Brit TV themes from the early 60's!
Im a bit of a collector of 50's-70's British TV, And when i was a kid (5 yo) I found this disc amoungst the 45's my parents had and played it to death. Only recently have I located a "fresh copy" of this very disc.
The Aussie pressing was on W&G Records while the original UK Pressing was on the woolworths own label Embassy, Who more the most part recorded "covers" and issued them on cheap discs. A noble industry and Embassy produced some very fine re-recordings (if i was richer Id start collectiing are preseriving thise discs here!)
It was only after hearing a BBC Radio Documentry about "Embassy" that I tracked down this recording..
The dicsc used in the new BBC Doco was very very poorly restored/transferd. I wrote to the BBC about this and offered my services for free but got no reply. This after writting to several BBC Departments and the producers of the series (which still airs). after hearing another show on the 'Archive Hour"
Now the recording itself. I was very lucky to obtain Three copies of the disc and each had its own problems.
From the three pressings ive cobbeled together a complete set.
to preserve the ambience of the recordings ive not used that much noise reduction.. any more and it adversly efects the life of the recordings. There's a little distortion which was evident on all 3 pressings.
now onto the music
Zcars - A fine version of the theme, for years I thought it was the Johnny Keating Pye recording untill i obtained a disc that was audible! (my old 45 was beyond playback) Ive seen quite a few Zcars epps of late.
Dr Kildare - pretty much the same as the "telle" vesrion with all those Mantovani type strings.
Maigret - Ive heard a few of these recently and this one is by far the best. Ive only seen the one epp of this production anyone have any more?
Coronation Street - Although a "sopie" which i have no interest in for some reason I adore the theme. perhaps its the Northern bluesy jazzy feel of it but it just "fits". out of all the various versions of this theme Ive collected again this one takes the cake, partly due to the walking bass line and the harmonies of trumpet and clarinet.
Ill prsent some more rare Brit TV theme Discs soon. up next a 1963 disc by Steve Race, Tubby Haynes, Johnny Scott. "Dance To The TV Themes" Its taken a few years to find a clean Stereo Pressing!
A Zip file containing the EP and scans
James Wright - Top TV Themes
If anyone has any other embassy titles please don't hesitate to email me.
7 comments:
Look forward to the Steve Race - it's very difficult to find recordings - particularly piano stuff - by this brilliant musician who died on June 22 this year.
I wish you a happy New Year and all the very best.
Thanks Mate Happy New year too!
Didn't know Steve was gone. weird that's pretty much the day when I found "Dance To The Tv Theme's"
Probably the most expensive album Ive Ever bought! But compared to the Mono Pressing which is pretty common this one is Well recorded!
What other albums/works Did Mr Race Do? Im all ears (literally!)
I don’t know if you have ever heard the BBC radio programme My Music, which Steve Race presented, and played the piano as well. His piano playing, either as accompanying members of the team or solo, was brilliant - harmonically and technically. I do know he made some recordings as a pianist many years ago but can’t find the details. These are the recordings I'd particularly like to get hold of.
I do know that he did 'little jazzy pieces' for Chappell & Paxton (as well as other) libraries.
Congratulations for a great website. Lots of old jazz to discover! And those Australian labels...
Thanks for the King Sisters that I am just barely getting to know, a search on the Net made me find you.
Hoping you find a good job to help you collect more fun stuff to share!
Salutations from Montreal, Quebec.
Re Maigret, BBC has released full cast dramatisations on CD and I have some. I am also a fan of the books and have a pile of those as well.
The file has been deleted by rapidshare ? Can you fix it ?
Thanks a lot
chris
você pode liberar o link ainda ,obrigado
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