The Pops Goes Country/The Pops Goes West

With a score of charted albums to their name, and many more before the advent of the Billboard charts, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops "crossed over" from classical music into widespread popular acclaim like no other orchestra before or since. Yet, reissues of their album catalog have been spotty in the digital era, even though Fiedler had his finger firmly on the pulse of pop music throughout his tenure. And the first of the albums on our Real Gone twofer is a case in point; recorded in the mid-'60s, at the height of the Nashville Sound, The Pops Goes Country (which hit #62 on the 1966 charts) put the architect of that sound, Chet Atkins, and his twangy Gretsch guitar in front of the Pops for a rousing set of mostly traditional country tunes. And 1968's The Pops Goes West took its inspiration from the ever-popular Western-themed films and TV shows of the '50s and '60s for its collection of classic Western tunes, Both albums make their CD debut here, with new liner notes by Ed Osborne. Remastered by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios in NYC…a double barreled orchestral blast!