Peter Dawson - Full Sail: Songs of the Sea

/
Peter Dawson - Full Sail: Songs of the Sea

All the songs on this recording deal with facets of life at sea. Some take a lyrical and starry-eyed view, A Sea Call is pure poetry and imagination, Full Sail more proud and aggressive. Wilfred Sanderson’s The Glory Of The Sea is a parent’s tribute to a son lost at sea while fighting for England’s honour, whereas We Saw The Sea reflects the sailor’s viewpoint. Irving Berlin was born only ten years after Sanderson, but their viewpoints are completely different...

Read More

The Wonder of the Age - Mr. Edison's New Talking Phonograph

/
The Wonder of the Age - Mr. Edison's New Talking Phonograph

We have become so accustomed to records, films and magnetic tapes, that we accept them as everyday household commodoties, but before Thomas Edison invented the Phonograph, the written word was the sole method of recording thoughts, speech or conversation; the actual sound of a voice could only be preserved in the memory of those who had actually heard the speaker...

Read More

George Formby - Easy Going Chap

/
George Formby - Easy Going Chap

No one could doubt that George Formby was an easy going chap – with that great big grin and the knowing wink he made friends wherever he went. But despite his stage and film persona as a chirpy semi-imbecile, in reality George was a very sharp Lancashire lad. Together with his wife Beryl, who had the financial acumen in the family, they ran a very lucrative business. From the late Twenties they produced their own touring reviews, employing the supporting acts on salary...

Read More

La vie Parisienne

/
La vie Parisienne

While every city is unique and has its own special attractions, Paris has always had a particular magic. The leafy boulevards, the magnificent buildings and the dreamy Seine are a strong pull for tourists, but for visitors and Parisians alike, the varied and often spectacular entertainments appeal even more than the architecture. This record celebrates the singers and musicians who created that special delight in the years between the wars...

Read More

Dick Powell - On the Avenue

/
Dick Powell - On the Avenue

Twenty-five years after his death, Dick Powell’s films and records have had a remarkable renaissance with the contemporary interest in film musicals of the 1930s, particularly the extravagantly choreographed work of director Busby Berkeley. Powell’s dry humour and straightforward presentation made an ideal contrast to the visual hyperbole of Berkeley’s regiments of legs; tapping their way across the screen while waterfalls erupted, skyscrapers danced and girls were magically turned into electric violins...

Read More

Fats At The Organ

/
Fats At The Organ

Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller was born in New York City on 21 May 1904 and by the time he was sixteen he had already written his first hit song ‘Squeeze Me’, and established a reputation as one of the most likeable and talented of the exponents of Harlem stride piano. He idolised James P. Johnson, who gave him lessons and encouragement and even got him his first job at Leroy’s Cabaret on 135th Street and Fifth Avenue...

Read More

Frank Crumit - Mountain Greenery

/
Frank Crumit - Mountain Greenery

Without any doubt, Frank Crumit’s most popular song was Abdul Abulbul Amir, written by the Irish composer Percy French in 1890, and set during the Crimean War. It is still one of the most requested items on BBC nostalgia shows, and it led to several follow-up versions where Abdul and his perennial adversary Ivan Skavinsky Skavar refought their battle in evermore complex fashion. The original 78rpm record was so popular that it was re-issued by public demand in 1953, twenty-five years after its first appearance...

Read More

Ruth Etting - Ten Cents a Dance

/
Ruth Etting - Ten Cents a Dance

Throughout her ten-year recording career, Ruth Etting had the pick of America’s songwriters and musicians working with her. The list of composers and lyricists reads like a Who’s Who of Tin Pan Alley – Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, the ukulele-playing Buddy de Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson, Johnny Green, Yip Harburg, Al Dubin, Joe Burke, Jack Yellen, Milton Ager, Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson...

Read More

Father Sydney MacEwan - The Road to the Isles

/
Father Sydney MacEwan - The Road to the Isles

Father Sydney MacEwan was unique, a man whose lyrical tenor voice brought him accolades from all over the world and made him one of Scotland’s greatest ambassadors, while at the same time following his vocation as a priest, serving his parishioners in his parish in Argyle. Few great artists have been able to bring happiness to others in such different spheres and in return have the contentment brought by the affection of his flock and his other friends scattered in different countries in their millions...

Read More

Flappers, Vamps, and Sweet Young Things

/
Flappers, Vamps, and Sweet Young Things

Flappers, Vamps and Sweet Young Things were by no means the only young women about during the 1920s, but these particular classifications are ones that readily spring to mind when describing the world of the jazz age. Flappers were the young, pretty, good-time girls; barely into their twenties, but already with experiences that their mothers had never known (nor in most cases, would wish to)...

Read More

Cliff Edwards - The Hottest Man In Town

/
Cliff Edwards - The Hottest Man In Town

Of all the singing stars of the 1920s, the one who has been most neglected in the current upsurge of interest in the period must be Cliff Edwards, or as he was universally known, ‘Ukulele Ike‘. Yet there was a time – and quite a long time – when he was a recording artist who had million-sellers, a film actor of accomplishment and a top-line draw in vaudeville. Almost single-handed, his records and broadcasts made the ukulele the most popular musical instrument in America, and his virtuoso playing sold thousands of ukes to aspiring young players...

Read More