Joe Brown

Found this at a boot sale a couple of years ago. It's a record I used to have back in the 60's but lost since. Nice to find it again. "A Picture Of You" was a big hit for him in the UK in 1962 and one of the first singles I ever bought. Joe is still going strong today and has hardly aged . You may have seen him playing ukulele at the George Harrison Tribute Concert a few years back.

"Joe’s early professional musical career included playing guitar with Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and appearing with Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard & Chuck Berry, whilst Brian Epstein who promoted some of Joe's shows in the North West of England in the early days gave the opening slot a few times to a young band which he was then interested in working with called The Beatles.
Joe formed his own group Joe Brown & The Bruvvers in 1960 and had numerous top ten chart entries, the best known of which Picture Of You reaching the magical Number One slot and staying months on the chart.
In the early seventies he formed the acclaimed "Browns Home Brew" which included his late wife Vicki and Joe Fagin, their music was a mixture of Country Rock and Gospel. The band toured the college and rock Club circuit and had two albums released by Vertigo records.
Joe has starred in six major motion pictures, among which are numbered What A Crazy World, Three Hats For Lisa, Spike Milligan Meets Joe Brown and Mona Lisa with Bob Hoskins."

Discover more about Joe Brown HERE.


Joe Brown - The Lay-Abouts Lament

Joe Brown - Shine

Joe Brown - Good Luck

Joe Brown - I'm Henry The Eighth I Am


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Geraldo & His Orchestra

Another of the 78's I bought recently from Help The Aged. This is a pretty limp version of a great song, especially in the hands of someone like Louis Jordan. Geraldo and Denny Vaughn have sucked all the life out of it. The "B" side is even more of a dirge! I apologise in advance for this assault on your ears.

I tried to find some biographical details about Gerlado and His Band but very little on the internet. If you have more luck let me know.

Thanks to Ozzy for this LINK>


Geraldo & His Orchestra - Open The Door, Richard

Geraldo & His Orchestra - Anniversary


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Songs From Alice

An Lp on the Decca label from 1978 I found recently in a charity shop for a couple of quid. Not really my cup of tea but intrigued to hear what they had made of Jabberwocky. The music was composed, arranged and conducted by Don Harper. Joanne Brown sings soprano and Leslie Fyson is the baritone. The musicians are Don Harper- violin and viola- Laurie Hollaway - keyboards - Arthur Watts - bass guitar/bass - Alan Sparkes - guitars - Stan Barrett - drums/percussion - Roy Willox & Manny Winter - woodwind - John Fletcher & Stephen Wick - tuba - Kenny Baker - trumpet/flugelhorn - Don Lusher - trombone/euphonium. Sound engineer - Aldo Bocca. Produced by Skip Humphries. Recorded at Eden Studios, London.

Wikipedia says of Don Harper-

"Born in Melbourne in 1921, Don Harper showed an interest in music from an early age, learning to play the violin as a child. His formal study began at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music.
In later years he would become the successful conductor of one of Australia's most popular big bands as well as being a prolific film and television composer.
In 1963 he emigrated to England, and found himself much in demand for television scores. During his seven-year stay in the country he provided music for World of Sport and Sexton Blake amongst other popular series.
However he is probably best remembered for providing music for the classic 1968 Doctor Who serial The Invasion.
Returning to Australia in 1970, Don Harper would regularly be seen performing on Australian television and on radio as well as in many jazz clubs across the country. He also toured with the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
After a second stint in England, during which he provided more television scores, Harper finally settled back at his home country of Australia in 1983 taking up the position of Head of Jazz Studies at Wollongong University's School of Creative Arts, a position he held until 1990.
His most popular recording was "The Hot Canary".
He died in 1999, aged 78."


Songs From Alice - Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat

Songs From Alice - Pig and Pepper

Songs From Alice - Jabberwocky

Songs From Alice - Tweedledum & Tweedledee

Songs From Alice - Little Fishes


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Harry Wulson

A very scracthed and worn 78 that I bought for 50p in a charity shop the other day with a few others. I'd not heard of Harry Wulson before but intrigued to hear what his "yodelling" sounded like. No luck finding out about the man himself but here's a short extract from Wikipedia about the origins of yodelling-

"Yodeling (or yodelling, jodeling) is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal chest register (or "chest voice") to the head register (or "head voice"), making a high-low-high-low sound. This vocal technique is used in many cultures throughout the world.
In Swiss folk music, it was probably developed in the Swiss Alps as a method of communication between mountain peaks, and it later became a part of the traditional music of the region. In Persian and Azeri Classical musics, singers frequently use tahrir, a yodeling technique that oscillates on neighbor tones. In Georgian traditional music, yodelling takes the form of krimanchuli technique. In Central Africa, Pygmy singers use yodels within their elaborate polyphonic singing. Yodeling is often used in American bluegrass and country music."

