You
can view the advert here
You can buy the music here:
John Charles Thomas - An American Classic
Or as an ideal Christmas stocking filler Open
Road CD single £3 post free
The prestigious German car manufacturer, Audi,
has selected an unusual piece of music to highlight the light
and agile properties of the new A6 Avant estate. The
highly stylised TV and Internet advertisement depicts a fantasy
world and features a metallic "Audi hummingbird”
which is able to nimbly fly among trees, flowers and fauna made
from petrol pumps, road signs and traffic cones. The campaign
aims to emphasise the advantages of the model's new "ultra-lightweight"
construction. The soundtrack for this innovative advert is a
1939 recording of 'Open Road' by Johann Strauss', sung by American
baritone John Charles Thomas. This transfer is available on
the Prima Voce Series on a CD titled “An American Classic”
which features 22 popular songs recorded by John Charles Thomas
between 1931 and 1941.
For decades, John Charles Thomas was the most popular singer
in America. A rare singer who could sing 'Boots and Saddles'
and Beethoven's In Questa Tomba Oscura with equal aplomb, Thomas
had a voice as rich as a cello, the physique of an athlete,
and natural charm. He achieved enormous popularity as a matinee
idol before achieving success as a concert artist and operatic
star. But the stage and radio were only parts of a romantically
active life. John Charles Thomas loved auto mobiles, raced hydroplanes,
played a mean game of golf, raised chickens and champion hogs,
and was famous for his spaghetti sauce.
Thomas had long and successful association with RCA Victor's
prestigious Red Seal Records which were reserved for the aristocracy
of the musical world (no 'popular' artists were recorded on
the label). They were expensive - selling for a staggering $3.00
in 1910 when you could get a first class meal in New York for
a dollar. A collection of Red Seal recordings established one
as a person of both taste and property.
Johann STRAUSS
(1825-99)
Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron); Open Road [2:50]
John Charles Thomas (baritone)
Victor Symphony Orchestra/Frank Tours
rec. 24 August 1939
NIMBUS NI1542 [2:50]
This is the shortest review I have ever, and probably will ever,
write. It’s also the first CD single I’ve ever received, and
lasts ten seconds shy of three minutes. If you’ve caught the
TV advertisement for the ‘new A6 Avant estate’ you’ll have heard
this music, sung in this 1939 recording by the superb American
baritone and sometime hog farmer, John Charles Thomas. The advertisement
depicts, as the CD slipcase shows, a ‘metallic Audi hummingbird’
and doubtless the lyrics, which robustly proclaim the singer
‘as free as the breeze’ all play to the car manufacturer’s promotion
of romantic ideals. Lines on the subject of ‘the open road’
only add to the freewheeling feel.
That’s it, then; music for an ad, released as a single.
Jonathan Woolf
John Charles Thomas - An American Classic
MusicWeb can sell you the CD for only £7 post free anywhere
in the world. Buy
now
