LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Stu Philips has had a long, varied and successful career music. He has gone from playing piano in cocktail lounges to conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In between he has spent time as an arranger and conductor for night club performers; as a successful A&R record producer; as a composer for television and film. Stu studied music at the High School of music and art in New York and at the Eastman School of music in Rochester, NY. His first professional job was as a copyist for The Milton Berle Texaco Hour. At Eastman he wrote arrangements of pop tunes for the Rochester Civic Orchestra. Among some of the artists he accompanied and was musical director for were Jimmie Rodgers and Chris Connor. Whilst at Colpix, Stu produced three number one hits; 'Blue Moon' for The Marcels, 'Johnny Angel' by Shelley Fabares and James Darren's 'Goodbye Cruel World'. He also produced Nina Simone, Vince Edwards, The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Skyliners and Jimmy Beaumont and The Ronettes (before 'Be My Baby' and Phil Spector). At Capitol Records, Stu Phillips created and produced The Hollyridge Strings who, remarkably at one point in the early sixties, had three albums simultaneously in the American Top 20. As head of west coast A&R for Epic Records, he recorded The Doodletown Pipers as well as Nancy Ames, Enzo Stuarti and Bob Crane. Stu also worked as a composer on The Donna Reed Show, A Few Gidgets and The Monkees. During the sixties and early seventies he composed the music for approximately 15 feature films including the celebrated score for Russ Meyer's Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, Ride The Wild Surf and Macon County Line and the soundtracks for the potpourri of surf, sex comedy and biker films featured in this collection including Hell's Angels On Wheels (starring Jack Nicholson) and the extraordinary surfing travelogue Follow Me, one of the most creative and skillfully realised film scores of the period. Some of the artists who have recorded songs written by Stu and various co-writers are Nancy Sinatra, Tammy Wynette, BB King, George Hamilton, Dino, Desi & Billy, The Sandpipers and Lynn Carey. In 1974, Phillips began a six year undertaking at Universal Studios composing the music to The Six Million Dollar Man pilot followed by McCloud, Quincy, Switch, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Knight Rider and others. When Glen Larson left Universal for 20th Century Fox, Stu accompanied him, scoring 96 episodes of The Fall Guy as well as Masquerade, Automan and The Highwayman. Among some of his other credits are Spiderman, Chicago Story and Along Came Bronson. He has been nominated for four Grammys. The resurgence of fan interest in Battlestar Galactica, The Monkees and Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls has found Stu attending cult film and fan club conventions involved with those shows. Now Stu's autobiography, Stu Who? Forty Years Of Navigating The Minefields Of The Music Business has been published. It tells the story of his colourful and stellar career in the music business and is deservedly garnering excellent reviews.
Track listing: Suite 1 - Follow Me 1969 The Journey Begins (Overture) Qual E O Caminho Da Praia Portugal-Guincho Nazarae Cascais Morocco-Camel Farm Ceylon-Goyapana India-Ranee Express Mahahbalipuram Hong Kong-Big Wave Bay Hawaii-Incinerator Suite 2 - The Losers (AKA Nam's Angels) 1969-70 Hogs Wild Jungle Ride Biker Romance All Fall Dead Suite 3 - A Time To Every Purpose (AKA Pickup On 101) 1972 Three For The Road Rock 'n' Roll Motel Suite 4 - Hell's Angels On Wheels 1967 Bike Ballet Sunday Art & Football Four, Five, Sex Main Title Theme Suite 5 - The Gay Deceivers 1968 Main Title Love At The Marina 'Tail' Of Two Sexes Suite 6 - Bonus Tracks Stu's Grab Bag Inter-Action Re-Action Satisf-Action Contra-Action