Friday, May 12, 2017

The Portofino Variations


Raymond Scott's 1962 tune "Portofino" has become a belated "hit." It's been licensed for the TV show Narcos, the film Best of Enemies, used in a Gucci commercial, and garnered more single-track downloads than any track on Manhattan Research Inc., the Y2K anthology of vintage Scott electronica on which it was first released. Basta has commissioned 20 contemporary versions of the composition and collected them on a new album, The Portofino Variations. The album, officially released today, features "Portofino" recorded by Fay Lovsky, Arling & Cameron, the Metropole Orchestra, Ocobar, Davide Rossi (Goldfrapp, Coldplay, The Verve), Jacco Gardner, Eva Auad, and others. The tune is interpreted in a wide array of styles: surf guitar, whistling, electronica, chamber ensemble, minimalism, pop, rock guitar, and scat vocals. The compilation even contains two song versions with original lyrics. The album is available on CD and digitally on Basta, and on LP by Music on Vinyl (a limited edition of 1,000 numbered LPs on gold vinyl, featuring two previously unreleased 1962 takes by Scott). The cover art features an adaption of a painting by Jim Flora entitled Portofino—which by coincidence was rendered in 1962.

Listen here on Spotify.

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