Bob & Earl

LP on the Sue label from the 60's. Biggest hit was Harlem Shuffle and most of the other songs on here are variations of that idea or else soulful ballads.

Wikipedia says -

"The original duo were Bobby Byrd and Earl Nelson (born Earl Lee Nelson, 8 September 1928, Lake Charles, Louisiana - 12 July 2008, Los Angeles) They had both been members of The Hollywood Flames, a prolific doo-wop group in Los Angeles, California whose major hit was "Buzz Buzz Buzz" in 1958, on which Nelson sang lead.

By 1957, Byrd had started a parallel solo career, writing and recording for contractual reasons as Bobby Day. He wrote and recorded the original version of "Little Bitty Pretty One", and had a hit of his own with "Rockin' Robin" (1958). In 1960, Day/Byrd and Nelson began recording together as Bob & Earl, on the Class record label. However, these releases had relatively little success, and Day/Byrd restarted his solo career.

In 1962, Nelson then recruited a second "Bob", Bobby Relf (January 10, 1937 - November 20, 2007), who also used the stage names of Bobby Garrett and Bobby Valentino. Relf had already led several Los Angeles based acts in his career, including the Laurels, the Upfronts, and Valentino and the Lovers. The latter two groups also featured the then pianist and bass singer, Barry White.

This duo of Relf and Nelson recorded several singles for different labels, before "Harlem Shuffle" in 1963. The song was written by Relf and Nelson, arranged by Barry White, and produced by Fred Smith. It was based on a number called "Slauson Shuffletime" (named after a boulevard in Los Angeles) by another Los Angeles singer, Round Robin. When released on the Marc label, "Harlem Shuffle" became a modest hit on the R&B chart. Its vocal interplay directly influenced later duos such as Sam and Dave. However, its main success came as late as 1969, when it was re-released in the UK and became a Top Ten hit there. Reportedly, George Harrison called it his favourite record of all time.

By that time, Nelson had achieved further success as a solo artist under the alias of Jackie Lee, with "The Duck", a hit dance record released in 1965, which reached #14 in the U.S. (Jackie was Nelson's wife's name and Lee his own middle name). When "Harlem Shuffle" became successful on reissue, Nelson and Relf reunited as Bob & Earl to tour. The duo split up for the last time in the early 1970s."


Bob & Earl - My Woman

Bob & Earl - The Sissy

Bob & Earl - Your Lovin' Goes A Long Long Way

Bob & Earl - Puppet On A String

New Vaudeville Band

I had heard that The New Vaudeville Band contained ex-members of the Bonzo Dog Band so expected something similar but this is pleasant enough pop but nothing more. Indeed it turns out that only one ex-member of the Bonzos joined them, Bob Kerr, but he left shortly afterwards due to musical differences and formed the Bob Kerr Whoopee Band (featured here some months ago ).

Wikipedia says -

"The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens (born 1 October 1934, New Southgate, North London) in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and a Rudy Vallee megaphone style vocal. To his surprise, the song became a transatlantic hit that autumn, reaching the Top 10 in the UK and rising to No. 1 in the U.S. Global sales of the single were over three million, with the RIAA certification of gold disc status. The track also won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song in 1967. The lead vocal was sung by John Carter, formerly of The Ivy League, who had sung on the demo of the record, which Stephens decided to keep for the commercial release. An initial long-playing album was also issued in late 1966 by Fontana Records, also titled Winchester Cathedral.

When Stephens received several requests for The New Vaudeville Band to tour, he had to put together a group, as the song was recorded by session musicians hired only for the recording session. He contacted a real group, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, which played similar music at the time.[1] Only Bob Kerr from that group was interested, so he left The Bonzos to help Stephens form a touring version of The New Vaudeville Band, which included original session drummer Henri Harrison. The lead singer of the touring version of the group was Alan Klein, who was billed as 'Tristram - Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood'.

In 1967, The New Vaudeville Band released the On Tour album, with the single "Peek-A-Boo," which made the Billboard chart that February and reached No. 7 in the UK singles chart. Further UK hits followed with "Finchley Central" (No. 11) and "Green Street Green" (No. 37), both based on locations in London and therefore less appealing to the American public.[1] In 1968, the group played a major role on the film soundtrack, The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom, but their novelty was beginning to wear off with the record-buying public."


