🎵 AotW Michel Colombier: Wings (A&M Records SPX 4281 / SP 3503)

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Michel Colombier:
Wings

A&M Records SPX 4281
(Also released as SP 3503)
Released 1971


This week's AOTW is an epic musical extravaganza with numerous players, most notably Lani Hall, Herb Alpert, Tom Scott, Paul Williams, Kai Winding, Bob Edmundson, Vermettya Royster, Rita Coolidge and Bill Medley. WINGS was reissued as A&M SP 3503 and later on CD, now out-of-print and highly collectable.

Side One: Freedom & Fear (Bill Medley) 5:00/ Earth (instrumental) 3:27/ Thalassa (instrumental) 2:30/ Doesn't Anybody Know? (Paul Williams) 3:17/ Pourquoi Pas? (instrumental) 2:46.

Side Two: Morning is Come Again (Bill Medley) 5:13/ For Those Who Cannot Hear (Vermettya Royster) 3:12/ We Could Be Flying (Lani Hall) 4:10/ Emmanuel (instrumental) 3:05/ All in All (Herb Alpert) 4:33.

Produced by Herb Alpert/ Engineers: Roger Roche, France, and Larry Levine, U.S.A./ Remastered in June 1977 by Bernie Grundman at A&M Studios/
The pop orchestra sedction was recorded at Studio Europe Sonor, Paris, France. Additional music recorded at A&M Recording Studios, U.S.A.

Art Direction Ronald Young/ Design Junie Osaki/ Photography back cover by Mark Hanauer/ Inside by Jim McCrary, Gilbert Nencioli and Herb Alpert/ cover painting by J. Michel Folon/ Liner notes by Jason McClosky.

JB


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I first became aware of this album in the "Little Catalog" a long time back and I think it was also on an inner sleeve as well.
I bought it in the late 80's as a cutout for the original release.
I have enjoyed this album over the years. I knew Lani Hall was on it as I had Sundown Lady years before.
The only song that I do not care for as much as the others is Paul Williams singing "Does Anybody Really Know?" I am not too enamored of his voice.
I have never seen the reissue.
 
When the reissue came out, I got the CD just because I liked the Herb and Lani tracks so much. But, I still just can't get myself to like the rest of the album very much. I guess I need to give it another decade or two and try again. :D
 
When the reissue came out, I got the CD just because I liked the Herb and Lani tracks so much. But, I still just can't get myself to like the rest of the album very much. I guess I need to give it another decade or two and try again. :D
I've tried a couple of times...I just don't like this album. 🤷‍♂️ So you're not alone.
 
I've finally found (through Discogs), an intact copy of the WINGS first release LP, and the innersleeve was one not in our gallery so I posted it there. The die-cut gatefold is in mostly OK shape. There's a bit of roughness to the right side of the inner rectangle, but it remains together with only a 1/4" tear at the bottom right.

So without perusing this thread, I went looking for the LP itself. I opened the gatefold to the liner notes and credits and looked on the right side for the album pocket, to no avail. I could feel that there was a record in there, but couldn't find the exit! Finally I stumbled on the fact that the album exits to the left after you open the first die-cut flap. What a bizarre design! But I recall that other albums from that era were using a similar left opening inside a flimsy gatefold. One I have is a BJ Thomas hits album, another is a 5th Dimension hits record. And of course the whole A&M GREATEST HITS series when they were gatefolds. Now that I think about it, Herb's whole current CD output is exactly that way too.
 
And a little addendum. Ever wonder why the reissue version of the album looked the way it did? Apparently, there was an animation used on France's Antenne 2 television channel used for the start and end of the broadcasting day, set to the tune "Emmanuel".

 
Talking to myself here, I guess, but one more little factoid I've learned that should be noted here in case anyone's curious. This is about the song "Emmanuel" which is the instrumental that falls between Lani's "We Could Be Flying" and Herb's "All In All". There appear to be multiple versions of this track.

  • The original WINGS album version is very short, at around 1:30 in length. It contains the extra embellishments that aid in the segues to make the album seamlessly flow.
  • The single version (1275-S) is also short and is the same basic recording, but the segued embellishments are gone.
  • A lengthened version of the song appears on the NADIA'S THEME. I believe the basic recording is repeated and a guitar figure is added. It clocks in at around 3:00 or so. Segue embellishments are missing.
  • The reissued WINGS album is also lengthened to around 3:00 by repetition and contains all of the the segue embellishments, and high synth parts are added instead of the guitar figure.
 
I recall a newspaper press release regarding the TJB breaking up. It mentioned Herb saying he wanted to break and recharge their batteries and a picture of him was included with a full beard he claimed itched. It stated the Brass had just recorded a new album called "Wings." They sure got that wrong.
 
Scepter Records used this "Unipak" design on a number of albums, mostly Dionne Warwick lps. I believe that they started using it before the A&M Greatest Hits series.
 
Unipaks were fine for what they were, but this one for WINGS has a die-cut outer front cover which is what you need to open to get at the record. The second "page" is just to open the gatefold and gets you nowhere when looking for the record. And as one slides out the record, the die-cut front in in the way enough that your leftward motion is likely to get inside the rectangle and rip the cover. So many of these albums have ripped covers.
 
Unipaks were fine for what they were, but this one for WINGS has a die-cut outer front cover which is what you need to open to get at the record. The second "page" is just to open the gatefold and gets you nowhere when looking for the record. And as one slides out the record, the die-cut front in in the way enough that your leftward motion is likely to get inside the rectangle and rip the cover. So many of these albums have ripped covers.
Mine ripped right away when sliding it into the record cabinet. Terrible design for an LP.
 
Re-opening this nearly two-decade old thread as I found something that is perhaps of interest to fans of this album. The group known as Liz Damon's Orient Express, who had a hit with "1900 Yesterday", performed the song "All In All" on their VOL. II album for Anthem Records. I've uploaded it to YouTube - the arrangement is pretty similar to the track on WINGS. As most know, Herb Alpert performed that song on WINGS.


I always liked the smooth sounds of Liz Damon's Orient Express. Here's a beautiful track from this album written by Bacharach and David "Walkin' Backwards Down The Road". This kind of beautiful music you just don't hear anymore. I'm sure glad I have this LP in my collection.

 
Another cover of a WINGS track is this one ("We Could Be Flying") from Jackie & Roy on CTi Records:

 
I always liked the smooth sounds of Liz Damon's Orient Express. Here's a beautiful track from this album written by Bacharach and David "Walkin' Backwards Down The Road". This kind of beautiful music you just don't hear anymore. I'm sure glad I have this LP in my collection.


I had the first Liz Damon lp with "1900 Yesterday" on it. I found it in a cut out bin and listened to it many times. It has gone from my collection but I see it now and then in thrift stores but the condition is usually bad.
 
Here's a "groovy" sampling of "We Could Be Flying":

 
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