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Big orchestral sound in pop, rock etc.

Most of the times pop, rock, soul etc. music is done by the same basic band (guitar/bass/drums) and one or more singers. Now I´m looking for albums that go bigger, where the band uses more musicians to produce a bigger sound. I´ve always been a fan of Elvis´ early 70s live albums and recently came across a few more live albums that may not share the same musical sensibilities, but which have a big orchestral sound: More people playing instruments, more background singers, full stage, full sound. I like that. Maybe you know a few more examples of musicians and bands that dared to go big. I don´t neccessarily mean the “XY plays his old hits with an orchestra“-thing even though that can result in great recordings too. Here are some big sounding albums I like:

Joe Cocker – Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Procol Harum – Live in Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Elvis – All the big Vegas shows from the early 70s
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Chicago – First few albums (still working my way through them)

chmaiwald

Showing 1 response by frogman

frogman
7,364 posts
 

Check out “The Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic”. When I first read about this project I thought “Uh, oh!”. Why mess with a good thing?  Boy, was I wrong. Richard Carpenter produced, orchestrated and conducted The Royal Philharmonic in a reworking of their classic recordings using the original vocal and instrumental tracks, now with beautiful, lush orchestral arrangements. Not your typical small(ish) orchestral sound of studio orchestras heard on some Rock recordings, but the real deal.

For something completely different musically, try Frank Zappa with the London Symphony vols. 1&2.

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