Name: Hatchbox: The Original Album Collection by Tony Hatch
Brand: Tony Hatch
SKU: 5050749410887
Price: 9.9 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly
Rating: 3.5 (532 reviews)

COMPILATION

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Though Tony Hatch is most well-known as a producer of hit British '60s pop/rock records (particularly for Petula Clark and the Searchers), he also put out quite a number of records (most of them instrumental) under his own name. In fact, as exorbitantly sized as this six-CD set is, it doesn't even include all of the albums he did for Pye between the mid-'60s and mid-'70s. Hatch Box does, however, contain six of them: 1965's The Tony Hatch Sound, 1966's A Latin Happening, 1967's Beautiful in the Rain, 1968's The Two of Us (a vocal effort, billed to both Tony Hatch and his wife Jackie Trent), 1970s Sounds of the 70s, and 1974's Hit the Road to Themeland. Like some other producer-as-artist albums of the time (George Martin's probably being the most widely known), much of the material simply offers easy listening orchestral pop versions of '60s pop/rock hits, some originally produced by Hatch, some not. Far from being novel twists on the familiar versions, they seem more like dilutions of the originals to pick up some sales from an adult market that didn't like rock music. Hatch also used Latin jazz rhythms (especially on A Latin Happening and Sounds of the 70s), as well as doing an entire record of film and TV themes (Hit the Road to Themeland), though these also seem intended primarily to pick up sales from the very casual buyer of background music, and not as serious artistic statements. Sounds of the 70s is about the best of these records, as it actually does have some jazzy period lounge/go-go music that's funkier than the norm. But none of the records are too worthwhile or creative, though if you go in a big way for this sort of thing, this multi-disc set does benefit from liner notes featuring comments on each album by Hatch himself. ~ Richie Unterberger

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Hatchbox: The Original Album Collection

Product information

Release options

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Volume 1

1. Downtown

2. Forget Him

3. Music

4. Sugar and Spice

5. You'd Better Come Home

6. Where Are You Now My Love

7. Maori

8. Look for a Star

9. Crosstown Commuter

10. When Summertime is Over

11. Roundabout

12. I Know a Place

Volume 2

1. I Didn't Know What Time it Was

2. Call Me

3. Somewhere My Love (Lara's Theme)

4. Working in a Coal Mine

5. Sunny

6. Whizz-Ball

7. Daydream

8. Pretty Flamingo

9. Black is Black

10. Guantanamera

11. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars

12. A Latin Happening

Volume 3

1. Beautiful in the Rain

2. Music to Watch Girls By

3. Once Upon a Time

4. An Occasional Man (from the film 'The Girl Rush')

5. Too Late Now

6. El Payaso (Spanish Clown)

7. Surrey with the Fringe on Top (From "Oklahoma")

8. Mas Que Nada

9. While the City Sleeps

10. Fiddler on the Roof

11. How Insensitive

12. Finito

Volume 4

1. I Must Know

2. Play It Again

3. Don't Stop Now

4. Morning Dew

5. Work Song

6. Thank You for Loving Me

7. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66

8. Living It Up Again

9. The Fool on the Hill

10. The Joker

11. Country Girl and City Man

12. The Two of Us

Volume 5

1. Laia Ladaia

2. For Once in My Life

3. Hey Jude

4. Soulful Strut (Am I the Same Guy)

5. I'll Never Fall in Love Again

6. Herbin'

7. Latin Satin

8. Yester-You, Yester-Me, Yesterday

9. Something

10. Codename

11. This Guy's in Love with You

12. Sounds of the Seventies

Volume 6

1. Eye Level

2. The World at War

3. Song from M*A*S*H

4. Hadleigh

3. Song from MAS*H