Cliff Adams: leader, arranger, director. vocals, trombone (b. 21 Aug 1923, London, England – d. 22Oct 2001).

Musician, broadcaster and entrepreneur, Cliff Adams carved a niche for himself in British broadcasting history.

During the 1950s, while working as a trombonist and arranger with various big bands, Cliff Adams formed a vocal group called The Stargazers to provide musical interludes for popular radio shows – they were regular guests on The Goon Show among others. The group went on to have hits with novelty songs like “I See the Moon”, 1954 and “Twenty Tiny Fingers”, 1955.

Adams quickly established himself as a composer of jingles for the brand new TV advertising industry. This work led directly to another hit single in 1960 – “The Lonely Man Theme” – an instrumental taken from a campaign for Strand Cigarettes, as moodily atmospheric as the dark, rain-soaked London street featured in the commercial, The tune has had a much longer shelf life than the cigarettes it was meant to promote. The theme turned up briefly in Cliff Richard’s movie “The Young Ones” and was rearranged for guitars and recorded by The Rapiers in 2000.

During the early 1960s Adams became part-owner of the Olympic recording studios, in London, which was to become one of the most prestigious studios in the world.

Formed in 1954 The Cliff Adams Singers comprised of twelve male and four female session vocalists, who backed solo artists on radio and TV. They also had their own show “Sing Something Simple” which ran each week on the BBC Light Programme from 1959 to 1967, then on Radio 2 until Cliff Adams’s death. By the time of its final broadcast it was the longest running, continuous music programme in the world.

The show included traditional songs, nostalgic numbers from past decades and more recent hits, performed in sing-along arrangements. A spot for unaccompanied male voices became a regular feature, as did a piano solo by Adams.

In the early days of “Sing Something Simple” each individual show was recorded between five and seven weeks in advance. The Adams Singers, together with the Jack Emblow Quartet, would assemble in the BBC’s studios at 201 Piccadilly – at 9.30 on Sunday mornings – for three hours of rehearsal. Recording of one edition would then take place between 12.30 and 1.30p.m. After an hour lunch break rehearsals would commence for the next, which would be recorded between 5.30 and 6.30.

Ten of the singers were paid four pounds and five shillings (£4.25) for their services in each edition, while six received six pounds. The Jack Emblow Quartet’s collective fee was twenty six pounds eighteen shillings (£26.90).

The group’s chart entries, an original release from 1960 and its 1962 reissue, demonstrate the relaxed, undemanding style of this Sunday evening institution.

April 1960 Sing Something Simple – (UK) Pye NPL 28013 Highest position 15
(US) unreleased

1 Sing Something Simple (Adams, Logan, Barnes)
2 Hometown (Carr, Kennedy)
3 Underneath The Arches (Flanagan)
4 Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes (Jonson, Trad.)
5 Cruising Down the River (Beadell, Tollerton)
6 Home on the Range (Higley, Lomax, Kelley)
7 Wheezy Anna (Sarony)
8 Little Dolly Daydream (Stuart)
9 Lily of Laguna (Fiorito, Stuart, Francis, Webster)
10 I Love You Truly (Jacobs-Bond)
11 Me and My Shadow (Dreyer, Jolson, Rose)
12 My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (Trad.)
13 Let the Great Big World Keep Turning (Anon.)
14 Ferry Boat Serenade (Adamson, diLazzaro, Panzeri)

Recorded:not stated – (probably Olympic or Pye Studios, London)

16 member vocal ensemble (12 male, 4 female); Cliff Adams arranger, director, piano; Jack Emblow accordion; unknown guitar/bass/drums

November 1962 Sing Something Simple – (UK) Pye Golden Guinea GGL 0150 Highest position 15
(US) unreleased

Details as above.

The "Brown Bomber"

Jimmy Page (b. 9 Jan 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England) Robert Plant (b. 20 Aug 1948, West Bromwich, Staffordshire England) John Paul Jones - birth name John Baldwin (b. 3 Jan 1946, Sidcup, Kent, England) John Bonham (b 31 May 1948, Redditch, Worcestershire England – d. 25 Sep 1980, Clewer, Windsor, Berkshire)

Oct 1969 Led Zeppelin II - (UK) Atlantic 588-198* Highest chart position 1
(US) Atlantic SD-8236/SD-19127 Highest chart position 1

