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MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK broadcasts on line
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Brian Reynolds
23-08-2011
I have mentioned on these pages before that I have a number of editions of Music While You Work (from the late fifties and early sixties) which you can hear on my website
http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/

Latest editions include Reg Pursglove and the Albany Strings and Louis Mordish and his Players. Never heard of them? Well, give them a listen - you may well enjoy them!
Artie Fischal
25-08-2011
Bumping this because it's well worth a visit. The music is great and those of us over a certain age will recognise most, if not all, of the tunes.
old pilot
25-08-2011
I'm also old enough to remember the Musicians Union trying to stop the progress of pop music. They had a stranglehold on the BBC until Easter Monday 1964 when Radio Caroline changed the music radio model forever.

Top of the Pops etc had to employ musicians who could not even play the stuff and the whole thing was a debacle.
The BBC spent a fortune on the likes of the Midland Radio Orchestra and the Northern Dance Orchestra to do cover versions in a bad way.The Cliff Adams Singers on a Sunday evening were the cue to tune over to Radio Luxembourg
Ray266
26-08-2011
Originally Posted by old pilot:
“I'm also old enough to remember the Musicians Union trying to stop the progress of pop music. They had a stranglehold on the BBC until Easter Monday 1964 when Radio Caroline changed the music radio model forever.

Top of the Pops etc had to employ musicians who could not even play the stuff and the whole thing was a debacle.
The BBC spent a fortune on the likes of the Midland Radio Orchestra and the Northern Dance Orchestra to do cover versions in a bad way.The Cliff Adams Singers on a Sunday evening were the cue to tune over to Radio Luxembourg”

I know what you mean, Music While You Work IMHO was music for a tea room somehere in a little village in Little Britain & along with Edmundo Ross & all that garbage, It has been said that BBC Radio in the 1950's & 60's were like a car with it's gears were stuck in 1949.
~Twinkle~
26-08-2011
Whistle while you work,
Hitler is a twerp.
He's half barmy
so's his army.
Whistle while you work.

Sorry, couldn't resist, one of the funniest things ever in a sitcom.

Music While You Work was great stuff until the Benjoliers were on, hated them with a vengeance.
Brian Reynolds
26-08-2011
The Banjoliers were like Marmite - you either loved them or hated them. Personally, I loved them and actually attended one of their programmes.They were (according to the BBC) very popular, hence did more editions than any other band (476 to be precise!)
RadioRob
26-08-2011
Quote:
“Edmundo Ross & all that garbage”

Well we might not have appreciated the styles or the reason why the BBC inflicted so much live band music on us, but Edmundo Ros was a superbly creative musician. We could have done with less of him on the Light Programme in favour of more records and greater musical variety, but that wasn't his fault

Yes agreed with the Banjoliers - nasty Marmite to me. But again, extremely well played.
Ray266
26-08-2011
Originally Posted by RadioRob:
“Well we might not have appreciated the styles or the reason why the BBC inflicted so much live band music on us, but Edmundo Ros was a superbly creative musician. We could have done with less of him on the Light Programme in favour of more records and greater musical variety, but that wasn't his fault

Yes agreed with the Banjoliers - nasty Marmite to me. But again, extremely well played.”

He may well have been, But to be honest most so called music programmes on the BBC Light programme got on my nerves back in the 1960's it was Auntie telling us what was good for us & like it? Well I didn't like it.
drdaws
27-08-2011
There were severe restrictions on "needle time" at the BBC in the 50s & early 60s mainly due to the musicians union's demands. There were very few record programmes in those days on the BBC.
Jack Jackson's Record Roundup was one of the best. As stated the coming of Radio Caroline changed all that in 1964.
J Lenin
28-08-2011
Originally Posted by Ray266:
“He may well have been, But to be honest most so called music programmes on the BBC Light programme got on my nerves back in the 1960's it was Auntie telling us what was good for us & like it? Well I didn't like it.”

