Main: The International Lounge

Today on gullar sahir, Elrik Merlin presents a collection of authentic lounge music from both sides of the Atlantic, dating back to the 60s

The programme also includes a selection of music library pieces and other musical memorabilia. Beaucoup de fromage for all!

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with our friends at the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Listeners in the United States are encouraged to tune in using this link: http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

Main: The International Lounge

It's cheesy... it's corny...  it's the International Lounge!

Today's programme brings you a selection of primarily instrumental music, and primarily from the 1960s as we present a comfortable sojourn in ... the International Lounge.

You'll hear instrumental - and other - arrangements of well-known tunes of the period, along with the best of popular production music and themes from the 60s. Most of the material is from the United Kingdom, the United States and occasionally mainland Europe: so at least it somewhat deserves the label "international".

It's completely unfair to call this music "elevator music" - it was often played, composed and arranged by some of the best musicians of the time. Yes, some of it is corny, but some is really quite amazing. And it's guaranteed to cause a wave of nostalgia to flow over you.

Today, of course, "lounge music" is terribly fashionably retro, and no longer consigned to the old vinyl bin in the charity shop under the heading "Easy Listening". Instead, the old masters are being dusted off as we speak and reissued on compilation albums. In the US there is an enormous series of them, and you'll hear some today; in the UK, we rely more on out-of-print production music library albums, although the remix artists are busy rediscovering things like the fab KPM "100 Series". So tune in, sit back, let the bar-tender bring you a gin and tonic with ice and lemon, and enjoy your stay in the International Lounge.

Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin and produced by gullar sahir in conjunction with our friends at the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme in-world now at http://main.radioriel.org, or simply click here to start your player, if your browser is configured to do so. Listeners in the United States are encouraged to tune in using this link:http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in
For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit theAlexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.

Image courtesy of Hojusaram.

From the Library: More from The English Lounge

Today on gullar sahir we bring you another selection of classic lounge music from Britain in the 60s and more.

One artist we'll be featuring today is Mark Wirtz, an extraordinarily talented composer and arranger, born in Cologne in the mid-40s, who moved to the UK and produced some quite remarkable music during the period, from super-orchestrated pop hits like the Teenage Opera series to instrumental "easy listening" recordings - under various names such as Mood Mosaic - that caught a different aspect of the essence of "Swinging London" of the Sixties.

Like a lot of lounge music, some of the tracks were covers of hits of the time, with lush strings and/or female vocals; others were original instrumental compositions, at least one of which became popular as a theme for a DJ on one of Britain's ship-based so-called "pirate" stations that were so popular through much of the 60s. Wirtz is now living in Los Angeles and still producing amazing things - and most of his material is available today.

We'll also be hearing from a wide range of composers and arrangers from the UK and Europe, some known (like John Barry, Tony Hatch, John Keating, Raymond Lefevre, Andre Brasseur, Paul Mauriat, James Last, Bert Kaempfert and more) and some you've probably never heard of (unless you're a British Test Card Music aficionado) like Heinz Kiessling and John Cacavas. Yes, there will be quite a lot of Test Card and production library music today.

You'll probably hear a good few tunes from TV shows and commercials as well: for example, Tony Hatch's sister Ninette at 15 singing Push A Little Button from 1966 - now revived for a TV Licensing spot. Hmmm... a Dresden Dolls cover of that song would be awesome...

We've included a unique collection of 60s TV themes and other contemporary pieces of KPM production music played live by the KPM All Stars at a gig at the Jazz Cafe in London in 2006.

From the Library is produced by Radio Riel in conjunction with the Alexandrian Free Library Consortium of Second Life. You can listen to the programme now at http://loudcity.com/stations/radio-riel/tune_in. Outside the United States you can tune in on  http://main.radioriel.org or click here to link straight to your player if your browser is set up to do so. Today's programme is presented by Elrik Merlin.

For more information on the Alexandrian Free Library, current exhibits and the work of Consortium members in general, please visit the Alexandrian Free Library website, or one of their branches in-world.