There has been a current interest in transferring 78rpm to CD by major recording labels. Perhaps it is unusual to see that Guild, principally a Swiss company, have now followed suit and picked on a genre essentially 'everyday' English.

The titles will not be readily known by many under the age of 45, but in the forties and fifties the BBC saturated the airwaves with this style of music in their regular 'Music while You Work' programmes or interludes in some of the BBC comedies. Equally unknown may be the names of some of these small-time composers who often ran radio variety orchestras like Stanley Black and Ron Goodwin. Coates, Farnon and Torch were established composers in their own right but in this compilation it would have been nice to represent Black and Torch. (Has Farnon's catchy tune 'Jumping Bean' recorded on a 78 ever been transferred?)

Not only has Guild's sound restoration and transfer of these 78s by Alan Bunting been excellent, with no hiss or clicks and a wide frequency range, but also the original recordings by Decca, Parlophone, EMI, Columbia, Philips, and Polygon must be admired. The recordings were made at the start of the tape recording era when companies like Decca held fast to the direct cutting method until tape stability had been fully researched.

For me this music certainly evokes memories, but I find its style somewhat monotonous where melody is thin and orchestral texture hallmarked by off-beat brass chords. Listeners who have not been saturated by this music in their youth will find its immediacy pleasing.

Raymond J Walker

Great American Light Orchestras

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