As a teenager in the 60s of course I preferred listening to the pirates but that does not mean that the Light Programme was not good - my parents loved it and I have to admit now to a strange nostalgia for the Light Programme and the music of the earlier part of last century.

What do you mean by so called music programmes? Don't get that.

Yes the pirates changed things but such a change was bound to happen given the changes that were taking place in the music and youth of the time.

Caroline and the pirates told us what to like too - record plugging etc. And of course the Major - Minor label. Now I did not like that.
J Lenin
28-08-2011
Originally Posted by Brian Reynolds:
“I have mentioned on these pages before that I have a number of editions of Music While You Work (from the late fifties and early sixties) which you can hear on my website
http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/

Latest editions include Reg Pursglove and the Albany Strings and Louis Mordish and his Players. Never heard of them? Well, give them a listen - you may well enjoy them!”

Brian, I would love to listen to some of your stuff. Can I get it on my internet radio or is it only available on a computer?
Brian Reynolds
28-08-2011
Originally Posted by J Lenin:
“Brian, I would love to listen to some of your stuff. Can I get it on my internet radio or is it only available on a computer?”

I'm afraid you can't get it on your internet radio, although I do occasional broadcasts on BBC Lincolnshire in which I present excerpts from the programmes.

There are currently eighteen editions of MWYW on my website (mostly on the pages devoted to the bandleader in question) but three are on the MWYW page.

One place that you can hire tapes or CDs of the programme is a tape library called ORCA (which stands for 'Old Radio Programme Collectors' Association) which has about 6000 radio programmes for hire, of which about 150 are of Music While You Work (mostly from me). Their address
is ORCA, P.O Box 1922, Dronfield, Sheffield S18 8XA or you can Email graeme @ yahoo.co.uk. It costs just £6 a year to join and £1.50 to hire a CD or cassette for three weeks.
logjam
28-08-2011
I was one of those who hated 'Light Music' in the 1960s and wanted pop music radio. I don't mind admitting that today I loathe pop music radio, and would love to hear more Light Music. The irony isn't lost on me, but isn't it all about choice? In some ways we are worse off today than in the 1960s - there are no pirate light music channels, (Unless someone knows differently), and we are still being told what is good for us. Thank goodness for Brian Reynolds and his web site. Many thanks Brian.
howard66
28-08-2011
Well said, lenin and logjam.

Not everyone wanted eternal pop in the sixties;some wanted light music and pre-pop popular music as well, Ray and Old Pilot.
J Lenin
28-08-2011
Originally Posted by Brian Reynolds:
“I'm afraid you can't get it on your internet radio, although I do occasional broadcasts on BBC Lincolnshire in which I present excerpts from the programmes.

There are currently eighteen editions of MWYW on my website (mostly on the pages devoted to the bandleader in question) but three are on the MWYW page.

One place that you can hire tapes or CDs of the programme is a tape library called ORCA (which stands for 'Old Radio Programme Collectors' Association) which has about 6000 radio programmes for hire, of which about 150 are of Music While You Work (mostly from me). Their address
is ORCA, P.O Box 1922, Dronfield, Sheffield S18 8XA or you can Email graeme @ yahoo.co.uk. It costs just £6 a year to join and £1.50 to hire a CD or cassette for three weeks.”

Cheers, Brian.
Brian Reynolds
28-09-2011
Just to tell those of you who are interested, I have put two more MWYW broadcasts on my website http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/

The first is by Sidney Davey and his players, regular broadcasters from 1939-1966, in a delightful programme of light music. The second is by Troise and his Banjoliers (from 1956). Yes! I know that a couple of you said that you didn't like them - but I have received requests to include them on my site - so I have obliged!
Brian Reynolds
22-11-2011
Just to inform you of two more editions of the programme now available on http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/ There's a forty five minute edition from Phil Tate and his Orchestra and a thirty minute programme of light music from Raymond Agoult and his Players. Although largely forgotten today, they broadcast regularly for many years and I found their inventive arrangements quite a tonic. I hope you enjoy them!
darkisland
23-11-2011
Originally Posted by old pilot:
“I'm also old enough to remember the Musicians Union trying to stop the progress of pop music. They had a stranglehold on the BBC until Easter Monday 1964 when Radio Caroline changed the music radio model forever.