New Vaudeville Band - Albert & Victoria

New Vaudeville Band - Hard Life

New Vaudeville Band - 1973

Stars From Zaire

Another old african LP picked up in Brick Lane market many years ago I think. I thought I had uploaded tracks from this already but a quick check didn't find any so here is side two for your listening pleasure.

Wikipedia says-

"Since the colonial era, Kinshasa, Congo's capital, has been one of the great centers of musical innovation, ranking alongside Nairobi, Lagos, Johannesburg and Abidjan in influence. The country, however, was carved out from territories controlled by many different ethnic groups, many of which had little in common with each other. Each maintained (and continue to do so) their own folk music traditions, and there was little in the way of a pan-Congolese musical identity until the 1940s.

Like much of Africa, Congo was dominated during the World War 2 era by rumba, a fusion of Latin and African musical styles that came from the island of Cuba. Congolese musicians appropriated rumba and adapted its characteristics for their own instruments and tastes. Following World War 2, record labels began appearing, including CEFA, Ngoma, Loningisa and Opika, each issuing many 78 rpm records; Radio Congo Belge also began broadcasting during this period. Bill Alexandre, a Belgian working for CEFA, brought electric guitars to the Congo.

Popular early musicians include Feruzi, who is said to have popularized rumba during the 1930s and guitarists like Zachery Elenga, Antoine Wendo Kolosoy and, most influentially, Jean Bosco Mwenda. Alongside rumba, other imported genres like American swing, French cabaret and Ghanaian highlife were also popular.

In 1953, the Congolese music scene began to differentiate itself with the formation of African Jazz (led by Joseph "Grand Kalle" Kabasele), the first full-time orchestra to record and perform, and the debut of fifteen-year-old guitarist Francois Luambo Makiadi (aka Franco). Both would go on to be some of the earliest Congolese music stars. African Jazz, which included Kabasele, sometimes called the father of modern Congolese music, as well as legendary Cameroonian saxophonist and keyboardist Manu Dibango, has become one of the most well-known groups in Africa, largely due to 1960's "Independence Cha-Cha-Cha", which celebrated Congo's independence and became an anthem for Africans across the continent.

Big bands (1930s–1970s)
Into the 1950s, Kinshasa and Brazzaville became culturally linked, and many musicians moved back and forth between them, most importantly including Nino Malapet and the founder of OK Jazz, Jean Serge Essous. Recording technology had evolved to allow for longer playing times, and the musicians focused on the seben, an instrumental percussion break with a swift tempo that was common in rumba. Both OK Jazz and African Jazz continued performing throughout the decade until African Jazz broke up in the mid-1960s. Tabu Ley Rochereau and Dr. Nico then formed African Fiesta, which incorporated new innovations from throughout Africa as well as American and British soul, rock and country. African Fiesta, however, lasted only two years before disintegrating, and Tabu Ley formed Orchestre Afrisa International instead, but this new group was not able to rival OK Jazz in influence for very long.

Many of the most influential musicians of Congo's history emerged from one or more of these big bands, including Sam Mangwana, Ndombe Opetum, Vicky Longomba, Dizzy Madjeku and Kiamanguana Verckys. Mangwana was the most popular of these solo performers, keeping a loyal fanbase even while switching from Vox Africa and Festival des Marquisards to Afrisa, followed by OK Jazz and a return to Afrisa before setting up a West African group called the African All Stars. Mose Fan Fan of OK Jazz also proved influential, bringing Congolese rumba to East Africa, especially Kenya, after moving there in 1974 with Somo Somo. Rumba also spread through the rest of Africa, with Brazzaville's Pamela M'ounka and Tchico Thicaya moving to Abidjan and Ryco Jazz taking the Congolese sound to the French Antilles. In Congo, students at Gombe High School became entranced with American rock and funk, especially after James Brown visited the country in 1969. Los Nickelos and Thu Zahina emerged from Gombe High, with the former moving to Brussels and the latter, though existing only briefly, becoming legendary for their energetic stage shows that included frenetic, funky drums during the seben and an often psychedelic sound. This period in the late 60s is the soukous era, though the term soukous now has a much broader meaning, and refers to all of the subsequent developments in Congolese music as well."


