Retro Spins: Apollo 100 - Joy

 

Don't you love it when coincidences occur? Such is the case with today's Retro Spin.

As I began reading into the history of Apollo 100, I learned of accomplished arranger, Tom Parker. He was the man responsible for most of the success from the Young Blood catalog, such as the hit, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. For those of you who remember last week's Retro Spin, I talked about that song from the band, Middle Of The Road. Reading this news brought a smile to my face, as I was literally on the heels of listening to their debut album.

But let's not get too sidetracked here.

Apollo 100 was a brief iteration of Parker's which featured mostly studio musicians. They focused mainly on recording revisions of classical tunes, such as their most popular song, Joy, a rendering of Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring. Though many people may not recognize it in title, I'm sure if they heard it they would immediately know what it was.

Though their Wikipedia page denotes there only being two albums from Apollo 100, this is incorrect. They actually released six albums between 1972 and 1998. These are; Joy (1972), Master Pieces (1972), Rhapsody In Rock (1972), Melodies With A Beat (1973), Ballet & Opera (1978) and Apollo Plays The Best Of Bacharach (1998).

Being all instrumental, their albums aren't known for having top ten pop hits. However, they certainly are unique, and perhaps even relaxing. A nice change of pace, if you will. They're the type of group you would throw their most noteworthy song, Joy, onto a mix tape for something fun, but beyond that, really have to appreciate their source material and style of music to really want to hear frequently. At least that's how I feel about them.

It's becuase of this, I won't say whether or not it's good or bad. It's just different. If nothing else, it was worth hearing.

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