101 Strings CDs on Alshire Records

101 Strings is one of the most prolific easy-listening instrumental music brands of all time. Originally created by Dave Miller of Somerset Records in the 1950s, the franchise was purchased by Al Sherman in 1963. Al Sherman started Alshire Records and proceeded to crank out 101 Strings releases like crazy. This line of albums was so popular that within 10 years, the 101 Strings sold 50 million albums! (Music Weird previously wrote about 101 Strings' best and weirdest albums.)

The Alshire logo

In 1986, Alshire started reissuing the old Somerset and Alshire albums on CD. The CDs typically featured generic graphic design, minimal notes (if any), and little information apart from a list of other Alshire Records titles that were available on compact disc. Between 1986 and 1994, Alshire released over 100 CDs. 

In 1995, Sherman sold the Alshire catalog to the budget label Madacy, and Madacy subsequently has released countless 101 Strings CDs with even less appealing packaging than the old generic Alshire CDs. I have a bizarre fascination with 101 Strings' old Alshire CDs and have been trying to collect them all, so I created this CD discography to help me—and people like me, if any such people exist—keep track of the titles.

[Update: My discussion of the variations that occurred between pressings of early 101 Strings CDs on Alshire can be found here.] 

The numbered ALCD series

The numbered ALCD series was the main series of 101 Strings reissues on Alshire Records, but a handful of non-101 Strings albums were also included.

Catalog number	Title	Year of release	Artist (if other than 101 Strings)	Notes
ALCD 1	Best of Johann Strauss Jr.			The spine and disc say Best of Johann Strauss Jr., but the cover says Johann Strauss Jr. Best Loved Waltzes. The catalog number on the disc is ALSCD-1 but on the front and back cover is ALCD 1
ALCD 2	Hits of the 50’s and ‘60s	1986
ALCD 3	Best of the Best of 101 Strings	1987		Issued with two different covers but the same catalog number
ALCD 4	Best of Latin
ALCD 5	The Soul of Spain	1986
ALCD 6	Piano Concertos and Rhapsodies	1987
ALCD 7	Love Songs	1986		A “clean” version of the LP Sounds of Love with vocals removed
ALCD 8	Million Seller All-Time Favorites
ALCD 9	Country Greats
ALCD 10	Golden Movie Themes	1986		Issued with two different covers but the same catalog number
ALCD 11	Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein	1986
ALCD 12	George Gershwin	1986
ALCD 13	N/A	N/A	N/A	Was ALCD 13 not assigned because of superstition?!
ALCD 14	Irving Berlin	1986
ALCD 15	Scheherajazz (101 Strings with the All Stars)
ALCD 16	Golden Age of Dance Bands		All Star Orchestra Plus Pipe Organ. Organist: Buddy Cole
ALCD 17	Symphonic Fireworks + Pipe Organ
ALCD 18	Plus*Plus*Plus	1986
ALCD 19	Famous Themes from Broadway Shows	1986
ALCD 20	Romantic Songs of the Sea
ALCD 21	101 Strings with the Alshire Singers
ALCD 22	More of the Best of the 101 Strings
ALCD 23	World’s Greatest Standards
ALCD 24	Strings Have Fun
ALCD 25	Sophisticated Duke
ALCD 26	Hawaiian Paradise
ALCD 27	Nelson Riddle with 101 Strings
ALCD 28	Magnificent Digital Sound
ALCD 29	Concerto Under the Stars
ALCD 30	Cole Porter	1987
ALCD 31	Lerner and Loewe: Songs from My Fair Lady – Camelot – Gigi – Paint Your Wagon – Brigadoon	1987
ALCD 32	Pop Concert Favorites
ALCD 33	101 Strings Plus Guitars	1987
ALCD 34	Soul of Greece
ALCD 35	101 Strings Plus Pianos
ALCD 36	More Hits of the 50’s and 60’s	1987
ALCD 37	The Soul of Poland
ALCD 38	The Soul of Israel
ALCD 39	The Power and the Glory
ALCD 40	I Hear America Singing
ALCD 41	Conquerors of the Ages (London Phiilharmonic)
ALCD 42	Polka Extravaganza
ALCD 43	Ravel: Bolero
ALCD 44	Music from Mexico
ALCD 45	Best of the Great American Composers, Vol. 1
ALCD 46	Best of the Great American Composers, Vol. 2
ALCD 47	Best of the Great American Composers, Vol. 3
ALCD 48	Best of the Great American Composers, Vol. 4
ALCD 49	Best of the Great American Composers, Vol. 5
ALCD 50	The Best of the Great American Composers Vol. 6	1990
ALCD 51	Electric Classics: Latin Style		The Alshire Electronics
ALCD 52	Favorite Selections from Handel’s Messiah
ALCD 53	King of Rock and Roll	1990	Bill Haley	Early, pre-Decca Haley cuts
ALCD 54	20 Years of Beautiful Music	1990
ALCD 55	The Pride of America	1991	U.S. Armed Forces Symphony
ALCD 56	Noche	1991	Los Tres	Originally released on LP on Somerset
ALCD 57	Beer Drinking Songs		Zillertal Band
ALCD 58	101 Strings Play Songs of Italy
ALCD 59	Gypsy Music
ALCD 60	With All My Love: Just for You
ALCD 61	Million Sellers of the 50’s, 60’s & 70’s			Around this time, Alshire switched to generic cover art—only the titles changed
ALCD 62	Romantic Evergreens	1992
ALCD 63	Movie & Television Themes	1992
ALCD 64	Love Songs	1992		Same title as ALCD 7 but different album
ALCD 65	Romantic Latin-American Favorites	1992
ALCD 66	Symphony for Blues
ALCD 67	A Tribute to Nat King Cole	1995
ALCD 68	“Salutes” the Great American Artists Vol. 1	1994
ALCD 69	“Salutes” the Great American Artists Vol. 2	1994
ALCD 70	“Salutes” the Great American Artists Vol. 3	1994
ALCD 71
ALCD 72	101 Strings Play a Tribute to the Beatles Greatest Hits!!

