The invention of sound recording as the 19th century came to a close, followed by the arrival of radio in the 1920s, hastened changes in musical styles at a far greater pace than had ever happened previously. There is no doubt that our ancestors who listened to what we might term ‘their’ light music in the 1800s would find the sounds of the 1960s too avant-garde for their ears. The somewhat sedate styles of earlier years were inevitably affected by the influences of the jazz era, the arrival of electrical sound recording in the 1920s and the major impact of the cinema when talking pictures arrived, consuming (and creating) vast amounts of Light Music in its many varied forms. Finally by the 1960s the perfection of high fidelity and stereo sound often allowed composers, arrangers and conductors to express themselves in a spectacular fashion previously unimaginable. All this is vividly illustrated in the very varied collection on this CD.

Artists

The Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival, Frank Perkins Pops Orchestra, The Starlight Symphony, Alfredo Campoli Marimba Tango Orchestra, Athenaeum Light Orchestra, BBC Variety Orchestra, Bosworth's Ballroom Orchestra, Charles Williams Concert Orchestra, Decca Light Symphony Orchestra, Frank Perkins 'Pops' Orchestra, Jack Hylton Orchestra, Johnny Green Orchestra, Leroy Anderson Orchestra, New Century Orchestra, New Concert Orchestra, Percy Faith Orchestra, Philip Green Orchestra, Reginald King Light Orchestra, Robert Farnon Orchestra, Roberto Inglez Orchestra, Roger Roger Orchestra, Royal Artillery Orchestra, Telecast Orchestra, The Viennese Café Orchestra, Werner Müller Orchestra, Cyril Ornadel, Percy Faith, Roger Roger, Leroy Anderson, Walter Stott, Robert Farnon, Werner Müller, Cedric Dumont, George Melachrino, Frank Perkins, Roberto Inglez, Sidney Torch, Captain Owen Geary, Charles Williams, Billy Munn, Charles Shadwell, Philip Green, Alfredo Campoli, Jack Hylton, Reginald King, Johnny Green, John Ansell