Customer Reviews

It may be unfashionable, but you'll like it - By: Mr. R. B. Ager, 30 Jun 2005
I would guess that most people these days, upon seeing this albumin the listings, would opine that the marketing department at EMI must be scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with this for their "Best...In The World...Ever" series. Fans of band music will shun it for its pick-and-mix composition, & everyone else will not give it a second thought.

Unfashionable it may be, but there is nothing quite like the raw power & stirring sound of a military band playing live, unadulterated by electronics & amplification, and, while it is almost impossible to transfer this energy satisfactorily to record, to simply ignore it is to miss out on some blistering tunes & harmonies, & great music overall, & I would argue that there's a placein everybody's collection for at least one CD such as this.

Most of the famous marches from the likes of Sousa & Kenneth Alford are included, together with some pieces from 1960s/70s film & TV series; you may not recognise all the titles, but I'm sure you'll know the tunes when you hear them. Quite topically there's also a 12-minute suite of nautical themes to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar. And of course it wouldn't be complete without the genre's finest (commercial) moment, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' "Amazing Grace". (Five weeks at No 1 - those were the days.)

As you will see from the tracklisting various bands are represented and, quite apart from the obvious pipes & drums, each has quite a different sound - for example, the Band of the Royal Marines sounds quite sharp & brisk, the Central Band of the RAF is warmerin tone & slightly more statelyin rhythm. Recording dates also vary, even those of the same band, & this does not exactly help to give consistency of sound level & tone. However, only the four tracks from the Band of the Scots Guards, which date from 1955, really show any age.

This collection is great as a sampler, & to dip into now & again - I appreciate that not many people will listen to all two hours ten minutes of it straight through. Just now & then, stick it on, turn the volume up, & blow a few aural cobwebs away.