Golden Age of Light Music: The Show Goes On

Personnel: Winifred Atwell (piano).Audio Remasterer: Alan Bunting.Liner Note Author: David Ades.Arrangers: Angela Morley; Robert Farnon .The Show Goes On, a volume in Guild's The Golden Age of Light Music Series, is aptly named as it consists mostly of pieces that would qualify as "curtain raisers," brief overture-like works recorded by British orchestras between 1942 and 1957. This disc boasts a whopping 29 tracks, most of which could qualify for the opening and/or bumpers of a "Million Dollar Movie" on television of the '60s, and indeed, some of these things were designed for such use, as Len Stevens' "Television Playhouse" (1957) theme attests. Others, such as Bob Haymes' "Curtain Time" (1952) do activate those very dead brain cells somewhere deep in one's memory and make the listener wonder, "Where have I heard that before?" There aren't many duds in this collection, though Eric Rogers' "Startime" (1956), featuring pianist Winifred Atwell and Frank Chacksfield's orchestra and choru