17/09/2024 by Peter Viney
RCA (1957-68, Decca) Follow the link to the article at Around and Around.
For a decade, RCA was one of the main three Decca labels in the UK. This includes the peak of Elvis Presley, soundtrack success, pop hits with Neil Sedaka, The Monkees, and the late 60s Mamas and The Papas and Jefferson Airplane. A long article with many illustrations.
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15/09/2024 by Peter Viney
Review of the play version of BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks (follow link to the review). It starts in Salisbury, where the review comes from, and moves on a provincial tour of SEVENTEEN theatres. This World War One story combines romance and the tragedy of battle. It’s a large production, and it’s a great change to review a play which is accessible to most of Britain.
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31/08/2024 by Peter Viney
More at Around and Around. RCA (HMV) – follow the link.
Until 1957, RCA Victor records were released on HMV in the UK and elsewhere. This period covers nearly two years of early Elvis Presley releases.
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29/08/2024 by Peter Viney
At AROUND AND AROUND, the latest record label article is RCA Victor (follow link). This is the history of the US company up to and including the format wars of 1948 to 1950, after Columbia / CBS introduced the LP record at 331/3 rpm and RCA introduced the 45 rpm single. It’s as usual heavily illustrated.
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24/08/2024 by Peter Viney
At Around and Around:
Verve (follow this link) started as a jazz label. MGM took it over in 1961, but after 1966 Verve started to identify with rock, and started the Verve Folkways and then Verve Forecast brands. Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie to Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto. Then Jimmy Smith, The Righteous Brothers, Velvet Underground, Mothers of Invention, Blues Project, Janis Ian, Laura Nyro … then MGM just let it go.
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19/08/2024 by Peter Viney
MGM’s short-lived1968 label Music Factory (linked) added to Around and Around.
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19/08/2024 by Peter Viney
At AROUND AND AROUND. MGM post 1967 (linked) picks up the story when MGM became independent of EMI in the UK in 1967. They started out with a surprise shift for a staid soundtrack label, with Eric Burdon & The Animals, The Velvet Underground and The Mothers of Invention. Just a few years later they were best known for The Osmonds. Follow the trail.
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18/08/2024 by Peter Viney
Review of the 2024 production of THE BIRTHDAY PARTY by Harold Pinter (follow link to review) at Bath’s Ustinov Studio. The Ustinov Studio continues with top directors and casts in a tiny studio theatre, the end result normally being a transfer intact to London and a bigger stage. I think this will follow the pattern.
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15/08/2024 by Peter Viney
AS YOU LIKE IT at the open air garden theatre at the RSC (follow link to review). We thought it marvellous. It’s edited to 80 minutes. It’s sharpened, focussed and very funny. It’s not just a “popular” version, it’s one of the best in its own right. It’s full of energy and we saw it in the rain. It’s budget price too. Try and get to Stratford! You can get in. Read my review for rain protection too.
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15/08/2024 by Peter Viney
Review of PERICLES PRINCE OF TYRE (follow link to review). This is the first Royal Shakespeare Company production by co-artistic director, Tamara Harvey. It’s also a rarely performed play, and often avoided because Shakespeare only wrote Acts III to V. It’s a stylish production. Well worth seeing, though the intrinsic faults of the material are impossible to hide.
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