Alec R. Costandinos Vol. 10 - Hunchback Of Notre Dame [Full Album, Vol. 1] (1978)
This is the 10th volume in my Alec R. Costandinos series. Can you believe all these albums were recorded over a period of less than 18 months?
The Hunchback Of Notre-Dame had been completed already by April 1978 but was held back until mid-October 1978. Said Vince Aletti, Billboard, about the album: \"The latest disco adaption of a literary classic consists of two continuous sides of music, singing and occasional dialogue or narration that traces in a rather elliptical, sometimes confusing, fashion the Victor Hugo story of passion and deceit. As usual with Costandinos' work, the music is thrilling, brilliantly crafted, precise yet emotionally rich but, from a dancer's standpoint, the flow of Hunchback is broken too often for dramatic exposition to allow for much sustained movement. Only here and there does the record achieve the soaring rush of Romeo & Juliet and in a tale more complex than Golden Tears, few moods are held long enough to inspire more than a few turns around the dancefloor.
The production, with arrangements by Don Ray, is both intellegint and exciting, but in the end, its intellectual qualities weigh it down and make it much heavier than the prevailing mood of the discos can accept. Happily, however, Casablanca has pressed up a condensed version for a disco disc that is being included in the album package as a special bonus. The 7:46 track of the most danceable secctions of the album, primarily the gorgeous, moody Pope Of Fools, emphasizes the texture and clarity of the music with only a few bits of dialogue and singing, salvaging the spirit of the Hunchback while cutting loose its narrative freight. The album is a must for Costandinos fans and admirers of Eurodisco class.\"
Being generally too complex for the discos, Hunchback did not become a big success but a cult classic for disco connoisseurs.
00:01 The Pope Of Fools
05:17 La Esmeralda
07:10 The Inconveniences Of Following A Pretty Girl Home By Night