Top of the Pops etc had to employ musicians who could not even play the stuff and the whole thing was a debacle.
The BBC spent a fortune on the likes of the Midland Radio Orchestra and the Northern Dance Orchestra to do cover versions in a bad way.The Cliff Adams Singers on a Sunday evening were the cue to tune over to Radio Luxembourg”

So true. 'Sing Something Simple' must rank as one of the most depressing half-hours ever to feature on any radio. Pointless maiming and destruction of some perfectly decent songs (and others which whilst not being wonderful, certainly didn't deserve the mass slaughter inflicted by Mr.Adams' narcoleptic vocal troupe and his melodian wielding sadist) which were also my cue to switch to Luxembourg just after the chart show.

Re Top of The Pops - I agree again. Can you imagine expensively and meticulously arranging, producing and recording a 70's pop song only to hear it destroyed on Top of The Pops by a crew of gerrymandered, fag stained, beer breathed, wheezing old buffers whose only other contribution to music was the yellow and red M.U. car sticker and the odd gig on 'Crackerjack' - again destroying decent pop songs for assorted Cub Scouts and bafflingly placed old school comics ?

Not all memories are to be treasured...
RadioRob
23-11-2011
Thanks again Brian for supplying these evocations of the past. Those and the recent re-run of the Edmundo Ros documentary took many of us back to half-term holidays and frozen Jubblies.
daniel99
23-11-2011
these guys are back online http://www.moorendsfm.webs.com
Fizzbin
24-11-2011
Originally Posted by Artie Fischal:
“Bumping this because it's well worth a visit. The music is great and those of us over a certain age will recognise most, if not all, of the tunes.”

Certainly is.

I'd like to add my thanks to the OP, it gives us something to listen to at work as the site isn't blocked by websense!
keithl
24-11-2011
Originally Posted by ~Twinkle~:
“Whistle while you work,
Hitler is a twerp.
He's half barmy
so's his army.
Whistle while you work.

Sorry, couldn't resist, one of the funniest things ever in a sitcom.”

German Commander - "And vot is your name?"
Mainwaring - "Don't tell him, Pike!"
Brian Reynolds
28-11-2011
'Whistle While You Work' does not have any connection with
'Music While You Work' and, much as I love 'Dad's Army', this isn't a tribute thread for the programme. I started the thread to draw attention to the twenty or so complete MWYW broadcasts on my website http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/ and hopefully some of you are giving them a listen!
Brian Reynolds
29-12-2011
Two more editions now added to my website http://www.mastersofmelody.co.uk/ . Bernard Monshin and his Rio Tango Band and Ralph Wilson and his Septet. Bernard Monshin had one of the most exciting orchestras on radio. He formed the orchestra in the thirties and was still broadcasting in 1976! Ralph Wilson was the leader of the Grosvenor House Dance Orchestra during the war and until the fifties. His later septet has a certain nostalgic charm about it. You will find Ralph Wilson on the MWYW page and Bernard Monshin on the page devoted to him.
logjam
29-12-2011
Thank you Brian. I know from the (relevant) comments on this thread that making these broadcasts available is appreciated. In the absence of a radio station prepared to broadcast them, I feed them into my 1954 Marconiphone wireless, which gives just the right timbre and tone. Many visitors have been invited to listen to them 'on the wireless', and it is very satisfying to see the smile on their faces as the years melt away. I always make sure they go away with a copy of the 'Masters of Melody' web site address so they can hear more for themselves.
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