Orchestre Conga 68 de Jonny - F.C. Dragon

Elegance Jazz - Lisumu Lisango

Orchestre Veve - Mfumbwa 2eme

Orchestre Bella Bella - Nakomitunaka

The Great Days Of Music Hall

A terrific LP of old music hall stars that were still around in the 20's and 30's to record these medleys of their biggest hits. I've had these on a cassette for a number of years but glad to find this vinyl version on the cheapo Music For Pleasure label that was released in the 60's and sold for 12 shillings and sixpence back then. Wee Georgie Wood writes the sleeve notes- here's the first part about Billy Merson -

"The Greatest Music-Hall Ever Assembled" is
no mean boast, yet the six stars on this album
really do represent the best of music-hall
entertainment.
I can think of no better selection of artists and
numbers with which In illustrate the talks on
music-hall immortals which I give throughout
this country and America. There were other
greats too, of course, but these six stood in the
front rank and I am proud to have been a personal
friend of them all.
BILLY MKRSON typified the individuality
and personality which marked out the great
artists of the days when, to quote George
Bernard Shaw: "The music-hall, thank God. is
part of the traditional British life acceptable.—
nay, indeed welcomed—by Ireland".
"On The Good Ship Yacki Hicki Doola" was
the popular favourite of pierrot shows, amateur
reviews for charity, and delighted countless sea-
side charabanc parties.
Merson's own particular favourite was "The
Photo Of The Girl I Left Behind Me" but
"Signora", the least successful item in his
repertoire, was nevertheless the critics choice.
Lewis Waller's performance in the well-known
drama "A White Man" inspired "A Prairie
Life".
Best known of all his numbers was of course,
"The Spaniard That Blighted My Life" and I
can remember that, during the Drury Lane
rehearsal breaks of that truly great musical "Rose
Marie" (in which Merson played the part of
Herman), the composer Rudolf Kriml would
implore Billy to teach him the trick of "The
Spaniards" opening of "O list to me while 1 tell
you" with which Billy played vocal tricks with
nuances of tremolo and almost a yodel. In 1943,
Al Jolson sang this song to the troops when we
were together in North Africa and he always pre-
faced it with a personal tribute to "That Merson
man of the music-hall". Later, when Joe Brown
parted from "The Bruvvers" to gain fame as a
solo performer, he added the song to his reper-
toire and performed it with great success on a
T.V. show filmed in colour specially for America,
when it was generally thought to be a new song!"


Billy Merson - Medley

Vesta Victoria - Medley

Charles Coburn - Medley

Florrie Forde - Medley

Harry Champion - Medley

Ella Retford - Medley

Mammoth Gavioli fair Organ

An EP from the Hospice shop yesterday on the Decca label from 1965. We are always amazed by the giant fairground steam organs at the Cheshire Steam Fair every year - the noise they make is incredible. Fascinating to see the holey sheets of music being fed in in huge stacks frond the back- all folded up like concertinas. Several of these monsters churning out old Music Hall hits in one field , togther with the smell of candy floss and smoke can be quite overwhelming!

The sleeve notes say -

"The organ that you hear on this record is the largest of eight magnificent 112 key instruments supplied in Britain in 1908-9 by the Paris firm of Gavioli, and is probably the largest fair organ ever built. Delivered to South Wales in 1909, it formed the front of Sidney White's Electric Colisium Bioscope and Variety Show. The advent of the cinema doomed the travelling bioscope shows, and the Colisium Organ was reduced in size to a 98 key instrument and was installed in the Welsh Dragon Scenic Railway, travelling extensively until the ride was permanently erected in the Cosy Comer Amusement Park on Barry Island."


