Louis Clark Conducting The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Hooked On Classics

A weird and inexplicably goofy thing happened in 1981. Disco, made a brief but memorable comeback inside a Trojan Horse containing rearranged versions and snippets of classical pieces mashed together, along side a steady drum beat that never varied or wavered. The album was arranged and conducted by Louis Clark. Yeah, the same Louis Clark who once was an integral part of those early Electric Light Orchestra albums who arranged their strings and stuff. The guy must have fallen on hard times to be sucked into the K-Tel universe. Except this album caught on - all over the world it was a hit, and the single, "Hooked on Classics" was a staple on the radio that summer. 

Heck this album's impact is probably what gave birth to the mashup, inspired DJ's to drop their own beat over any existing piece of music, no matter how mundane. All of it, owes a debt of gratitude to the fine folks at K-Tel.

We're all poorer for it.

Still, there was something oddly wonderful about this album. The cherry on top was my dad liked it. The copy I have came from his collection, and I suspect I bought it for him as a Christmas present that year. My memory is kind of fuzzy - it was either this or one of those insufferable albums by Zamfir, the master of the Pan Flute. 

They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.

It's a weird thing sitting here listening to Hooked on Classics. To say this must have been an ambitious undertaking is an understatement. Over the course of nine tracks, Louis Clark incorporated 109 distinct pieces of music over a steady drum beat that would have been exhausting and nearly impossible to maintain over the course of the album for a real drummer. I don't think even Phil Rudd, that stalwart of the steady unflappable beat could have pulled this off.

Of course ambitious and enjoyable are not the same thing, and this album is a tiring experience. Once the initial charm of hearing the first track "Hooked on Classics Parts 1 & 2" as it hit you with everything you thought you knew about classical music it got monotonous.

Those who love it ... loved it. 

K-Tel, never subtle about chasing a good thing, or beating a bad thing to death, would unleash a barrage of Hooked On titles ... and then as quickly as they appeared they were gone.