CD REVIEW
– LONDON SOUVENIR
A Musical Souvenir of London Town
WALLY STOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
ÉL RECORDS
ACMEM299CD [78:30]
'
Another classic
light music album released in
2015 very worth getting, if it is
not already in your collection,
at an extremely attractive price.
Wally Stott
(1924-2009), who later became
Angela Morley and a favourite of
RFS members, was a big name in
British light orchestral music in
the years after WW2 into the 50s
as a composer, arranger and
resident MD of the new Philips
record label in the UK.
Here the first 15
tracks (43:31) comprise the
originally named 'LONDON
PRIDE' album with expert
arrangements, some a tad jazz
tinged, such as the title tune, Rotten
Row, The British Grenadiers,
Limehouse Blues, A Foggy Day
and A Nightingale Sang in
Berkeley Square. There is
also a fun track: Music Hall
Burlesque – Wot Cher
(Knocked 'Em In The Old Kent
Road, Don't Dilly Dally On The
Way and Any Old Iron.
There are then two
items from the celebrated 1956
album 'MEL TORMÉ MEETS THE
BRITISH' accompanied by
Stott and His Orchestra.
Following these are five tracks
by Stott contemporaries: Travelling
Along conducted by Robert
Farnon and A Canadian in
Mayfair with the Sidney
Torch Orchestra (both composed by
Stott/Morley), Trevor Duncan's The
Girl from Corsica by Ron
Goodwin and His Concert Orchestra
and the Jack Leon conducted High
Heels, and Clive
Richardson's Melody on The
Move with Charles Williams
conducting the Queen's Hall Light
Orchestra.
The disc is
completed by five tracks from 'NOËL
COWARD SINGS HIS GREAT SUCCESSES'
(1953) with Stott and His
Orchestra again in attendance.
Coward's piano accompanist is
Norman Hackforth, who oldies
might remember as the
"mystery voice" on BBC
Radio's Twenty Questions
programme.
The booklet has
lots about Stott/Morley and the
music (some needing a magnifying
glass to read) with photos of
London landmarks in black and
white, and original sleeve covers
in colour. We even get a map of
the London Underground.
Congratulations to
Cherry Red Records for this
winning long-playing CD
collection along with the earlier
reviewed 'OUT OF THIS
WORLD'.
© Peter
Burt 2022
|