1 Whole Lotta Love (Page, Bonham, Plant, Jones, Dixon)
2 What Is and What Should Never Be (Page, Plant)
3 The Lemon Song (Killing Floor)  (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham, Burnett)
4 Thank You (Page, Plant)
5 Heartbreaker (Page, Bonham, Plant, Baldwin)
6 Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (She’s Just a Woman)  (Page, Plant)
7 Ramble On (Page, Plant)
8 Moby Dick (Bonham, Page, Baldwin)
9 Bring it on Home (Dixon, Page, Plant)

Producer: Jimmy Page;  Executive Producer: Peter Grant; Director of engineering and mixing: Eddie Kramer

Engineers: Eddie Kramer; George Chiantz (1, 2); Andrew Johns (4); Chris Huston (3,8 ) Bob Ludwig (mastering)

Recorded: Olympic Studios, London; A&R Studios, NY;  Morgan Studios, London;  Juggy Sound, NY; Mirror Sound, LA; Atlantic Studios, NY

Other sources add – Mystic studios, LA;  Mayfair Studios, NY; Hut, Vancouver

Mixed: A&R Studios, NY

Jimmy Page electric and acoustic guitars, pedal steel guitar. backing vocals;  Robert Plant vocals, harmonica; John Paul Jones bass guitar, organ, backing vocals; John Bonham drums, backing vocals

Artwork: David Juniper

* K40037 from 1971

Hit Maker - remade

Burt Bacharach, composer, arranger, director, piano, vocals (b. 12 May, 1928, Kansas City, Missouri, USA).

One of the major songwriters of the Twentieth Century. Bacharach’s sophisticated, but easily memorable, melodies and sun-drenched arrangements define the 1960s as perfectly as anything by the Beatles.

Though Bacharach had a distinctly classical musical education – Martinu, Cowell and Milhaud were among his teachers – his allegiance was always with pop and jazz rather than the concert hall. Following spells working as an accompanist for Vic Damone and Marlene Dietrich his song writing abilities won him chart success in the USA.

Bacharach’s first impact on the British singles chart was with Michael Holliday’s cover version of “Story of My Life”. This success was cemented with “Magic Moments” by Perry Como. Both these songs were co-written with lyricist Hal David who became his regular song-writing partner.

Together they provided a stream of hits for many US artists, notably Dionne Warwick who worked with them so frequently she was almost a member of the team. Many of these records got into the British charts, but there were classy covers too, by Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Sandie Shaw.

The title Hit Maker! says it all and the album includes; “Don’t Make Me Over”, “Walk on By” (both originally recorded by Dionne Warwick), “Always Something There to Remind Me” (Warwick, covered by Sandie Shaw),  “24 Hours From Tulsa” (Gene Pitney) and “Anyone Who Had a Heart” (Warwick covered by Cilla Black).  Though his own hit single “Trains and Boats and Planes” is included, Hit Maker! is a compilation of greatest hits, only performed by the composer instead of the singers normally associated with them.  Even though vocals are missing the songs benefit from his further thoughts on their arrangements. 

During the decade Burt Bacharach also added his signature sound to movies and TV shows including  What’s New Pussycat, Casino Royale and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. His score for Butch Cassidy… won Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Song (“Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”) plus a Golden Globe.

May 1965 – Hit Maker! Burt Bacharach Plays the Bacharach Hits

- (UK) London HAR8233 Highest Chart Position 3

   (US) Kapp KS 3428 failed to chart

Re-released in USA as The Man! – Burt Bacharach – His Songs, Kapp KS3447 Oct. 1965, and as Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits Kapp KS3577 ? 1966 and again in ?, 1969 as MCA Records MCL 1738  with additional track “A House is Not a Home”

1  Don’t Make Me Over  (Bacharach, David)

2  Walk on By (Bacharach, David)

3  Don’t Go Breaking My Heart  (Bacharach, David)

4  Blue on Blue  (Bacharach, David)

5  The Last One to Be Loved (Bacharach, David)

6  There’s Always Something There to Remind Me (Bacharach, David)

7  24 Hours From Tulsa (Bacharach, David)

8  Trains and Boats and Planes (Bacharach, David)

9  Wives and Lovers (Bacharach, David)

10 Anyone Who Had a Heart  (Bacharach, David) 

Recorded: unknown (possibly Decca Studios, London)

Producer: Burt Bacharach

Burt Bacharach arranger, director, piano, vocals; unknown session orchestra and chorus

CD reissues:

      1997 Universal 83089

     2006 Universal 93063 (with What’s New Pussycat?/My Little Red Book (sung by Joel Grey/Tony Middleton)

     2003 What the World Needs Now A&M 000080002 contains tracks 6 and 8

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