Read more HERE.


Harry Wulson - The Cobbler

Harry Wulson - The Nightingale (edit)


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Podcassette 4

A selection from a tape on the Old Bean label released inthe 80's of novelty songs of the 30's called "Comic Cuts Vol. 2".

Tracks are-

1. You Can't Do That There 'Ere - Jack Payne & His Band
2. Fanlight Fanny - George Formby
3. The Pig Got Up And Slowly Walked Away - Ambrose & Orch.
4. A Thick Thick Fog In London - Jack Payne & His Band
5. Madame Ah! La Marquise Ah! - Billy Cotton Band

Jack Payne

"British bandleader Jack Payne was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire on August 22, 1899; while serving as an aviator during World War I, he organized a series of dance bands to
entertain his fellow troops, and after the war continued performing in small group settings. In 1925, his six-piece band was tapped to appear at London's Hotel Cecil; by the end of the year, they were regularly featured on BBC remote broadcasts from the venue, and in 1928 Payne was named the radio network's Director of Dance Music. After four years with the BBC he quit his post, returning to the hotel circuit; in addition to appearing in the film Say It with Music, Payne also made a number of recordings, including a 1935 date with the noted jazz pianist Garland Wilson. He disbanded the group in 1937, retiring to his Buckinghamshire stud farm before forming a 20-piece big band the following year; in late 1939, Payne became the first British bandleader to perform for the troops in France."

Mr. Acker Bilk

I found this today in a charity shop for a pound. IT's an old LP by Acker Bilk & His Paramount Jazz Band recorded in 1958/59 on the Pye label. The legendary Joe Meek is credited with "Recording- Balance".

The sleeve notes are very amusing and inventive and I will quote a few of them here-

"This done, and the Die Cast, the Redoubtable Westcountryman caused it to become known that his Choice had fallen upon the Exercise of his Prodigious Laryngeal Dexterity. He was decided to sing. Thus it befell that the Genial Bristol Blower commited to Memory the Words and Music of those Ditties he felt inclined to Carol, insert his Head and Shoulders within the Larger End of the Recording Horn and give his Best, what Time the Paramount Jazz Men achieved a Seemly Display of Virtuosity in his Aid. First commemorating in Stentorian Fashion the Attributes of that State endemic to his Music, the Egregious Mr. B. then passes to the Glottal Exploration of a Trio of Tunes as much Distinguished for their Originality of Approach as for their Catholicity of Source. Of these, "Highrer Ground" and "Carry Me Back" are Negro Plantation Songs, while "Jump IN The Line" was originally a "Calypso" from the Facile Noddle of Mr. "Blind" Blake - a Celebrated Minstrel who had worked the Caribbean Isles which produced this Strange Idiom."

Richard S. Ginell says-
"Acker Bilk -- or Mr. Acker Bilk, as he was billed -- has won immortality on rock oldies radio for his surprise 1962 hit "Stranger on the Shore," an evocative ballad featuring his heavily quavering low-register clarinet over a bank of strings. To the jazz world, though, he has a longer-running track record as one of the biggest stars of Britain's trad jazz boom, playing in a distinctive early New Orleans manner. After learning his instrument in the British Army, Bilk joined Ken Colyer's trad band in 1954 before stepping out on his own in 1956. By 1960, a record of his, "Summer Set" -- a pun on the name of his home county -- landed on the British pop charts, and Bilk was on his way, clad in the Edwardian clothing and bowler hats that his publicist told his Paramount Jazz Band to wear. Several other British hits followed, but none bigger than "Stranger," which Bilk wrote for his daughter Jenny. The single stayed 55 weeks on the British charts and crossed the sea to America, where it hit number one in an era when radio was open to oddball records of all idioms (Bilk gratefully called "Stranger" "my old-age pension"). Released on English Columbia in Britain, several Bilk albums came out in America on the Atco label, and he continued to have hits until the British rock invasion of 1964 made trad seem quaint. With that, Bilk moved into cabaret and continued to have some success in Europe, leading jazz bands, recording with lush string ensembles, and even scoring another hit, "Aria" (number five in Britain), in 1976. Continuing to perform through the 2000s, Bilk slackened his pace so that he could pursue, like Miles Davis, a hobby of painting."