Mammoth Gavioli Organ - Side One

Mammoth Gavioli Organ - Side Two

Wild Animal Sounds

An EP on the castle label from the 50's I would imagine from the sleeve design. Recorded by F.C.Judd A. Inst.E (whatever that means?) who was "well known for his unique recording techniques". In order of appearance here on side one you have - Male and female lions - Gibbons - Chimpanzees(angry, curious and excited)- Bell Bird, Rattle snake - Gaboon Viper - Emporer geese - Fish Eagles - Mountain lion (puma) and Kookaburra (laughing jackass).


Wild Animal Sounds - Side One

Norman Wisdom 1915 - 2010

Sorry to hear of the death of Norman Wisdom today who's films I much enjoyed as a nipper back in the 50's.

"Norman Wisdom was born in the London district of Marylebone to Frederick and Maude Wisdom. His father was a chauffeur and his mother a dressmaker. After a difficult and poverty-stricken childhood he joined the 10th Hussars and began to develop his talents as a musician and stage entertainer

After he left the army he went into show-business, gradually becoming one of Britain's most successful stars. In 1954 he released the best-selling single that is still closely associated with his name, "Don't Laugh At Me (Cause I'm A Fool)".
Moving into film in the 1960s, he created an accident-prone, clownish character called Norman Pitkin, a lovable fool who appeared in several successful films, most notably The Early Bird (1965). His famous and widely imitated cry as Pitkin was "Mr Grimsdale! Mr Grimsdale!

In 1967, he was widely praised for his performance as a serious actor in The Night They Raided Minsky's, but his career began to decline in the 1970s and he was out of favour with British tastes in comedy for many years. On 11 February 1987 Norman Wisdom was the subject of Thames Television's This Is Your Life.
He became widely popular again in the 1990s, helped by the young comedian Lee Evans, whose act was heavily influenced by Wisdom's work. The highpoint of this new popularity was the knighthood he received in 1999 from Queen Elizabeth II.
After he was knighted, true to his accident-prone persona, he couldn't resist pretending to trip on his way out off the platform."

Discover more about Norman Wisdom HERE


Norman Wisdom - The Joker

Norman Wisdom & Joyce Grenfell - Narcissus

Sydney Carter/ Jeremy Taylor

Slim pickings at the boot sale this weekend but did pick up this rare LP on Fontana for a couple of quid. I have an LP with Jeremy Taylor and Spike Milligan which is fun so hoped this would be too. I certainly wasn't disappointed and happy to upload both sides. I could have done without the horrible Eton Boating Song at the end sung by lots of toffee nosed oiks but the rest is excellent despite the odd pop and crackle. Made in 1967 .

Wikipedia says of Sydney Carter-

"He studied at Christ's Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex and Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in history in 1936. A committed pacifist, Carter joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit on the outbreak of World War II and served in Egypt, Palestine and Greece.

He worked as a lyricist for Donald Swann's revues and musicals in the 1950s and in 1962, produced an album Putting out the Dustbin with Sheila Hancock, with the song Last Cigarette on failing to give up smoking that became a minor hit."

The sleeve notes are as follows -

"Balliol is brainy but ugly, Trinity elegant but lackadaisical. They
stand side by side in Oxford. Each has a low opinion of the other
and lewd songs are sung over the dividing wall. Jeremy Taylor went
to one, Sydney Carter to the other. Look at their pictures and you'll
guess which came from which.
Both write songs and sing them. Anyone who does this now is
likely to be labelled "folk" unless (like Noel Coward) he plays the
piano. Taylor plays the guitar and Carter will often sing starkly
unaccompanied, for which reason he has been described (in The
/sis) as "traditional". He may be that, but his songs are not anony-
mous nor as ancient as some people think. He did not (as one Church
Organist seems to imagine) flourish around 1660; and Jeremy
Taylor did not write Holy Living ard Holy Dying (1651) though any
encyclopedia will say he did. The songs on this record should
dispel that notion.
Both have one foot in education and the other one in entertainment.
Carter pulled his out of education pretty early; after teaching for two
years at Frensham Heights he only did it after that from the safe
distance of "English by Radio" and the Schools Department of the
B.B.C. He found his way to folk song via Greece, where he spent
two years with the Friends Ambulance Unit, frequenting taverns
when he got the chance, dancing the hassapiko and listening to
the bouzouki. "Not that this was considered folk at all when I was
there" he says, "people told me it was low and Turkish. But I
breathed the pure mountain air of the klephtika as well".
Jeremy Taylor first taught in Johannesburg, where he sang in a
coffee bar at night. That is how he got mixed up with Wait a Minim,
the revue which was a smash hit in South Africa and had a two
year run in London before going on to Broadway. There it still goes
on, but Jeremy left the cast to stay in England. There he reverted
to education, teaching for a spell at Eton, but slipping up to London
now and then to do a folk song club or cabaret.
He is now back in the theatre. His Eton swan song was a concert in
the Art School, and this is it. Though no Etonian (even by associa-
tion) Sydney Carter sang as well. Martin Carthy was roped in to
play the guitar, Terry Brown to rattle chains and supervise."


