Various Artists - Stardust Memories

The subtitle of this vinyl box set says it all -- "Music for Listening and Relaxation." Stardust Memories, issued as a set of eight LPs by Reader's Digest in 1973, was culled from the vaults of RCA Victor. The easy listening set had actually begun life as a single LP the previous year.

Whether this single album was designed as a teaser for the box set or whether sales justified an expanded edition is unclear.

Like many Reader's Digest boxes the majority of selections on Stardust Memories had been recorded in the U.K., with some contributions from U.S. artists like Henry Mancini and Chet Atkins. There were even a few tracks that were likely recorded for RCA in Mexico. Among them was Time Was by Diego Lopez-Diaz & His Orchestra.

I can find no reference to Lopez-Diaz other than his recordings included on several Reader's Digest sets. This track sounds only vaguely Latin, but is a very pleasant listen nonetheless. Time Was is of Latin origin (Spanish title: Duerme), however, written by Miguel Prado and Gabriel Luna. Xavier Cugat and Helen O'Connell with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra had hits with it in the 1940s.

Time Was



The Stardust Memories box set was also issued in the U.K., but with a different cover.

The set has not been issued as such in a digital format, but some of the tracks from it are included in various Reader's Digest compilation CDs and downloads.

To close, another sampling of Diego Lopez-Diaz and His Orchestra. This track is taken from the box set South of the Border (Reader's Digest, 1968).