Discover more about Acker Bilk HERE


Acker Bilk - Carry Me Back

Acker Bilk - Jump In The Line

Acker Bilk - Dardenella

Acker Bilk - Higher Ground


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Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band Pt. 2

Here's the other side of that cassette with a radio show Bob Kerr did for the BBC in the 80's or 90's?

Songs are-

1. My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies
2. That Old Bazaar In Cairo
3. There's A Rainbow Round My Shoulder
4. Overture To Carmen
5. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

"The WHOOPEE BAND have performed on stage and TV in most European countries, had their own 45 minute TV show in Germany, not to mention their very own TV series for London Weekend Television in the 70's, it was called "Making Whoopee". They have worked with many leading stars including Lionel Bart, Peter Cook & Dudley More and Max Wall. They have toured with Ralph McTell, Manhattan Transfer and many more.
Such is the bizarre nature of this outfit they not only play Theatres and Festivals all over Europe and beyond, they even played at the legendary BOB DYLAN concerts in Earls Court London in the late seventies and when Roger Daltrey of The Who got married they even played at his wedding. The WHOOPEE BAND have appeared in concert at the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia and in Denmark with Dame Edna Everage ............in various concerts with Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Lonnie Donegan and Acker Bilk plus many many more."

Discover more about the Whoopee Band HERE.

Hukilau Hulas

A LP from 1958 on the Vogue label. Amusing instruction on back of sleeve on how to do the Hula along with the tunes. A variety of artists here singing old favourites including Bill Akamukou, Ray Kinney, and Mel Peterson.

Wikipedia says -

"The music of Hawai`i includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Hawaii's musical contributions to the music of the United States are out of proportion to the state's small size. Styles like slack-key guitar are well-known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Hollywood soundtracks. Hawaii also made a major contribution to country music with the introduction of the steel guitar.[1]
Traditional Hawaiian folk music is a major part of the state's musical heritage. The Hawaiian people have inhabited the islands for centuries and have retained much of their traditional musical knowledge. Their music is largely religious in nature, and includes chanting and dance music. Hawaiian music has had an enormous impact on the music of other Polynesian islands; indeed, music author Peter Manuel called the influence of Hawaiian music a "unifying factor in the development of modern Pacific musics."

Mel Peterson - The Hukilau Song

Kalani Bright - My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua

Andy Cummings - The Cockeyed Mayor Of Kaunakakai


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Prince Buster

A rather battered and scratchy copy of "Feel The Spirit" by Prince Buster on the Blue Beat label. Released in 1963. Accompanied by various backing bands including the Les Dawson Blues Unit, Drumbago All Stars and Rico Rodriquez Blues Band.

"Cecil Bustamente Campbell was born on the island of Jamaica on May 28, 1938, the son of a railway worker. While still in his teens, Campbell simultaneously pursued two quite separate careers -- boxing and singing. Eventually, he'd give up the former, a talent he honed as a child leading a gang in one of Kingston's toughest neighborhoods, although it would hold him in good stead once he opened his sound system. He made his singing debut at the Glass Bucket club in the mid-'50s and fronted a number of now long-forgotten groups. Several of them included drummer Arkland "Drumbago" Parkes in their lineups and the two became friends. The drummer provided the introduction to Coxsone Dodd, not yet a producer, but at the time running a hot sound system in competition to another businessman soon to turn producer, Duke Reid. Dodd employed the young singer not for his vocals, but for his fists, as a security guard cum Guy Friday. By 1959, the young Buster understood the sound system business inside and out and set off on his own. He began by opening a record store, Buster's Record Shack, and then set up the Voice of the People sound system. "

Discover more about Prince Buster HERE.


Prince Buster - Wash All Your Troubles Away

Prince Buster - Jealous

Prince Buster - Black Head Chinaman

Prince Buster - Run Man Run

Les Dawson Blues Unit - Just You


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Clifton Chenier

A flea market find of a few years ago, probably Brick Lane. It was released in 1972 on the Speciality label.

