While i can't say i'm an admirer of Jackson, his first two Epic records "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" are a reminder he wasn't always that pathetical popular figure he is today but a talented performer and songwriter with an array of gifted people to back him up as arrangers, songwriters and musicians. The most imported credit goes to the legendary Quincy Jones, who really gave these records an incredibly rich sounding, impeccable prduction. All instruments, funky guitars and bass, swirling disco-esque strings, horns and brass, vocal harmonies and syths, are in the right place here. The production is detailed, lush and transparent sounding, easily beating most of todays pop productions, even more so on the remastered versions of these records.

An incredible harp track that lives up to the title, establishing a late 60s/early 70s jet set lounge mood right from the beginning. Backed by a jazzy rhythm section with just bass, drums and some sparse guitar work it's due to Snell's melodic, dreamlike, almost etheral harp playing that makes the track so evocative. I was pleased to see the track was just selected by the Thievery Corporation as an opener on their compilation album "The Outernational Sound", good choice i must say.

This track by british session musician and library composer Alan Hawkshaw is the just the perfect soundtrack to cruise along a coast highway and, as the title suggests, you might want to do this in a sportscar (if available) for maximum enjoyment. Featuring incredibly lush strings and an Alpert-esque trumpet playing the melody it's not unlike "Pacific Coast Highway" by Burt Bacharach in mood and feel.

This is an uptempo, light bossa nova vocal interpretation of this song, very much in the vein of the classic Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 sound. Very nicely arranged male/female vocal harmonies, superb electric harpsicord and swirling, lush strings really make this version quite outstanding and contrasting to the Perry Como version, who popularized this song a year earlier.

This is Mendes' take on Viola Enluarada, one of my favourite Marcos Valle tunes, and what a beautiful interpretation this one is: starting of with just electric piano it later comes into full gear with a wonderful Dave Grusin orchestral arrangement including lush strings, flutes, trumpets and some harp embellishments.