I loved the first Hooked on Classics record when I was a kid. I went through a classical music phase when I younger, and this album introduced me to many composers. I have every note of it seared on my brain. Hooked on Romance is a magnificent track.
Later on I was thrilled to discover Hooked on Classics 2 – I had no idea sequels existed. Alas, it sucked. It’s the strangest thing: same exact formula, but there is no life whatsoever in the second one, or much of the others. It’s difficult to describe, but you just hear it. Maybe the musicians were tired. “Oh, not this shit again.” TBH, I need to listen to some of the others. I’m looking at the back cover track listing for Hooked on Rock Classics, and saying hey, some of these sound pretty good: Eye of the Tiger, Layla, Get Back, a medley…
It was great fun hunting down all of these at the thrifts. Takes a little time, but very doable.