Mood Music (EMI-Mercury-FDH)

[nidostar]

Interesting. The FDH 351 version of Barnacle Bill also appeared on the 1982 BBC album On The Air which commemorated 60 years of BBC broadcasting a copy of which I bought at the time. Although in stereo, for me, it's not a patch on the original.

Similarly I prefer the original version of Peter Yorke's Silks And Satins which I still consider to be a fascinating piece of work in the way it is constructed. And, as with Barnacle Bill, the original instantly reminds me of the TV show which featured it as it's theme. In this case ITV's Emergency Ward 10.

[Moon Monkey]

It's an interesting release, isn't it. I wonder what the thinking was behind it. It's the sort of thing that they might have done with an eye on a commercial release, but Blue Peter didn't get one for another 8 years and Emergency Ward 10 I'm not sure ever got one.

And is Barnacle Bill the only example of an FDH 78 recording appearing in a stereo mix? I can't think of any others. It's also the earliest example I can think of of an original 60s/70s library recording getting a commercial release. (I'm happy to be very wrong on this and look forward to corrections!)

[Moon Monkey]

Tiny revision:

FDH 343 - Beyond the Stars (P. De Ware) / Knock for Knock (R. Hanmer) // Comedy Bridges 1-5 (I. Slaney) / Short Stings 1-6 (I. Slaney) - New Century Orchestra conducted by Ivor Slaney, 1966

The Short Stings are interesting - they're not listed on Mr's excellent discography, nor are they listed under "Drama" or "Links and Bridges" in the catalogue. I should be getting a rip of this one up shortly!

[Lord Thames]

It's an interesting release, isn't it. I wonder what the thinking was behind it. It's the sort of thing that they might have done with an eye on a commercial release, but Blue Peter didn't get one for another 8 years and Emergency Ward 10 I'm not sure ever got one.

It is interesting that FDH decided to revisit three of their most famous themes in the early 60s, as they also did a new recording of 'Non-Stop' the ITN News theme at around the same time - as I understand it, ITN bought the exclusive rights to the original version of Non-Stop (can't remember where I heard this, I'm afraid), which is why the later recording with the persistent hi-hat was more common for years.

I wonder if they did all three re-recordings at the same session?  Perhaps someone at FDH decided they might as well do new versions of Bill and Silks as they were popular tracks and still earning money but the originals sounded dated, or they didn't have the original masters any more?

[nidostar]

Moon Monkey has just shared the re-recordings of Barnacle Bill and Silks And Satins (https://librarymusicthemes.com/index.php?topic=10179.0).  I haven't yet found an FDH re-recording of Non-Stop. The version with the persistent hi-hat you refer to is the KPM recording I think, LT. The original version used by ITN was that from FDH 072 by L'Orchestre Devereaux/Georges Devereaux.

[Lord Thames]

Yes, I think that version was an FDH job that KPM acquired when they took on the FDH library - I can't find a release earlier than 1980, but it's clearly a 1960s recording.  KPM incorrectly say it's the version from FDH 072!   

[Mr]

Thanks for your additions, all!

The Heywood thing seems to be a typo, at least the Catalogue of Copyright Entries entry lists James T. Haywood as composer:



And yup, that is indeed the classic, 'Parson Brown'-pretending, Felix Bernard-Richard B. Smith "Winter Wonderland" we all know and hear every (every!) December. I guess FDH had the British publishing rights to it at the time.

"P. de Ware" I have been unable to conclusively identify - he may be the South African composer Paul Devere aka Paul de Ware (Lewis).