Wikipedia says-

"Clifton Chenier (June 26, 1925 - December 12, 1987) a native of Opelousas, Louisiana was an eminent performer of zydeco music, a blend of Cajun and Creole music with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion.
Chenier's career began in 1954, when he signed with Elko Records and released "Clifton's Blues", a regional hit. His first hit was soon followed by "Ay 'Tite Fille (Hey, Little Girl)" (cover of Professor Longhair), which received some mainstream success. With the Zydeco Ramblers, Chenier toured extensively and soon signed to Chicago's Chess Records, followed by Arhoolie. His popularity peaked in the 1980s, when he won a Grammy Award, the first Creole to do so.
Chenier is also credited with redesigning the wood and crimped tin washboard into the frottoir, an instrument that would easily hang from the shoulders. Cleveland Chenier, Clifton's older brother would find equal popularity for his ability to manipulate the distinctive sound of the washboard by rubbing several bottle openers (held in each hand)along its ridges.
Clifton Chenier traveled throughout the world extensively with his RED HOT LOUISIANA ZYDECO BAND.
Chenier died of kidney disease in 1987 and was buried in All Souls Cemetery in Loreauville, Iberia Parish. Fortunately his son Clayton, CJ Chenier is carrying on in the zydeco tradition with a touring band and quality album releases."


Clifton Chenier - Boppin' The Rock

Clifton Chenier - The Things I Did For You

Clifton Chenier - Yesterday

Clifton Chenier - Clifton's Squeeze-Box Boogie


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Podcassette 3

Compiled from an old cassette from Jim Benson in Basingstoke. Tracks are as follows-

1. Istanbul ( Not Constantinople ) - The Radio Revellers
2. Toot Toot - Fats Domino & Doug Kershaw
3. Working Class Millionaire - Richard Digance
4. Flying Saucers - Eddie Grundy
5. Take A Mac - Toby Jug & The Washboard Band

Richard Digance

"When he celebrated his 50th birthday on February 24, 1999, by announcing his retirement, Richard Digance left a void that was only filled with a standing-room-only comeback tour of British theaters three years later. One of the most successful entertainers in the United Kingdom, Digance has gone from the late-'60s folk clubs of Glasgow, Scotland, where he briefly attended Reid Kerr College, to become one of England's top writer/performers. The host of a popular series of television specials, A Dabble With Digance, and various other programs, including Stop the World, for the BBC in the 1980s, he moved to Capital Radio in the early '90s. Remaining at the London-based station for five years, he hosted a music show that featured interviews with American artists including Joni Mitchell, Arlo Guthrie, and Roy Orbison. Returning to the concert stage as the opening act for Eric Clapton at London's Victoria Theater, Digance continued to perform with musical comedian/vocalist Jim Davidson until 1999."

Doug Kershaw

"1969 was a pivotal year in the musical career of Doug Kershaw (born Douglas James Kershaw). An appearance on the premier broadcast of The Johnny Cash Show, on June 7, brought him to the attention of his largest audience and led to a contract with Warner Brothers/Seven Arts. Two months later, Kershaw's autobiographical tune, "Louisiana Man," became the first song broadcast back to Earth from the Moon by the astronauts of Apollo 12. Kershaw capped the year with a much-publicized, week-long engagement at the Fillmore East in New York as opening act for Eric Clapton's Derek & the Dominos."

Eddie Grundy

"Eddie Grundy is a character in a long running radio soap called The Archers. Eddie Grundy (Trevor Harrison) is Joe's son. He was once enamoured of Jolene Rogers, now Perks (unrequited), his partner in a country and western double act. Eddie's hopes of a career in music look to have been permanently dashed. He has a history of involving himself in numerous dubious money-making schemes and at one point stood trial for unwittingly selling condemned meat. He mainly makes his living by laying patios and selling novelty gnomes (garden ornaments). In some efforts, Joe has participated; at other times he scolds his son: legality never dictates his response."

Marie Lloyd Jnr.

Another track from the Lp "The World Of Music Hall" on Decca, 1970. Originally recorded in 1933.

Hardly any info. about Marie Lloyd Jnr. but tons about her Mum. In this CD ( Treading The Boards - Conifer 1989 )I have there is another ML Jnr. track which I will upload and the sleeve notes say-

"Marie Lloyd Junior (1888 - 1967), here singing a song recorded by her mother back in 1904, was the only child of the famous Marie Lloyd, generally acknowledged to have been the greatest of all the female music hall performers. She made her debut in South Africa in 1896 billed as "Little Maudie Courtney" and impersonated her mother with whom she was touring. After marie lloyd's death in 1922, she appeared on the halls singing Marie Senior's songs and joined the" Lloyd Family", an act which already comprised of her mother's sisters Alice, Daisy and Rosie. During the 60's she toured with Don Ross's long running "Thanks For The Memory " show. Her death , on Boxing day 1967, surprisingly went unreported in the national press."


