Guild Records could have easily
sold me this latest CD on the strength of the cover alone. The former London,
Midland & Scottish Railway poster entitled ‘Scot passes Scot’ by the artist
Bryan De Grineau is a definite bonus. For many years the named train ‘The Royal
Scot' departed simultaneously from Glasgow Central and London Euston stations
at 10am. The journey would have taken some seven hours. Just quite where the
two trains passed I leave to railway enthusiasts, but I guess it must have been
somewhere north of Crewe.
This present CD does have a few
fine railway-inspired pieces included in the track listings, however the basic
premise of this release is to include a pot-pourri of all kinds of ‘light’
music.
Beginning with the travel-themed
pieces, the album’s title track refers to a bouncy number by Tony Hatch. Older
listeners will readily associate his name with Petula Clark and Jackie Trent.
Hatch has had a long successful career writing a wide variety of ‘popular’ and
‘light’ music, including a huge number of TV theme-tunes. His work as a producer
included the ‘fab’ Merseyside group, The Searchers. ‘Non-Stop to Nowhere’ was
written under the pseudonym of Mark Anthony.
I enjoyed George Siravo’s musical
picture of a taxi journey through the streets of New York or Chicago. ‘Hey
Taxi’ makes use of motor horns and muted trumpets to give it that frenetic mood.
We are back on the railways again with Ernest Tomlinson’s (Alan Perry) ‘Starlight
Special’. Not too sure whether this train leaves from Crewe or Clapham Junction,
but progress seems smooth and uninterrupted by red signals or leaves on the
line. It is a classic piece of transport music. I must confess I expected
something a little more romantic: Tomlinson has actually given us a jaunty dash
along the tracks by night.
I am not sure if Arnold Steck’s
(Leslie Statham) ‘Ten to One’ is meant to refer to a train time or good odds on
a horse. In actual fact it is a worthy march tune. But as Major Statham was
director of The Band of the Welsh Guards, it is safe bet that this tune
certainly makes the running.
Alec Rowley is best known for his
massive output of piano music, much of it designed for teaching purposes. But
there is serious side to this composer. Listeners may be aware of his Piano
Concerto released on Naxos a number of years ago. Then there is a fine corpus
of organ music that warrants exploration. Included in his output are a number
of orchestral suites and overtures. ‘Down Channel: Overture’ is a nautically
inspired piece: it makes use of two or three shanties including ‘A-Roving’ and
‘Shenandoah’. This overture is an attractive work that cries out for a modern
day recording. Certainly there are a number of other striking pieces in Alec
Rowley’s repertoire that could form part of a ‘retrospective’ CD of orchestral
music –these include the evocative sounding ‘From a Devon Headland’,
‘Miniatures in Porcelain’, and the ‘Nautical Suite’.
The opening track on this CD is a
big romantic piece that reflects what it is like to be ‘On the Side of the
Angels’. I have not heard of Sheldon Harnick (and the other co-composers)
however this American is quite capable of writing great film music. Alas, this
is what this piece never was. Made up from cuttings from a projected movie
score it makes use of orchestral and big band pyrotechnics.
Another American is the well
loved Andre Previn who presents the darkly named 'The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse.’ It is not quite as dramatic as the title suggests. A good, well
written piece that is just a little different to most of the works on this CD.
The CD contains a good clutch of
breezy, jolly tunes that largely epitomise the world of light music in the
1950s and 60s. Peter Dennis’ (Dennis
Arthur Berry) ‘Candy Floss’ most likely describes a vivacious lady at the Opera
House in Blackpool rather than the delicious spun sugar served along the Golden
Mile. This mood is repeated in Van Phillips’ ‘Twinkle Toes’. This certainly
does not refer to my attempts at the foxtrot or the tango on the floor of the
Tower Ballroom. Yet there is something warm and comforting about this carefree
music. In the same vein is Onslow Boyden
Waldo Warner’s (quite a mouthful and better ‘kent’ as Ken) ‘Poppet’. She is
very definitely a classic example of a late ‘fifties miss.
Florian ZaBach hailed from the
good ole’ US of A and gave the world considerable pleasure with his fiddle
playing. He had a million selling hit in 1951 with ‘The Hot Canary’. The
present ‘Harum Scarum’ defies analysis – it is just a good romp with a superbly
challenging violin part.