S.Carter/J.Taylor - Side One

S.Carter/J.Taylor - Side Two

The Lone Ranger

A rather distressed and battered Ep on the Brunswick label I found today at Age Concern. I apologise in advance for the terrible state of this record which been used as a frisbee and run over by a truck at some point one imagines - hence the jumps and clicks all the way through but I thought you might like to hear it anyway. I have fond memories of this show on the TV back in the 50's on the tiny flickering black and white screen. That theme tune has become quite iconic now and still sounds amazing.

Wikipedia says -

"The Lone Ranger is an American radio and television show created by George W. Trendle and developed by Fran Striker.
The title character is a masked Texas Ranger in the American Old West, originally played by George Seaton (radio), but more famously by Clayton Moore (television), who gallops about righting injustices with the aid of his clever, laconic Native American companion, Tonto. Tonto usually referred to the Lone Ranger as Kemo Sabe, meaning "trusty scout"]. Departing on his white horse Silver, the Ranger would shout "Hi-yo, Silver, away!" as the horse galloped toward the setting sun, followed by someone asking "Who was that masked man, anyway?" "Why he's the Lone Ranger." The sayings, as well as the theme music from the William Tell Overture, are indelibly stamped in the memories of millions of Americans (and Britons) who came of age during the decades of the show's initial popularity or viewed the television series run nearly continuously for past fifty years. Reruns of the Lone Ranger as portrayed by Clayton Moore are still telecast today (August, 2010) sixty-one years after their production and initial broadcast. The character has become an icon of American culture."



The Lone Ranger - Meets The War Horse

The Lone Ranger - Saves The Booneville Gold

Cinema Organ Favourites

Another gem I found today- an EP on the Embassy label that features William Davis playing tunes on the Tooting Granada Cinema organ back in 1961. Again the sleeve caught my eye with it's image of a majestic old cinema in the days when they still flourished. The building is still there apparently and used for Bingo now sadly - the organ remains entombed under the floor and has suffered flood damage. A group of enthusiasts are trying to collect money to get it raised up and working again.

"When the Cinema was converted to Bingo in 1976, a flat false floor was fitted in the stalls to level it off in line with the stage. This entombed the Wurlitzer Organ which was located in the centre of the Orchestra Pit, along with the two pipe chambers underneath the stage “speaking” into the auditorium via adjustable openings known as swell shutters. It is not always appreciated that when theatre organs were in ascendancy in Britain they were somewhat in decline in America. Indeed the Tooting Wurlitzer (like many of its peers) was second hand- it had been a 3 Manual 10 Rank instrument installed in the Majestic Theatre Sacramento in 1926 and was refurbished by the Wurlitzer Company for Tooting. It was expanded by a further two Ranks in 1933, a tight fit into the already crowded chambers."

Read more about it HERE.


William Davis - The Whistler & His Dog

William Davis - Evensong

William Davis - Ah! Sweet Mystery Of Life

William Davis - Comedians Gallop

Sound 8

Found today in a charity shop for a couple of quid. Mainly attracted to the sleeve - anything with people putting records on old record players gets my attention immediately! The "background music " and "sound effects" are pretty dull and only to be expected I suppose. I will quote from the lengthy liner notes on the reverse -

"Kodak Sound 8 Background Music brings a varied selection of background moods and sound effects to owners of the Sound 8 Projector. These beautifully recorded musical selections are adaptable to just about every situation you are likely to capture on film.
Now, easily and pleasantly, you can add this brightening music to your treasured films- good times with the family, vacations, sports events - together with your own narration, if you wish."

