Various Artists - "Jack Good's 'Oh Boy!'" Vinyl, LP, Album, UK, 1958/1978 (EMI)

The 'commercial' roots of British rock n' roll is all here on this album.  Jack Good, who is still alive at the age of 86, was a pioneer for rock n' roll TV.   His British show "Oh Boy!" was the first variety program devoted to British (pre) rock artists such as Cliff Richard and Billy Fury.  The show lasted for 30 minutes and it was packed with non-stop music.  No song lasted more than a minute, and it was like a variety show with an Amphetamine approach to its timing and management.  The other significant wrench is that Good allowed the audience to be part of the show, with the artists surrounding themselves with the audience, most if not all teenagers.  

"Jack Good's 'Oh Boy!" album is a live soundtrack to the show.  Listening to it now in 2017, it's a weird reminder of how rock was packaged almost 60 years ago.  Cliff Richard sings seven songs, but also includes the talents of the incredible John Barry Seven, way before his work on the James Bond films.  Other artists here are Vince Eager, Two Vernon Girls, and Neville Taylor & The Cutters.  The beauty and the essence of this recording are not really the music, but a snapshot view of British showbiz before the Beatles hit the scene.   Jack Good eventually made it over to America where he created the show "Shindig!" (1964-1966) which focused on the British Invasion at the time, as well as popular pop/rock acts.  

"Oh Boy!" is one of the first shows specifically made for the British teenage market.  It's interesting how the teenager became a vocal/social, and even more important, an economic model that fueled an industry.  The 'beat' cannot be ignored anymore!

Edwin Astley - "Secret Agent Meets The Saint" (RCA) Vinyl, 1965

Two shows that made an impression on me as a child were the British series "Secret Agent" (Danger Man, UK) and "The Saint."   In the back of my mind, I have remembered the theme songs and often hummed them in my daily baths.  Someone either on Facebook or some other social media site brought the title theme of "Secret Agent" to my attention.  A super catchy face-paced melody that is the opposite of the slower-pace show.  Patrick McGoohan played John Drake, a British secret agent who travels the world for the Queen.   When I watched it as a boy, it seemed sophisticated to me.  It wasn't like "Wild Wild West, " or the other knock-off James Bond shows on TV.  It had its own gritty glamor.  McGoohan was cool in every sense or meaning of that word.  The music, on the other hand, is frantic, busy, with an orchestration that featured a speeded-up Harpsichord.  

"Roger Moore plays the Saint," and he's a combination of private detective and borderline criminal.  Simon Templar (his fictional, given name) as played by Moore, had a built-in charm factor.  He wasn't cool but was fun.   To be in the Templar/Moore world was to participate in the good times.  As he traveled around the world, us viewers went with him.  Even though most of the sets were fake (like "Secret Agent"),  one could feel the sense of exotica or a new adventure.  

The composer Edwin Ashley, who did both tv series, was very much into the British film soundtrack world.  He is also the father of Karen, who married Pete Townshend, and his other daughter is Virginia Ashley, a noted songwriter-singer.    The happy arrangements and melody of "The Saint" is very much like the mood of the series.  The British composer has this unique talent of doing something corny sounding, but great at the same time.   The one song that does it for me in a big way is the "Theme from Secret Agent" or known here on this album as "High Wire."  As I write, the title song goes through my head, and I think it maybe impossible for me to escape from its clutches.  The Harpsichord is the key here. 

The Barry Gray Orchestra - "No Strings Attached" Vinyl 10" LP

The Barry Gray Orchestra – No Strings Attached

Vinyl 10'', LP, Compilation, UK, 1985

PRT Records

Only for the hardcore British pop culture “otaku” fanatic. Barry Gray worked with the always wonderful Gerry Anderson, the creator and main aesthetic person for “The Thunderbirds” and “Stingray” puppet animation show. On a good listening experience you can imagine a touch of Joe Meek, but it is mostly hack by the numbers type of orchestration. I bought it for 99 cents, because I couldn't resist the 10” size as well as its cover. No Strings Attached is a good and honest title for this little album.