The New Sound/Les Paul's New Sound, Vol. 2

Despite the joint billing, Mary Ford is only a minor presence on this CD reissue of two original albums. She doesn't appear at all on The New Sound, a 1950 album of guitar instrumentals featuring Les Paul's pioneering tape manipulations that combine breakthrough multi-track recording with frenetic sped-up guitar playing. Les Paul's New Sound, made the following year, is subtitled "The New Sound, Vol. 2" and features Ford's vocals on about half of the tracks, usually accompanied only by Paul's multi-tracked guitar. The gospel song "Don't Cha Hear Them Bells" is the one exception, with the fullest and most conventional-sounding arrangement on the album. New Sound is packed with Paul's instrumental hits, but it wouldn't be until the following year that his collaborations with Mary Ford would really start to click with record-buyers.