ALCD 73
ALCD 74
ALCD 75	101 Strings Presents a Tribute to Henry Mancini	1994
ALCD 76

Miscellaneous other Alshire CD series

Alshire created other series for some of their non-101 Strings releases, some of their samplers, and a short-lived line of double-CD releases. The double-CD sets were packaged in individual jewel cases, and the same barcode appeared on both discs' tray cards. You rarely find these double-CD sets packaged together as double-CD sets in used bins, because they look like individual CDs. Unless you already knew what was up, you wouldn't guess that they were two-CD sets. 

ALCD SPL	Special Sampler	1987		“24 glorious songs”
ALCD SPL-2	The Worlds Greatest Melodies	1987	101 Strings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
ALCD SPL-3	30th Anniversary Special
ALCD 201	Handel’s Messiah		The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir	2 CDs
EXCD 300	The Best of Larry Wolff and the Streetbeaters		Larry Wolff & The Streetbeaters	“Over one hour of rapdance breakdance.” This release is on the Exact label but was listed among Alshire releases in some of the 101 Strings booklets. Exact has the same address as Alshire International
CDLX 1400	20 Greatest Movie Hits
ADCD 1000	Waltzing Violins Vols. 1 & 2			Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1001	The Fire and Romance of Spain/The Fire and Romance of Mexico			Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1002	A Toast to Broadway & Hollywood Vols. 1 & 2			Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1003	Strings for Lovers/Romantic Moods Vols. 1 & 2	1993		Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1004	Aloha Hawaii Vols. 1 & 2			Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1005	Golden Hits, Vols.1 & 2	1993		Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1006	Singalongs/Polkas			Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1007	Hits of the 50s, 60s & 70s, Vols. 1 & 2			Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1008	Accordion Hits/The Best of John Philip Sousa			Alshire double compact disc series
ADCD 1009	Inspiration & Meditation Vols. 1 & 2	1993		Alshire double compact disc series
20DN-135	Academy Awards Film			Japanese CD release

Japanese Teichiku Records CDs

These Japanese CDs were manufactured and distributed by Teichiku Records but issued under the Alshire imprint. Some of the album covers and titles contained typos, such as the tribute to Elvis Presley below, which spells Elvis' last name "Presly." 

TECH-20232	A Gentle Breeze from Waimea: Strings Hawaiian Mood		2011
TECP-20029	In a Persian Market/World Beloved Songs (Around the World)/Ethnic Mood Best 20
TECP-20030	Ethnic Mood-Music from Spain		1990
TECP-20033	Ethnic Mood-Music from Russian [sic] & Germany		1990
TECP-???	History of Screen Music (5), 1956-1959
TECP-20311	History of Screen Music (8), 1965-1968		1990
TECP-20313	History of Screen Music (10), 1972-Today		1990
TECP-20521	[something] in Music: Evening Serenade
TECP-20585	Play a Tribute to Elvis Presly [sic]		1990
TECP-20633	A Portrait of Wedding		1990
TECP-20871	Broadway Show (1)

Print-on-demand CD-Rs on Amazon

Many, many print-on-demand 101 Strings CD-Rs appeared on Amazon in 2014. They're listed as Alshire releases, even though Alshire doesn't exist anymore. I’m not going to list them all, but here are a few.

S-5088	Play Million Seller Hits	CD-R allegedly on Alshire	2014
S-5097	Valley of the Dolls and Other Academy Award Hits	CD-R allegedly on Alshire	2014
S-5105	Featuring Hits Made Famous by the Supremes	CD-R allegedly on Alshire	2014
S-5111	Play Hits Written by the Beatles	CD-R allegedly on Alshire	2014

Other notable 101 Strings CD releases

In no particular order.

Time-Life	Instrumental Favorites	Licensed from Madacy	1996
Scamp SCP 9717-2	Astro Sounds from Beyond the Year 2000	Licensed from Madacy	1996
Hit Parade	Rock & Roll Symphony No. 1: A 1959 Stereo Concert	Contains the complete 101 Strings album Back Beat Symphony (1961)	2014
Columbia Japan JXCP-1095	Orchestral “The Beatles”
EMPRCD009	Are You Lonesome Tonight? Beautiful Arrangements Performed by the 101 Strings Orchestra	Instrumental arrangements of Elvis hits. On Emporio Records, licensed from Alshire	1993