"Hard times at the mill."

The Age Of Steam (1971): A British social history LP to compliment a series first broadcast for schools in 1969. Side 1 features six songs composed and performed by Alex Glasgow. Side 2 consists of impeccably read dramatized readings from 19thC sources. The sleeve had those stains on it when I found it, honest. I think it must have been in a fight or something.

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"Voodoo Lady"

Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson out of off of The League Of Gentlemen visit Mary Anne Hobbs' Breezeblock show in 2000AD, talking about and listening to some of their favourite records, including the original Crème Brûlée hit Voodoo Lady.

01. Interview: "As it's Valentine's day ..." 

02. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang soundtrack - Toot Sweets

03. Interview: "A very big house with 100 women in it" 

04. Gert Wilden & Orchestra - Die Dressiere Fran (Title Theme)

05. Interview: "It's quite frightening ..." 

06. The Wicker Man soundtrack - Maypole Song 

07. Interview: "What IS that butcher selling?" 

08. Rudolph Rocker (aka Crème Brûlée) - Voodoo Lady

09. Interview 

10. The Divine Comedy - The Certainty Of Chance 

11. Asian Dub Foundation - Real Great Britain

More League Of Gentlemen type things come soon Dave.

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The Soundhunter

read all about it

Another off air recording from my t_ape archives. In The Soundhunter Isobel Clouter (Staff researcher at The British Library) goes on an epic quest around the globe in search of disappearing sounds.  Isobel is in Russia hearing about painted sound experiments and learning about early musical inventors. In particular a trip to the Theremin Institute in search of the sounds of the one-and-only ANS Photoelectronic Synthesizer, as used by Eduard Artemyev in the creation of the soundtrack to Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris.

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A New Hope

BBC Radio 1 feature Skywalker 1997 - broadcast during the 20th anniversary hype building up to the original Star Wars CGI re-tinkerings. From a time when the prospect of episodes I-III had yet to fill the Internet with fear, anger, hate and the other thing. From a time when George Lucas had barely begun to troll his own back catalogue. 

The show is made up of interviews with cast & crew, just about everybody apart from Carrie Fisher and particularly worth hearing for the bits on sound design, Harrison Ford/Mark Hamill on dialogue, Irvin Kershner on The Empire Strikes Back and for how they (George Lucas and Rick McCallum) envisaged the prequels would pan out.

This is an old off-air recording, although I've done my best to clean it up, there is some static occasionally.

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Doctor Who : Matt Irvine Stones Of Blood 1978

"Hit & Miss"

World Of Sound, a 75th Anniversary collection of theme tunes from BBC radio and television. Some modern rubbish is present, but so are plenty of favourites (Fawlty Towers, Dr Who, Pick of the pops) and light music classics like Sailing by, Top of the form, By the sleepy lagoon, Calling all the workers etc. Liner notes come from the star of Dr Terror's House Of Horrors and legendary  radio DJ Alan 'Fluff' Freeman... alright? Not Arf!

('Fluff 'Freeman @ 01.20 mins approx)

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"Lido Fashion Parade"

Busy activity, Entertainment, Light activity, Teenage, Fashion.

[JW Theme Music] Vintage Newsreel Vol.1 (JW2041) Light classical library ranging through to early rock & roll sound-alike instrumentals. First published between 1956 and 1965, remastered from the original 78s on the JW Theme Music, Impress and Audio labels. Artists include Ronald Binge, Ivor Slaney, Ernest Tomlinson and Syd Dale.

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"The Devil's Gallop"

A great Big British Castle Archive Hour feature  about the rise, decline and recent revival of interest in British light orchestral music. A couple of posts featuring light music to follow:

"Although many Radio 4 listeners grew up tuning in to light orchestral music, it's now largely been forgotten. Most of us will be still be familiar with at least one very famous piece of light music: 'By The Sleepy Lagoon' - better known as the theme tune to 'Desert Island Discs' and composed by Eric Coates. 

When BBC Radio was much slimmer than it is today - made up of just the Home Service, the Light Programme and the Third Programme - listeners tuned in to hear a live concert for the Festival of Light Music. it began in 1953 and was broadcast every June. 

With the disappearance of the Light Programme in 1967 when it split into Radios 1 and 2, light music began to disappear from the airwaves. Eventually its only home was a single slot 'Friday Night is Music Night'. So why did such a popular style of music fade away? 

The music journalist and broadcaster Paul Morley uses BBC archive to explore light music at its peak, including interviews with some of the major composers of British light music - Eric Coates, Ronald Binge and Ernest Tomlinson. He traces its decline, and looks at its possible resurgence in 2011, with events like the 'Light Fantastic Festival'. 

Paul travels to Preston to meet Ernest Tomlinson and takes a tour around the Light Music Society's remarkable archive of thousands of pieces of light music - all rescued by Tomlinson and his daughter Hilary after the BBC and music publishers threw it away. 

Paul also meets Christopher Austin at the Royal Academy of Music and the young conductor John Wilson, who is passionate about light music: for him, this music is not about nostalgia but beautifully written miniatures of orchestral music.

''Quick Ginger... We haven't a moment to lose!''

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"The Good Word"

Upbeat, groovy pop/jazz themes from 1969 to 1975

[Bruton] Easy Listening TV Tunes (BRO14): A mighty fine compilation of tunes from Peer International Library Limited recordings like "No Waiting", "Pace-Setter" and "Confrontation". Artists include British jazz musician/composers John Scott, and Tony Kinsey. Great stuff.

Fab

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"Micro-Structures"

Themes and atmospheres reflecting the many aspects of the natural world.

[Themes International] Nature + Wildlife (TIM29CD):  Paddy Kingsland returns with an album from 1998 of nature documentary type ambience.

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Surreal Suspended Underscores

[Music House] Atmosphere 22 (MHA-22) Here's another one from 1995 that I think goes well with the Paddy Kingsland CD. It does get a bit new-agey in places, so consider yourself warned.

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"Marshscape"

[BTW103] The Synthesisers of David Hewson create Mood & Mode (1979). The charity shop prog rock fan thought this sounded like Eno too. Very synthy, very atmospheric, very 1979. 

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"Space Vampire"

Dramatics suitable for futuristic or unusual nature study application.

[Bruton - BRI25] Explorer - Mid '80s spacey and spooky synths on the Bruton label from John Cameron of Kes and Psychomania fame. I picked this up some years ago when one of my local charity shop haunts used to employ an old prog rocker who took it upon himself to grade all the vinyl and tapes. He used to leave post-it note comments stuck to the sleeves and reckoned Cameron's work here owes something to Brian Eno and Harold Budd. Not sure about that but it has a lovely Look Around You vibe in places and shades of early '80s Dr Who in others.

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"Tales Of Unease (Eary-Feary)"

Top T.V. Soundtrack Themes - A smashing collection of library tracks that became theme tunes on London Weekend Television circa 1970. I'd love to see Tales Of Unease and The Adventures Of Don Quick some day, if anyone can unearth them. Artists on this lp include such greats as George Martin, Alan Tew, Mike Vickers,  Max Harris & Laurie Holloway.

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