- Chinese Moon – Savoy Orpheans – July 1926
- The Varsity Drag – Jack Hylton Orchestra (trumpet Jack Jackson) – July 1928
- Oh! Mo’nah – Roy Fox and His Monseigneur Band (vocal Nat Gonella) – 30 December 1931
- Leave the Pretty Gals Alone – Lew Stone and The Monseigneur Dance Orchestra (vocal Joe Crossman) – November 1932
- Did My Heart Beat? – Jack Jackson’s Dorchester Hotel Band (vocal Jack Jackson) – October 1933
- I Wish I Were Twins – Billy Mason Band (vocal and trumpet Valaida Snow) – 1935
- High Hat, Trumpet and Rhythm – George Scott Wood and His Orchestra (vocal Valaida Snow) – 1936
- What Was It That Made Me Fall In Love?; A-Tisket A-Tasket; The Lambeth Walk plus unidentified tunes – Harry Roy’s Orchestra in concert – November 1938
- RC Collection
How wonderful to hear this excellently produced series again, which has stood up to time’s rigours surprisingly well. Thank you to all concerned for preserving and sharing this valuable archive.
“The Dance Band Days” was a sequel to the highly successful documentary series, “The Golden Age Of British Dance Bands” which Alan Dell produced as part of the BBC’s, 50th anniversary season, and broadcast on Wednesday evenings, on BBC Radio 2, in the autumn of 1972.
The first editions ( originally only eight were planned, as a schedule “fill in”) of “The Dance Band Days” were broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in the spring of 1973 on Sunday afternoon at 1530 hrs.
I think it’s a great shame the BBC have given up on the popular music of the 30’s, which was one of the most fertile, and innovative in recorded music, song writing, and stylish delivery.
Thanks once again for all your efforts. I hope you can eventually acquire the entire series, and preserve it for posterity. It’s nothing short of a national treasure!
Thanks once again
Thank you, Martin! This is a massive project, even only considering the remaining hundreds of Dance Band Days programmes, let alone the other shows that I have here. I’m hoping that the early Dell “Golden Age” series shows up at some point… And I certainly couldn’t have done all this without a very willing and able group of helpers!
What a great message and very useful information for those of us too young at the time to know. Hope we can get an archive of Alan’s other programmes too including my own favourite Sounds Easy.
Unfortunately, Neil, at least so far as I know, I don’t have any Sounds Easy programmes. But some may be “lurking” in the huge pile of tapes that I have yet to process.