Here’s something I nearly missed in 2024 until Tony drew my attention to it. With sleeve notes from ‘pop master’ Ken Bruce, this little big band nostalgia sounds great and credit to all those involved. It all started for Tony as a home-made venture in Ardrossan, Scotland at the age of 11 and Tony went on to become the first voice heard on Radio Clyde in 1963. An interview for www.allmediascotland.com reveals that, early on in his career, Tony presented shows with what he describes as “European alternative music”, including a relatively unknown Kraftwerk and Daevid Allen’s Radio Gnome Invisible (The ‘Flying Teapot’ trilogy), that could be heard on KPFK Radio in Los Angeles. Tony founded Radio Six, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2023 and is syndicated worldwide.
To hear just how good “Race the Sun” sounds, I recommend a good set of headphones and a listen to the sample from Apple Music on DISCOGS. Thereafter, the addition of a brilliant sounding and excellently produced LP would enhance any music collection, regardless of musical taste. It certainly reminded me of just how good orchestral ‘pop’ music sounded when I myself was growing up. The album includes Johnny Pearsons ‘5th Avenue Breakdown’, with is neat little piano break, which was the B-side of a 1968 Sounds Orchestral single on Pye entitled ‘When Love Has Gone’; the Radio Six theme, with a funky guitar backdrop on this version, composed by Tony and Tony Hatch, who is the music consultant for the project; ‘Run to Me’, which provided a top ten hit for The Bee Gees in 1972, a number by the famous songwriting time of Jackie Trent and Tony Hatch, featuring a guitar break by Richard Niles; ‘Lulu’s Theme’, with a mazy organ run (and trombone by arranger Callum Au), originally by The Johnny Harris Orchestra, as the B-side of the Warner Brothers 1969 single ‘Footprints on the Moon’, concluding with Tony Hatch’s ‘Downtown’, a #1 U.S./ #2 U.K. hit for Petula Clark in 1964.
The link for Radio Six is www.radiosix.com
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