Marie Lloyd Jnr. - The Coster's Wedding


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Max Miller

Max Miller sings and "tells a few" on a compilation LP called "The World Of Music Hall" on the Decca label. Originally recorded in 1935. The Lp was relaeased in 1970.

Wikipedia says-

"Max Miller (November 21, 1894 - May 7, 1963), the "Cheeky Chappie", was a 1930s English music hall comedian famous for his daringly risqué (for the period) repertoire (see Censorship) and gaudy suits.
Born in Brighton as Thomas Henry Sargent, Max became notorious for his double entendre based humour, which at the time saw him banned from the BBC on more than one occasion. His jokes were written in two notebooks, one white notebook for 'clean' humour, and a blue one for 'adult' jokes. He was known for his outlandish outfits, which generally included patterned plus fours and matching long jacket (a look which has clearly influenced the stage outfits of modern comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown), with a trilby hat and kipper tie. He was also a popular singer of comedy songs, his most famous being Mary From the Dairy, which was also his signature tune. He also appeared in several films. A statue was erected to Miller in his home town of Brighton on 1 May 2005 by Roy Hudd, George Melly, June Whitfield and Norman Wisdom. Interestingly, Hudd appeared as his hero in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play Pier Pressure in 2006."

African Highlife

Two singles found today in the Help The Aged shop much to my surprise. Very rare to find African records in Northwich, especially old Highlife 45's from Ghana or maybe Nigeria?

"From its early development in Ghana through the 1970s, Highlife was Africa's first big popular music trend. Evolving from the the music of society bands and military marching bands, Highlife music re-africanized these contemporary instrumental ensembles, adding local percussion, indigenous rhythms and crafting local lyrics around powerful local themes. Highlife, named for the lifestyle of the high society Africans who were its early patrons, was the first major popular music trend in West Africa. Some of Nigeria's early highlife luminaries Bobby Benson, Cardinal Rex Lawson, EC. Arinze, Stephen Amechi, Inyang Henshaw, Celestine Ukwu and many others are still revered to this day. Though highlife lost some of its national power during the Civil War years, Highlife Heavies like Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and Oliver DeCoque remain powerful National forces. Recentely a young generation has worked to put highlife back on the map."

Discover more about Nigerian Highlife HERE


Olu Right Time Orch. - Baba Bami Se

Olu Right Time Orch. - Iyawo Olomo Mi

Bob Cole & His Music Makers - Ahorba

Bob Cole & His Music Makers - Meye Kwasea


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Bobbie Comber

Historic recordings dubbed from 78's to tape. I've mentioned Bobbie Comber before but happy to upload these novelty songs from the 20's and the 30's.
Not much gleaned about Bobbie Comber on the interweb. He was born in 1890 and died in 1942. and was most successful with songs of a nautical nature like "Barnacle Bill The Sailor" during the 30's. He also acted in many films.

Above songs are-

1. The Return Of Barnacle Bill The Sailor
2. An Elephant Nver Forgets
3. Peg-Leg Jack
4. With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm Pt's. 1 & 2

Some of his films listed HERE.


Bobbie Comber - After The Night Before

Bobbie Comber - Bunkey-Doodle-I-Doh


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Michael Bentine

One side of an LP on RCA called "Square Bashing" from the TV series "It's A Square World" that was popular in the 70's. This record was released in 1980. Music is by the Square Bashers arranged and conducted by Les Williams.

Tracks are-

1. March On
2. The Concert
3. Freedom Of The Airways
4. What The Public Thinks
5. The Tradegy At The National Gallery

Wikipedia says-

"Bentine was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, of Anglo-Peruvian parentage and grew up in Folkestone, Kent, one of his friends being the young David Tomlinson. He was educated at Eton College.
In World War II he served as an RAF Intelligence officer, and took part in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He said about this experience:
Millions of words have been written about these horror camps, many of them by inmates of those unbelievable places. I’ve tried, without success, to describe it from my own point of view, but the words won’t come. To me Belsen was the ultimate blasphemy.
He had acted before the war, and afterwards he decided to become a comedian, specialising in off-the-wall humour, often involving cartoons and other types of animation. For example, a prominent feature of his series, It's a Square World, was the imaginary flea circus.
Having appeared in the Goon Show on radio from 1951-3, he also appeared in the Goon Show film Down Among the Z Men, and at the time seemed perhaps the most comfortable of the cast in working in a visual medium."

