Former supporting member to significant heads of the 1940’s pop-jazz sound (Bob Crosby, Artie Shaw, and Harry James respectively), singer-composer Ray Conniff follows his first two “‘S” releases with 1958’s ‘S Awful Nice. ‘S Awful Nice is, in fact, awful nice. It’s tame, late 50s swell music for late evening lovers and their romantic cocktails. It’s, what I imagine to be, the last in a flood of easy listening releases that would be properly dammed by the rockabilly and rock n’ roll sound some few short years later. The word “innocence” comes to mind, often, when listening to Mr. Conniff and His Orchestra, and although on any given day of any given week of any given year I’d prefer both rockabilly and early rock to this easy listening bubble, it sure is a pleasant vacation every once in a while. Diversity, kids.
Tag Archives: Philips
The Triple P
On my quest to find the perfect portable phonograph (the Triple P, as I call it), I stumbled across this weathered insert from who-the-hell-knows-when. A quick Google search reveals that Philips began manufacturing these beauties in 1963, so I guess, now-we-all-know-the-hell-when.
This insert features two, distinctly different looking players. First is the AG-4026. This compact player is perfect for annoying your temporary beach neighbors with your controversial Lenny Bruce albums, and plays 4 speeds on 7”, 10” and 12” record. Operating on easily accessible flashlight batteries, this lightweight (8 pounds) transistorized phonograph offers distortion-free response from 80-16,000 cps from its new 7” TICONAL speaker. The word around the waves is that it’s the “Big Set Sound” so, there you go.
The second is the AG-9115. Think of the AG-4026 as being the “Four” series and the AG-9115 as being the “Nine” series. This is NOT a kids toy. This portable Hi-Fi STEREO phonograph provides two TICONAL speakers, separate tone and volume controls, a new “auto-manipulator” tone arm and weighs a slender 24 pounds. Alright, that may be a little heavy to tote around on a bike trip or on a romantic picnic, but I’d still love to see the AG-9115 in action.
Made in Holland by Philips, these two portable players, one mono and the other stereo, would be perfect for my everyday record-listening mobile needs… if, you know, it were still the early 60’s. My hunt for the Triple P marches on.
The Prudent Groove 