If I were to be totally
honest I would have to admit that this
CD epitomises almost everything I like
best about British Light Music. Now
first of all I will admit that I do
not necessarily admire all twenty-seven
tracks on this disc with equal enthusiasm.
But, as my late father used to say,
taken in the round this is a splendid
CD that makes me feel like packing my
up my suitcase, and heading down to
Manchester Victoria and boarding the
express for the Fylde Coast, or maybe
travelling from Waterloo to Swanage
or perhaps going to Paddington to jump
onto a train bound for Westward Ho!
There is a definite
mythology existing behind much of this
music. The key point is the sense that
somehow things were much simpler - or
was it more innocent - in those days.
And perhaps this is true. As a boy,
my ideal holiday was to spend as much
time as possible on the beach. And if
there were caves or castles or islands,
then it was an adventure to the land
of pirates and smugglers. We never complained
about the cold, the rain or the sand
in our sandwiches. Gamesboy had nothing
on rounders, beach cricket and pebble
skimming.
Older people could
be relied on to sit on their deck chairs
all day and not get in the way of the
‘Famous Five’ Adventures. Pots of tea
were always available on the beach.
There were bus trips and mystery tours,
pier head and pier end orchestras. No-one
was afraid to go to the Black &
White Minstrel show and bathing beauty
contests had not yet gained disapprobation.
And talking about the
music ... there was a much wider selection
available in those days. Of course 'pop'
music could be heard at the lidos and
the fairgrounds. But the Winter Gardens
often catered to a different constituency.
Here Ketèlby and his Wedgwood
Blue and In a Chinese Temple
Garden were more popular than The
Dave Clark Five or Herman's Hermits.
To me the one persistent
image that much of this music conjures
up in my mind is travel. Most often
I suppose it is on the train - usually
bound for the seaside. But it does not
preclude cross-channel ferries and perhaps
even some flights to Italy and France
or Majorca. And let’s not forget the
good old fashioned bus.
It is not possible
to describe all of these pieces in detail
– and neither is it necessary. However
I notice that these tracks form themselves
into a number of topics and perhaps
even sub-topics. Let me explain.
The general tenor of
this work is ‘Highdays and Holidays.’
And of course many of the tunes fit
this bill to the letter. No one would
deny that Kenneth Essex’s wonderful
Travel Centre does not evoke
many holiday memories. Vacations can
be at home or abroad. So perhaps Philip
Green’s Tequila –Paso Doble is
about a trip to Spain rather than a
nightspot in Eastbourne? However, maybe
the Neapolitan Serenade by Gerhard
Winkler nods more to Margate than Sorrento?
The holiday theme is
well explored with quite a few of the
numbers being evocative of the kind
of images outlined above. The title
track by Peter Yorke could have been
used in any one of a hundred travel
films once seen at the cinema between
the ‘B’ film and the Big Picture. Barry
Tattenhall manages to give a perfect
evocation of an April Day – the
start of the holiday season. It brought
to mind a few lovely days I had in the
Isle of Purbeck at that time of the
year when the sun shone and the sea
was blue and the skies cloudless.
Wild Goose Chase
is another one those works that seems
so well known – in my mind it is really
a travel piece. I can imagine a train
– Southern Region Electric – heading
south to Hastings or Eastbourne. The
slower sections of this lovely piece
perhaps depict the thoughts of two lovers
as they walk along Brighton promenade
on a hot summer’s day and listen to
the surge of the sea. But soon we are
back in the train, heading down the
line at great speed. There are no red
signals or points’ failures here!
Of course there are
a number of ‘novelties’ here that we
imagine would have been at home in the
Winter Gardens or at the end of the
pier. Peter Yorke’s attractive The
Playful Pelican is given prime
place on this CD and certainly gets
the disc off to an exciting start. Busy
Business by Frederick George Charrosin
is one of those pieces that scurries
along for all it’s worth. Siegfried
Translauteur gives a jolly tune in the
Wedding March in Midget Land
– although I doubt if this title would
be socially acceptable today. Henry
Croudson celebrates the age old nursery
rhyme in his Jack and Jill – a Miniature
Overture. This surely deserves to
be given a modern recording. Of course
the Sleepy Grasshopper is a nature
novelty which is actually a lot more
sophisticated than the title would lead
us to believe. It is also one of those
tunes that we seem to know – but cannot
quite pin down. The last piece on the
disc is the rather trivial Harlequin’s
Flirtation by Louis Mordish which
is quite definitely a novelty.
London is well represented
– Haydn Wood’s ever popular Sketch
of a Dandy is typical of the man
about town "just before your mother
was born". I wonder how many people
know that Wood was born in a West Yorkshire
in a village called Slaithwaite?
Perhaps Charles Williams
had a day trip to Greenwich in mind
when he penned the Cutty Sark?
The same composer’s Serenade to a
Mannequin has a touch of sadness
about it that is well balanced by Erich
Börschel’s jazzy Sparrow’s Concert-Intermezzo.
Just quite where Buddha’s
Festival of Love fits into this
parade of holiday moods I am not quite
sure. Neither can I quite convince myself
of the place of Sabre Jet by
David Hart. Although this is a great
piece of music that can be listened
to with pleasure apart from its title,
it is perhaps strange to relate that
Sabre Jets were flown by the Americans
during the Korean War! On the flying
theme we have a lovely essay about the
Flight of a Toy Balloon. It is
all too easy to imagine a little boy
or girl holding father’s hand and watching
with a mixture of delight and sadness
as their precious toy drifts towards
Regents Park from the top of Primrose
Hill. Perhaps it will land just in time
for the Chimps Tea Party at the Zoo.
Yet there is a reflective quality about
this tune that goes beyond the toy.
It is one of my favourites.
Sport is featured on
this disc as well. And that of course
is all a part of the idea of ‘Highdays’
- the great sporting festivals of Britain.
We have Charles Williams’ Salute
to Speedway and the superb Sportsman’s
Luck by John Bath.
Entertainment is another
matter – I think that Big Dipper
by Claud Vane is just about the best
thing on this disc. Up and down and
sharp right-hand bends - the miniature
railway and the pedal boats way down
below – it is all here. We have alluded
to the Neapolitan Serenade but
the Palace of Variety by Claud
Vane describes the mood of anticipation
before one of those 'end of the pier'
revues that seem to have become a thing
of the past. And The Ballet Dancer
by Wilfred Burns is an attractive portrait
of an equally attractive girl.
The penultimate piece
is unusual – its title is Typical
Teenager. Now folk of my generation
(baby boomers) were told that the word
teenager was not invented until the
sixties! And here is proof that this
was not true. This typical teenager
as introduced to us by Gerald Crossman
was out and about in 1952. Actually
I understand the word was first used
in 1942 during the dark days of World
War Two!
The sound quality of
this CD is excellent. The restoration
has been superb. I am not usually partial
to historical recordings, but there
is nothing here that I could possibly
object to.
I wholeheartedly recommend
this packed CD to any listeners who
wish to capture something of that lost
age of innocence which probably never
really existed except in our dreams.
It is one of the very best in its field.
John France
see also review
by Jonathan Woolf
GUILD GLCD 5115 [76.40] 
