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Soft Rock Music
Easy listening music is a genre of music that originated during the middle of the 20th century, with influences from swing music and pop, and which is formatted in radio to appeal to general audiences. Easy listening music can take on two forms: instrumental (with light toned-instruments such as the Ukulele and the organ) and vocal. Included within the genre of easy listening music are vocal pop artists such as Perry Como, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Johnny Mathis, Jack Jones, Barbra Streisand, Matt Monro, and Kenny Rogers.
What is Easy Listening Music?
The genre of easy listening reached its popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, with many cover versions of popular songs being custom-produced nostalgically for radio. Easy listening music has been described as the kind of music that “would soothe martini drinkers after a day at the office.” Un-rebellious and un-loud, it can lay out pop-inflected moodscapes as a kind of background music. It is because of the genre’s stylistic attributes, which often feature simple but catchy melodies, soft, light-toned instrumentals, played at a laid-back pace and with romantic lyrics and rhythms that are suitable for a slow dance. Superseded by the Lite adult contemporary (AC) genre, easy listening has similarities with what is called lounge music, but with less improvisation and focus on jazz: this is because easy listening music is usually orchestrated by an arranger, such as in easy listening records by instrumentalists Burt Bacharach, Ray Martin, Billy Vaughn, Jackie Gleason, Ray Conniff, and Paul Weston. Of course, easy listening music can also include classic crooners like Dean Martin and Barbra Streisand or country music artists like Glen Campbell and Dan Fogelberg, and groups like The Bachelors, The Lettermen, The Happenings, and Lighthouse Family.
Most Popular Easy Listening Artists
East listening is a genre that has been made popular by such easy listening artists as Perry Como, Raphael, Andy Williams, Jack Jones, Carole King, Roger Whittaker, Anne Murray, Al Martino, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Johnny Mathis, and Barbra Streisand. Meanwhile, works by legendary artists like Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine, Nat King Cole, Vic Damone, John Denver, Frank Sinatra, Olivia Newton-John, and The Carpenters also reflect the influence of easy listening. Works by pianists, instrumentalists, and music stylists like Jim Brickman, Earl Grant, Liberace, Roger Williams, Peggy Lee, Les Baxter, Martin Denny, Frank Mills, and Tony Mottola can also fall in the purview of the genre.
Easy Listening Today
Even though the genre of easy listening music reached the height of its mainstream success over three decades ago, contemporary easy listening artists still continue to make easy listening records and easy listening CDs. Some of the most-listened-to acts in the genre today include Marc Anthony, Chantal Kreviazuk, Michael Buble, Lighthouse Family, Kenny G, and Harry Connick, Jr. Usually, though, it’s the “oldies” – Barry Manilow, Carole King, Ray Conniff, Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand – who would be found at the top of the easy listening charts.
Easy Listening Record Labels
Major record labels associated with the easy listening genre include Arista - for Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis - Columbia - for Billy Joel, Lara Fabian, Neil Diamond, Tony Bennett, and RCA Records, for Perry Como and Harry Belafonte.
Easy Listening Records and Easy Listening CDs
Barry Manilow CDs, Perry Como CDs, Neil Diamond CDs, Michael Buble CDs, Tony Bennett CDs, Andy Williams CDs, Barbra Streisand CDs, Ray Conniff CDs, Marc Anthony CDs, Dean Martin CDs, Carole King CDs, and Raphael CDs, among other easy listening records and easy listening CDs by easy listening artists and bands then and now, are available at MusicStack. Easy listening vinyl LPs are also available.
Soft Rock Records and Soft Rock CDs
Find all kinds of rare, hard to find and out-of-print Soft Rock records and Soft Rock CDs on MusicStack.
Perry Como
Andy Williams
Barry Manilow
Neil Diamond
Johnny Mathis
Barbra Streisand
Matt Monroe
Burt Bacharach
Soft Rock Websites
Easy Listening on Wikipedia Easy listening music entry at Wikipedia
Lala.Com Easy Listening Lala.com Easy Listening Music Page
About.Com Easy Listening About.com’s Easy Listening and Beautiful Music
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