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K SPECIAL
RONNIE HAZLEHURST
Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra: His Greatest Hits [2023]
By special request for Roger!
Ronald Hazlehurst (13 March 1928 - 1 October 2007) was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director.
Hazlehurst composed the theme tunes for many well-known British sitcoms and gameshows of the 1970s and the 1980s, including Yes Minister, Are You Being Served?, I Didn't Know You Cared and Last of the Summer Wine.
Hazlehurst joined the BBC in 1961, and became a staff arranger; his early works included the incidental music for The Likely Lads, The Liver Birds and It's a Knockout. In 1968 he became the Light Entertainment Musical Director and, during his tenure, he composed the theme tunes of many sitcoms, including Are You Being Served?; Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em; Last of the Summer Wine (where he also wrote all the instrumental music for the show); I Didn't Know You Cared; The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin; To the Manor Born; Yes, Minister; Yes, Prime Minister; Just Good Friends; and Three Up, Two Down. He also arranged the themes for Butterflies, Sorry!, and the first series of Only Fools and Horses.
In addition, he wrote the theme tunes for the sketch show The Two Ronnies, the game shows Blankety Blank, Odd One Out and Bruce Forsyth's The Generation Game and the chat show Wogan. His theme tunes often included elements designed to fit the programmes, such as a cash till in Are You Being Served?, rises and falls in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin and the Big Ben chimes for Yes Minister. For Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Hazlehurst used Morse code to spell out the programme's title. During his BBC career he composed the music for the opening of the BBC's coverage of the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He left the BBC in the 1990s.
Hazlehurst moved from Hendon, North London, to Guernsey in about 1997. In 1999, he was awarded a Gold Badge from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.
Music was Hazlehurst's life and passion as well as his work and he continued to work right up to his heart bypass operation in October 2006. On 27 September 2007 he suffered a stroke and, without regaining consciousness, died on 1 October in Princess Elizabeth Hospital, St Martin, Guernsey. Having been married twice, with two sons from his second marriage, at the time of his death his partner was Jean Fitzgerald.
https://amp.theguardian.com/news/2007/oct/12/guardianobituaries.obituaries
This collection contains many original compositions written and performed by Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra, plus other famous themes not written by Ronnie, but performed and conducted by Ronnie and his orchestra.
No official CD compilation has ever been released of Ronnie's best loved tunes and fans have been crying out for years for some type of recognition by the BBC, but all to no avail. This CD compilation is therefore a true first for all music lovers and collectors everywhere.
This fully packed 32 track (79:50) CD contains many rare and extremely hard to find tracks. Only the original studio mixes are included, with many tracks featured in their original 45 7" single form. No later remixes, re-recordings, 'stereo enhanced' or live versions here!
Many vinyl rips have been expertly edited and digitized in Audacity for a perfect listening experience.
Compiled as always using the highest quality recordings available, with a considerable number of tracks sourced from the original master tapes for superior sound quality and enjoyment.
K
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Track list
01 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra Feat. Ronnie Barker And Ronnie Corbett - The Two Ronnies (Opening) 0:53
02 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Blakes 7 3:14
03 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em 2:15
04 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Poldark 3:38
05 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 2:51
06 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Last of the Summer Wine 3:11
07 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Pro-Am Golf (Eagle & Chips) 2:49
08 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Wings 3:07
09 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Secret Army 3:47
10 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - The Two Ronnies 2:19
11 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless) 2:49
12 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Happy Ever After 2:50
13 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - I Claudius 2:15
14 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - I Didn't Know You Cared 3:10
15 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - The Other One 3:00
16 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - The Duchess of Duke Street 1:55
17 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Who Pays the Ferryman? 2:42
18 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Music for Montreal (BBC Theme for the Olympics 1976) 2:18
19 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Go for Gold 2:18
20 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Flip Flop 2:32
21 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Rough and Tumble 1:56
22 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - I Told Her 2:29
23 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Just for Kicks 1:43
24 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - There's Nothing to It 3:26
25 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Just Good Friends 3:38
26 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Sorry! 1:21
27 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - Yes Minister 0:41
28 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra - To the Manor Born 0:42
29 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra Feat. Clare Torry - Love Is Like a Butterfly (Theme from the BBC TV Series 'Butterflies') 2:45
30 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra Feat. Stephanie Gathercole - Are You Being Served? (TV and Film Version) 2:41
31 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra Feat. Bruce Forsyth - Bruce Forsyth and the Generation Game 2:04
32 Ronnie Hazlehurst & His Orchestra Feat. Ronnie Barker And Ronnie Corbett - The Two Ronnies (Closing) 2:31
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Hi BB. The link doesn't work for me - just a blank page with the loading circle on the tab.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't you know it - it works. Sorry, and many thanks! 😏
DeleteGlad that you have them now, hedspace.
DeleteCheers.
You can imagine my surprise to know that my suggestion had turned into reality. What a wonderful surprise and tribute to an unsung genius who dominated light entertainment in the 70s, 80s and 90s with his sophisticated and catchy tv themes and arrangements. Many thanks to K and Butterboy for such a labour of love which was beautifully compiled and edited.
ReplyDeleteHi Roger,
DeleteI’m very happy you were so surprised and pleased with my compilation. It was a great suggestion and I always find it a tremendous but rewarding challenge to compile collections that have never been officially released, pulling from so many different sources in order to make them happen.
You’ll be pleased to hear I have enough extra files to compile a second CD volume, but it will take me a few weeks to edit and clean up all the vinyl rips and adjust the levels to be consistent across the compilation.
Stay tuned!
K
Hi K,
DeleteGreat news that you are going to compile a second volume. Can't wait and again thank you so much for this and all your other wonderful compilations.
Best wishes
Roger