So here is a selection which includes "Music For Children's Activities" and "Music For All Kinds Of Fun" together with snippets from "Laugh (Large Crowd), Applause (Large Crowd), Crowd (Large) and "Children Playing (Outdoors)."


Sound 8 - Background Music

Sound 8 - Sound Effects

Charlie Gillett - Peter Gabriel

Another Charlie Gillett radio show from the late 80's - 4th June 1989 to be exact. His guest that week was singer, song writer, producer Peter Gabriel who was talking about his Real World record label and playing songs by people like Youssou N'Dour, Tabu Ley and Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan amongst others.

Wikipedia says -

"Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis.[1] After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts. Gabriel was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2009. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010."



Charlie Gillett - Peter Gabriel Pt.1

Charlie Gillett - Peter Gabriel Pt.2

Apola King

Another LP from the archives I found many years ago. This album on the TYC label from Lagos Nigeria was made back in the 60's or 70's - not really sure when. Typical highlife guitar band of that era.

"Idowu Animasawun as many would know had a Muslim background. Among many of his achievement in life was a household name in juju music. He was popularly known as “Apola King”. His stage artistry was a delight and so he had many followers.He is maried to Evangelist Debora Oluwafunmilola Animasawun who is a graduate of the Polytechnic Ibadan, she retired from St Annes School, Molete Ibadan.Nigeria in 1992. She is also into Drama Minitsry and Missions she is the Director of Special Projects in World Hope Ministries ."


Apola King - Side One

Bim & Bam

I found this many years ago in Brick Lane flea market in London. I can't find much about Bim & Bam on the internet. Obviously popular comedians in Jamaica back in the 60's when this record on Pama was made. Here's a small taste of their act.


Bim & Bam - Laugh With Bim & Bam & Clover

The Muppet Show

A 45 EP I found at the boot sale the other day. This is probably one of the worst novelty music hall inspired records Ive heard in a long time. It was probably funny for about 5 minutes on TV but on record one fails to see the point of it.
Anyway, here it is.

Wikipedia says -

"The Muppet Show was a television programme produced by puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring a cast of Muppets. The series shows a vaudeville- or music hall-style song-and-dance variety show, as well as glimpses behind the scenes of such a show. Kermit the Frog stars as a showrunner who tries to keep control of the antics of the other Muppet characters (and his temper), as well as keep the guest stars happy. The show was known for outrageous physical slapstick, sometimes absurdist comedy, and humorous parodies. Each episode also featured a human guest star. As the programme became popular, many celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film: by the end of its run over one hundred guest stars had appeared.

Many of the puppeteers also worked on Sesame Street. Muppet performers over the course of the show include Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, Kathy Mullen, Eren Ozker, and John Lovelady. Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns were two of the show writers."


The Muppet Show - Don't Dilly Dally On The Way

The Muppet Show - The Boy In The Gallery

The Muppet Show - Knocked 'Em In The Old Kent Road

Frank Luther

Found a couple of years ago in a charity shop in Westcliff - on - Sea in Essex. One of Frank's records for children. I remember his classic "Three Billy Goats Gruff" that used to be played all the time on Children's Favourites on the radio throughout the 50's and 60's.

"Frank Luther (August 4, 1905 - November 16, 1980) was an American country music singer, songwriter and pianist.
Born Frank Luther Crow Lakin, Kansas, he was raised in Bakersfield, California. A trained pianist, he moved to New York City in 1928 to pursue a career in music. A country music singer, he was one of the first "Urban Cowboys", performimg country music at big city clubs as "Frank Luther and his Pards." He is remembered as the composer of "Barnacle Bill The Sailor" written with Carson Robison.
He married Zora Lyman, a fiddle player who performed and recorded with him. Eventually, Luther shifted his focus to children's songs, enjoying considerable success with his recordings on which he sang and told stories. Among the popular albums for children that Frank Luther released were "Raggedy Ann Songs & Stories" and "A Child's First Birthday Record."
For his contribution to the recording industry, Frank Luther has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.
Frank Luther died in 1980 in New York city."

