seem to understand they're sitting on top of a mountain of gold...)
Anyway, BMG Spain took over, and changed some important rules: the Spanish Living Stereo reissues look cheaper, but actually cost more!

(about DEM5 or $3 actually). The front cover of the original LP is reproduced nicely, but the back (with liner notes) is missing, and there are no bonus tracks.
Below is a list of the most interesting reissues from Spain.

Note that the Esquivel CD's are being reissued by Bar/None in the USA on so-called "twofer" CD's: these contain 2 full albums on each CD... eat that, BMG!

from the SLEEVE NOTES from the German Living Stereo reissues:
© BMG - used for didactic purpose only

Conceived in the mid-1950's by RCA producers and engineers, "Living Stereo" pioneered the leap from monaural to stereo recording. On a Living Stereo record, music comes fantastically alive.

The sound is so vivid you can almost see and feel the music. Your ears will be able to distinguish where every instument and voice comes from - left, right or center.

GERMAN REISSUES:

....+ Xavier Cugat: "In France, Spain & Italy" ..... review
.++++ Esquivel: "4 Corners of the World" ..... review, tracks & sleeve notes
+++++ Esquivel: "Other worlds, other sounds" ..... review, tracks & sleeve notes
....+ Morton Gould: "Jungle Drums"
.++++ Henry Mancini: "The Blues and the Beat" ..... review, tracks & sleeve notes
..... Henry Mancini: "The Mancini Touch"
+++++ Henry Mancini: "More music from peter Gun"
.++++ Pérez Prado: "Prez"
+++++ Pérez Prado: "Pops & Prado" ..... review, tracks & sleeve notes
..... Tito Puente: "The complete revolving..."
+++++ Dick Schory: "Music for bang baaroom and harp"
....+ George Siravo: "Swingin' stereo in studio A"
..+++ The Three Suns: "Twighlight Memories" ..... review, tracks & sleeve notes
.++++ Caterina Valente: "Superfonics" ..... review, tracks & sleeve notes
.++++ various: "Bob & Ray Throw a Stereo Spectacular" .. review, tracks & sleeve notes

SPANISH REISSUES:

Esquivel: "Exploring New Sounds In Hi-Fi"
- CD, RCA 478712, Spain, 1997
Esquivel: "Infinity In Sound"
- CD, RCA BMG 47872 2, Spain, 1997
Henry Mancini and His Orchestra: "Combo! The Original Peter Gunn Sound!"
- CD, RCA 77942, Spain, 1997
Henry Mancini: "Mancini '67: The big band sound of Henry Mancini"
- CD, RCA BMG 49511, Spain, 1997
Henry Mancini: "Experiment In Terror"
- CD, RCA Victor 89442 2, Spain, 1997
Skip Martin: "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer"
- CD, RCA/BMG 42124 2, Spain, 1996
Stanley Wilson: "The M Squad"
- CD, RCA BMG 43397 2, Spain, 1996
Tito Puente and His Orchestra: "Mambo on Broadway"
- CD, RCA ND 71992, Spain, 199?
Tito Puente and His Orchestra: "Night beat"
- CD, RCA ND 719927, Spain, 199?
Tito Puente: "Puente goes jazz"
- CD, RCA CD 74749, Spain, 199?
Shorty Rogers and His Orchestra: "The Swingin' Nutcracker"
- CD, RCA, Spain, 1996
Shorty Rogers Featuring The Giants: "The Wizard Of Oz and Other Harold Arlen Songs"
- CD, RCA BMG 45379 2, Spain, 1996

Many more have been reissued by RCA Spain since I wrote this page!
Go to The eXotica Releases Overview in the "Disquarium" section of my site, and, using the search engine, do a search for "RCA" AND "Spain"

OTHER LIVING STEREO CD REISSUES:

Tito Puente: "Tambó"
- CD, BMG Tropical Series 3470-2-RL, USA, 1992

LINKS:

For more info on RCA's "History of Space Age Pop" CD series and Space Age Pop in general,
check the Space Age Bachelor Pad Music site.