Discover more about Michael Bentine HERE.


The Square Bashers - Square Dance


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Cyril Fletcher

The first side of a LP recorded in Bognor Regis in the 70's or 80's by Cyril Fletcher who was popular for his "Odd Odes" during the war and later on a TV programme called "That's Life" that ran throughout the 70's and 80's on the BBC.

Wikipedia says of him-

"Cyril Fletcher (June 25, 1913 – January 2, 2005) was an English comedian. Fletcher had first begun performing the Odd Odes in 1937, long before they first appeared on television. He came up with the idea when he was short of material for a radio show. The first Odd Ode was a comic, yet sentimental, reading of Edgar Wallace's war poem Dreaming of Thee. Following this broadcast he was given a regular programme on Radio Luxembourg; it was this show that brought him to national attention.
Fletcher, who was born in Watford, was a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was also a successful businessman, believing it to be important to diversify in such a fickle business as show business. He was the founder of Associated Speakers, an agency for after-dinner speakers, on whose books were the likes of the Duke of Bedford and Lord Longford, as well as himself."

Guardian obituary HERE.


Cyril Fletcher - Down Below

Bonus track from the LP "Great Radio Stars" Vol. 1 on the Flapper label-

Cyril Fletcher - The Mermaid


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Georgia Gibbs 1919 - 2006

Nice to find this one in the same charity shop with it's original sleeve on the Mercury label.

"Gibbs was born Frieda Lipschitz[1] in Worcester, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children of Russian Jewish immigrant parents.[2] Her father died when she was six months old, and she spent her first seven years in an orphanage in Worcester, separated from her other siblings.
She revealed a natural talent for singing at a very young age, and was given the lead in the orphanage's yearly variety show. She was reunited with her mother (who had visited her once every other month) when the latter found employment as a midwife. However, her job often forced her to leave her daughter alone for weeks at a time with only a Philco radio for company."

Wikipedia entry on Georgia Gibbs HERE.


Georgia Gibbs - Tweedle Dee

Georgia Gibbs - You're Wrong, All Wrong


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Les Campagnons La Chanson

More old crusty 78's from the charity shop today. I paid 40p for this one by Les Campagnons who I assume are from France. Even speeded up to 78 on Audacity they the songs sound rather slow and turgid but I thought I would share them with you anyway.

"For forty years (1941-1983) the Compagnons de la Chanson achieved international and popular success with a discreet and classic repertoire, even a bit old fashioned. This group of nine, then eight voices worked their way along a solid road far from trends thanks to rigorous professionalism. Always happy and smiling, they delighted several generations of followers."

Discover more about Les Campagnons De La Chanson HERE.


Les Campagnons - That Lucky Old Sun

Les Campagnons - The Three Bells


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Charles Penrose

Another 78 from my small collection of shellac found at flea markets and charity shops etc. Charles Penrose was most famous for his "Laughing Policeman" which turns up time and time again on compilations of novelty songs and songs for children. It was forvever being played on Junior Choice on BBC radio during the 50's and 60's. He did however make many more "laughing songs" which were every bit as good ( or bad, depending on your humour! ) and it's a shame the others have been neglected.

"Charles Penrose born in Biggleswade created a unique selection of comical & witty records between 1911 and 1933, for various labels, originally played on wind-up gramophones. The Laughing Policeman, made in 1926, became a cult classic in the 50's, 60's & 70's on the BBC programme Children's Favourites and is still made use of by advertisers. I can recognise his Biggleswade accent and every word is clearly understood. He was living at Putney in 1901 with his wife Hetty and must have appeared at London music halls. During the 1930's he had small parts in quite a few British films and was a regular radio performer when everyone listened to the BBC. I remember his popular wartime radio programme Down at the old Pig & Whistle and my father telling me that he was born in Biggleswade. His gramophone records are now collector's items and much sought after."

Discover more about Charles Penrose HERE.


Charles Penrose - Let's Have A Jolly Good Laugh

Charles Penrose - Laughter & The Old Bassoon


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.