sidewinder

Yes, saw that BBC4 Battle of Britain night last night and recorded most of it to the HDD off Freeview. Glad I did. That programme on the building of the Wellington Bomber at Vickers, Broughton (now an Airbus plant) within 24 hours was outstanding. Not least that many of the workforce were women who were laid-off as soon as hostilities ceased. Reminded me of flying over the old Avro satellite factory at Yeadon, Yorks as a kid - even back in the 60s the site was still camouflaged and quite difficult to pick out as it was mainly covered/underground. They built many, many Lancasters there. Not to mention that my classroom back in the 60s still had the old WW2 blackout curtains 'in situ' and some of the older staff shuffled around with war wounds problems. What I didn't comprehends at the time was that WW2 was still fairly recent history - but for me it at the time with my pre-teen mindset it seemed like another age. The Battle of Britain was certainly a key strategic turning point of WW2. It was 1942 before things improved on the home front but this was definitely the turning point. Also a mesterstroke of sending those few Wellington & Hampden Bombers over to Berlin during 40/41 (incredible bravery of those crews). Apparantly the little dictator flew into a fury over that.

Garth Wayne The Green Knight Green Cross Code Man Dave Prowse Jaws

'Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins' (HMV, mono)

Don't think so. I agree - a good one, even though it does occupy the MOR part of the spectrum and is more of a 'Boland with strings plus trombone' feature. 3DM must have been around the $4-5 mark 30 years ago.

Luther Pendragon Merlin Gawain

Buddy Rich Animal Nigel

Uncle Ernie Ernie Wise Eric Morecambe (who else..)

Boy, you aren't kidding. I can't remember a year like this in many a year. I'm tempted to say 1978-81 but at least then there were major new releases by Miles ('Circle In The Round', 'Water Babies' etc), some new Blue Note LP issues from the vaults (Rainbow Series) and Pablo was putting stuff out with gusto, like there was no tomorrow. And King and Toshiba in Japan were in their Blue Note/Pac Jazz reissue element.. Having said that, there's some cracking obscurities being miraculously re-issued at the mo' (ie. Kenny Wheeler 'Windmill Tilter').

Dr Demento Boris Pickett Wilson Pickett

About time I did another BFT ! Download please - many thanks.

Captain Bob Barclay Brothers Dirty Digger

Giving this box a long-overdue re-spin, starting from disk 6 'The Prisoner' and working back.

Cal Massey Maynard Fergusson General MacArthur

Have just been listening again to 'Lifeline' and 'Full Circle' by the John Dankworth Orchestra on Philips vinyl - both of these are well overdue for reissue and comparable to the orchestral writing standards of 'Windmill Tilter'. A slightly later, early 70s Dankworth Orchestra ('Full Circle' has a Wheeler arrangement on it) and much to admire on these LPs.

I'm intrigued. I don't remember any voices on that one - other than Ronnie S. doing his usual intro comedy spiel. I'll have to dig out the 2LP set (MPS/BASF) - it's been a while since I listened to it.

Helen Keller Casper Keller Casper the Ghost

As previously mentioned - your LPs will be fine. If not, I will have already trashed several gems

Same here. I think it's a white label promo.

John Dankworth Orchestra 'Lifeline' (Philips, stereo)

Sparks Rubettes Showaddywaddy

What I find intriguing is that this CD seems to be remastered from original tapes provided by Universal UK and is not a vinyl rip (at least according to the credits on the cover). Yet I'd always had the understanding that the master tapes had been lost. Alyn Shipton's notes don't shed any light on this - maybe they just had an extra thorough search this time. Now this one is in the bag, maybe we should all re-launch a campaign for 'Hum Dono' and 'Afro Jazz'. Maybe send a petition to Eric Pickles (seems to work for most things ).

I've used the Disco Antistat in the past (originates from Germany I think) but I found that it leaves a lot of gunk which clogs up the stylus and also has a tendency to damage the LP labels due to compression of the disks. Didn't last long with it !

Lily Bolero Lily Allen Allen Eager

Having bought it, there's now a price reduction to £7.99 at Amazon UK.

Thanks for the mention of that site. I was reading the interview with Bob Downes posted on there. Very interesting !