Frank Luther - Side One

Frank Luther - Side Two

The Royal Polynesians

Another find at the antique emporium for a quid. Some nice ukulele playing on this one. Not much found on the internet but seems Charles Mauu was a Tahitian chief and had a film career of sorts , playing mostly bit parts.

Wikipedia says of the music of Polynesia -

"Throughout most of Polynesia, music has been influenced by European, American, South America and East Asian contact. The only major stronghold to hold to traditional culture without much evolution has been Samoa, which has pursued a relatively isolationist history.

Within songs, the lyrics are by far more important than the melodic accompaniment, which has been sometimes changed to Western pop music structures in modern times. Elements like rhythm, melody, harmony and dance are traditionally viewed as accompaniment to the primary focus, the lyrics, serving to embellish, illustrate and decorate the words. Indeed, a song sung to traditional melody is considered no more Polynesian than the same song sung to a modern imported melody.

Song and dance are integral parts of the same cultural elements throughout Polynesia. In action songs, dance is used to illustrate the lyrics by moving the hands or arms; some dances are performed seated. Traditionally, dance moves do not illustrate the song's narrative, but rather draw attention to specific words and themes; in modern times, however, dances are more often explicitly narrative in their focus. There are also traditional dances performed without lyrics, to the accompaniment of percussive music.

The most important instrument is the voice, though multiple varieties of slit drum and conch shells are also popular; the human body is used as an instrument, with clapping and knee-slapping used accompany songs and dances."


Royal Polynesians - Tamure

Royal Polynesians - Tiere

Royal Polynesians - Vana Vana

Royal Polynesians - Tonga Tika

Royal Polynesians - Tou Here

Royal Polynesians - Vahine Anamite

Stratford Johns

Oddity found at an antique market recently mainly bought for the amusing sleeve of Stratford staring out rather scarily in the guise of his on-screen character Derective Barlow in the long running Z Cars series that I remember from my youth.
He should have been arrested for murdering all these classic songs!

Wikipedia says -

"In 1948, he bought a one-way ticket to Britain ( from South Africa where he was born )and learned his craft working in repertory theatre at Southend-on-Sea for almost five years. He began to appear in British films from the mid-1950s, including a role in the classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers (1955). He ran a small hotel in London during the 1950s, and was a member of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre during the Angry Young Men period when new playwrights, including John Osborne, introduced new themes to British theatre. His most famous character, Barlow, was noted for his hard edges, owing much to the changes in characterisation pioneered at the Royal Court.

In 1962 he won the part of Barlow in Z-Cars and soon became one of the most familiar and popular faces on British television. During the long run (1962-1965) of Z-Cars, he transferred his character to the spin-off series, Softly, Softly (1966-1969), and later Softly, Softly: Taskforce (1969-1972). He also played the voice of the mysterious "Guvner" in "The Great St Trinians Train Robbery" (1966).

In the 1970s he starred in a third spin-off series, Barlow at Large (1971,1973), which saw the character transferred to British Intelligence: it was later retitled simply Barlow (1974-1975). Although the Barlow character remained popular (and appeared in another spin-off, in which he investigated the Jack The Ripper murders), ratings for these solo spin-offs declined, and the final series ended in 1975. Barlow was seen once more in 1976, in the series Second Verdict.

In 1973 Johns was named BBC TV Personality of the Year by the Variety Club of Great Britain. He also landed a cameo role as racist Namib mine sueprintendent Zimmerman in the mini-series Master of the Game, although he went uncredited for the role.

Johns later appeared in the much-maligned Ken Russell films Salome's Last Dance and The Lair of the White Worm (both 1988), followed by the title-character in the mid-1980s Channel 4 series Brond.

His many stage credits include Daddy Warbucks in the original West End run of Annie - he can be heard on the original London cast album - and the Ghost of Christmas Present in the original Birmingham cast of the stage adaptation of the film musical Scrooge (1970), on the recording of which he can also be heard. His guest appearances on TV include The Avengers, Department S, Neverwhere, the Doctor Who serial Four to Doomsday (1982) and the Blake's 7 episode "Games". He had a prominent role as Calpurnius Piso in the BBC's acclaimed adaptation of Robert Graves' I, Claudius (1976); he played Magwich in the BBC's 1981 adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations, and the jailer in The Secret Life of Albie Sachs.