‘Frantic Fiddles’ by Johnny
Gregory is exactly what is written ‘on the tin’ – there is a definite touch of
Leroy Anderson here; I am not quite sure if they are Scottish or bluegrass
fiddles. Cyril Watters is a name that
crops up quite frequently in the annals of light music and ‘Folies Parade’ is
typical of his ‘bright and breezy’ compositional style. ‘Folies’ I guess refer
to theatrical ‘types’ specialising in variety – I think of Caitlin’s Folies in
Llandudno. Not convinced that there is a Parisian connection here…
‘Badinage’ means playful of
frivolous repartee or banter. Roger Roger’s piece fits the bill. Lots of
twittering woodwinds, good string tunes and the occasion blue-note gives the
piece pizzazz. I enjoyed the Netherlands composer Dolf Van Der Linden’s
‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ – this is lovely hoe-down music that crosses the ‘herring
pond’ in its mood and is certainly appealing. Equally diverse is Ray Martin’s
‘Piccadilly Hoe-Down’ which balances the American exemplar with a lush romantic
tune more appropriate to the West-End by night. Look out for ‘Oranges and
Lemons’ and ‘London Bridge is Burning Down’.
A great piece. Still in The Smoke (I assume) is Roger Barsotti’s
‘Metropolitan March’. This is hardly ‘pomp and circumstance’ but a good tune
that could have been used as a TV Sports theme. In fact it was used in the BBC
series ‘Blott on the Landscape’.
Novelty pieces include the
anthropomorphic ‘Poor Butterfly’ by Raymond Hubbell and John Golden. This is
lovely romantic little number with sweeping strings and electric guitar
obligato. Herbert W. Spencer’s
‘Grasshopper’ is a skittish little number. I have never really studied the
habits of grasshoppers but I guess this is probably the kind of music they will
party to.
A couple of Latin American
inspired pieces include the fine ‘The Awakening of Pedro’ by Mitchell Ayres –
sounding a bit like Henry Mancini’s voluptuous strings and comes complete with
choral backing. Jacques La Rue takes the listener down to the Dutch ‘Antilles’
in the Caribbean with a catchy little number. Still on the briny is Joe
Reisman’s ‘Ballad of the Sea’: it is a little bit of a mixed bag. Nothing to do
with nautical types, Bantockian seascapes or ‘jack the lad’. This is mermaids
singing in a summer night somewhere quite unspecified. ‘Desiree’ by James
Kriegsmann is just a pen portrait of a lovely lady that composer must have met.
Pleasant music.
Clive Richardson is well-known to
light music fans. Best recalled for his ‘London Fantasia’ depicting the
war-torn Capital, the present ‘Jamboree’ seems to have little to do with boy
scouting. More likely a trip to the seaside with a lot of fun, fish and chips and
fresh air. It certainly zips along at a
fair pace.
Gilbert Vinter is best recalled
for his contributions to the world of brass bands. His early ‘Salute to Youth’
and ‘Fancy’s Knell’ are still played. From his orchestral
works his ‘Waltzing with (Arthur) Sullivan’ is one of my favourites. ‘Toward
Adventure’ is a big powerful number. What the adventure is, I am not sure, but
it is definitely some ‘Boy’s Own’ type of heroics.
The final number on this CD is
Percy Fletcher’s ‘All the Fun of the Fair’ from his ‘Rustic Revel’s Suite’. It
is a cheerful piece that gloriously lives up to its title.
It seems superfluous to say that
I enjoyed every bar and every moment of this CD. All the pieces are designed to
give pleasure, raise the spirits and make the listener feel optimistic, if
sometimes just a little sentimental for past times. The quality of the sound is
superb. I hardly realised that I was listening to a so-called historical
recordings. The liner notes are outstanding and give all the information that the
listener requires. Once again Guild, the
recording engineer Alan Bunting and producer David Ades have dipped into the
vast treasure store of light music, In fact, it is more a cornucopia: it never
shows any sign of drying up – thank goodness!
With thanks to MusicWeb Internatioal where this review first appeared.
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