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Cherry Red [Release date 27.03.26]
The label says : “An aural soundtrack for a generation who grew up listening, not only to great pop music, but a feast of TV and Film themes”.
Indeed it is, for more than one generation . You can organise family quizzes based on this anthology. What fun.
3 CDs. 96 tracks. Who remembers the Avengers? The Saint? The Champions? Man In A Suitcase? All with memorable theme tunes?
Only 3 Channels back then, and it was 1967 before colour broadcasts began.
More themes: Joe 90; Department S; Danger Man; Whickers World; The Liver Birds and those other birds, Thunderbirds.
And the biggest of them all, John Barry’s James Bond movie theme.
Juke Box Jury became a Saturday evening fixture in many households, with an instantly recognisable theme, performed by those rock’n’roll fiends, Ted Heath And His Orchestra.
And in line with that apparent paradox, The Johnny Dankworth Orchestra, The Tony Hatch Orchestra, The Barrie Gray Orchestra and the John Barry Orchestra all contributed theme music to many long running TV series.
The big band connection with the fifties gradually faded as youth culture got a grip on sixties pop.
The establishment response was to place pop and indeed rock songs within the framework of UK cinema, in order to appeal to a new generation of filmgoers and music lovers.
The Seekers ‘Georgy Girl’; Cilla Black ‘Alfie’. The Walker Bros ‘Deadlier Than The Male’; Tom Jones ‘Thunderball’; Lulu ‘To Sir With Love’; Traffic ‘Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush’. Hit songs and hit movies.
And from films none of us have ever heard of : Spencer Davis Group ‘When I Come Home’; The Small Faces ‘I’ve Got Mine’ and ‘Here Come The Nice’; The Yardbirds ‘Stroll On’; Chris Farlowe ‘Paint It Black’ and Amen Corner ‘Scream and Scream Again’. Great songs, great performances.
Though neither of them are featured here, it’s worth noting that the two Beatles’ movies , “A Hard Days Night” and “Help” were made in the mid sixties. Movies were seen as worthwhile commercial vehicles. “AHDN” made £4.5 million (about £45 million today) against a budget of £190,000.
As a direct result, many artists and their management got involved in soundtrack contributions. It became obvious. See the movie, buy the soundtrack. Buy the soundtrack, see the movie.
The ‘What’s It All About’ boxset brings those great Sixties’ movie/musical moments together, paving the way for worldwide chart topping movie music like the soundtracks from “Saturday Night Fever”, “The Bodyguard”, “Top Gun” and many others.
This is where it began. *****
Review by Brian McGowan
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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Power Plays w/c 2 March 2026
DODGY – It’s Not The End (Flip Flop Records)
THE SKBs – Hour Glass (indie)
LAKE – Boy On A Mission (indie)
KING FALCON Holding Out (indie)
HOKKA Heart Said No (Nuclear Blast Records)
STARBENDERS The Beast Goes On (Sumerian Records)
EDDIE AND THE WOLVES See Me Fall (indie)
Featured Albums w/c 2 March 2026
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)
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