He was also the author of the children's book Gumphlumph; in the mid-1960s, at the height of his fame as Barlow, he read it on the children's television series Jackanory. Gumphlumph would be revived, again with Johns narrating, for the TV-am children's programme Rub-A-Dub-Tub in the 1980s."


Stratford Johns - How To Handle A Woman

Stratford Johns - Somewhere

Stratford Johns - You Do Soemthing To Me

Charlie Gillett - Tarquin Gotch

Another old Undercurrents show from Capital Radio in the early 80's. This time Charlie's guest is Tarquin Gotch who at the time was an A&R man for Arista but since then has moved on to film production. Tarquin plays a few of his picks for the indie charts including Scritti Politti and Jimmy Cliff. Again please forgive the poor state of the cassette from which this was taken - these tapes are over 25 years old.


Charlie Gillett - Tarquin Gotch Pt. 1

Charlie Gillett - Tarquin Gotch Pt. 2

Edikanfo

This LP from a remainder stall on Brick Lane was bought back in the 90's. Made in Holland on the EG label in 1981. Produced by Brian Eno. I guess this was around the time Brian was experimenting with "world music" with David Byrne and Talking Heads and projects like "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts". The music is typical afro-beat similar to Fela Kuti and other stars from Ghana and Nigeria at that time.

Wikipedia says -

"By the beginning of the 1970s, traditionally styled highlife had been overtaken by electric guitar bands and pop-dance music. Since 1966 and the fall of President Kwame Nkrumah, many Ghanaian musicians moved abroad, settling in the US, UK and Nigeria. Highlife bands like Okukuseku recorded in Lagos or Nigeria's eastern Igbo region. In 1971, the Soul to Soul music festival was held in Accra. Several legendary American musicians played, including Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner and Carlos Santana. With the exception of Mexican-American Santana, these American superstars were all black, and their presence in Accra was seen as legitimizing Ghanaian music. Though the concert is now mostly remembered for its role as a catalyst in the subsequent Ghanaian roots revival, it also led to increased popularity for American rock and soul. Inspired by the American musicians, new guitar bands arose in Ghana, including the Ashanti Brothers, Nana Ampadu & the African Brothers, The City Boys and more. Musicians such as CK Mann, Daniel Amponsah and Eddie Donkor incorporated new elements, especially from Jamaican reggae. A group called Wulomei also arose in the 1970s, leading a Ga cultural revival to encourage Ghanaian youths to support their own countrymen's music. By the 1980s, the UK was experiencing a boom in African music as Ghanaians and others moved there in large numbers. The group Hi-Life International was probably the most influential band of the period, and others included Jon K, Dade Krama, Orchestra Jazira and Ben Brako. In the middle of the decade, however, British immigration laws changed, and the focus of Ghanaian emigration moved to Germany.

The Ghanaian-German community created a form of highlife called Burger-highlife. The most influential early burgher highlife musician was George Darko, whose "Akoo Te Brofo" coined the term and is considered the beginning of the genre. Burgher highlife was extremely popular in Ghana, especially after computer-generated dance beats were added to the mix. The same period saw a Ghanaian community appear in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada. Pat Thomas is probably the most famous Ghanaian-Canadian musician. Other emigres include Ghanaian-American Obo Addy, the Ghanaian-Swiss Andy Vans and the Ghanaian-Dutch Kumbi Salleh. In Ghana itself during the 1980s, gospel and reggae became extremely popular. The Genesis Gospel Singers were the most widely-known gospel band. By the late 1990s, a new generation of artists discovered the so called hip-life. The originator of this style is Reggie Rockstone, a Ghanaian musician who dabbled with hip-hop in the United States before finding his unique style. Hip-life has since proliferated and spawned stars such as Reggie Rockstone, Obrafour, Akyeame and Tic Tac."


Edikanfo - Nka Bom

Edikanfo - Something Lefeh-O

Edikanfo - Gbenta