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28 August 2016

Saturday 25th

'OH BOY!' SHOW # 7 (Compered by Jimmy Henney)

RESIDENT WEEKLY BAND & PERFORMERS:
Lord Rockingham's XI, 
Red Price,
The Dallas Boys,
Neville Taylor & The Cutters,
Cherry Wainer,
The Vernons Girls.

THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL GUESTS:
Cliff Richard & The Drifters
Peter Elliott
Tony Scott's Cha-Cha Band
Don Lang

For the first time Cliff Richard and the new Drifters are given star billing and close the show. Audience response was so wild Good placed Cliff at the top of the bill for all of Cliff’s remaining 8 appearances until the end of the year. (1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd November and 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th December 1958).

Ronnie Carroll, who left the series last week, begins a 6 week residency on the rival '6.5 Special' TV show on the BBC. He is replaced by balladeer Peter Elliott who is booked until the end of the year.

28 August 2016

Friday 24th

The NME announces that the “Oh Boy!” series has been extended a further 3 months to run until the end of March 1959 and that Tommy Steele had been booked to appear on the 1st November show:

"Oh Boy!" is a hit! It has been booked to continue until at least next March. And next week the show presents the first TV appearance of Tommy Steele for four months. Contracts are not yet signed, but Tommy has agreed to appear on the show next Saturday if he can fit in the date with his other commitments, which are not expected to provide dificulties. He had not planned any more television appearances this year, but agreed to do the show for Jack Good. Steele appeared in the early '6.5 Special' programme, which Good originated. They carried both singer and show to a peak wave of success.

Good is also hoping to use an American singer in future "Oh Boy!" programmes. She is Edna McGriff, who was unknown here until the beginning of March, when her first records were released by the Gala low-price label. She has quickly established herself as the labels principal artist and Gala chief Monty Lewis is planning to bring her to Britain for TV and other dates. Exact time of her visit cannot be arranged as she has just had a baby. "I certainly hope to get her for "Oh Boy!" as soon as she can come over," Good told the NME.

Both developments came at the same time as ABC-TV decided to extend the run of the programme. Due to end on December 6, the company has booked it for at least thirteen more weeks. It will continue to be seen on the entire ITV network at 6p.m. on Saturdays, but the producer has not yet had time to consider any possible cast changes for the extended period. Making a TV debut in tomorrow's show is Tony Scott's Cha-Cha Band, appearing with Don Lang, making his second showing on the programme.

Cliff Richard returns tomorrow after his absence last week, when a conflict of dates meant he had to appear at a York concert instead. The surprise deputy was Terry Dene who rehearsed and appeared in the show within 24 hours of being asked.

28 August 2016

Oh Boy! LP

An LP was issued entitled 'Oh Boy!'. It was recorded before a specially invited audience at the Abbey Road Studios, St. John's Wood, London and released on the UK Parlophone label: PMC 1072.

Here's what Jack Good had to say about it.......(Taken from back of album cover):

"This recording was made in one session on the evening of October 19, 1958, the day before ABC Television had transmitted the sixth edition of 'Oh Boy!' and already the show was a smash hit. The number of viewers had doubled. Stage shows and films were being mooted. And now the L.P. In six short weeks 'Oh Boy!' had grown to the stature that '6.5 Special' had taken nine months to achieve. For, by an odd coincidence, October 19, 1958 marked to a day the first anniversary of the session at which the '6.5 Special' LP was made. And at that time '6.5 Special' had been running nine months.

Both discs were made by Norman Newell and at both sessions I held a watching brief as producer of the television programme concerned. The difference of these two occasions formed a clear reflection of the changes that have taken place in the world of popular music.

A year ago we were at the height of the coffee bar era. The music was frantic, erratic and, for the most part, it had an intimate and amateur flavour. Nowadays the whole thing has become much more streamlined and professional. The music is no longer improvised to the large extent that it was.

All the "Oh Boy" numbers are carefully and brilliantly arranged by our MD, Harry Robinson. Melody is now playing a much more important role - though the beat is just as insistent and exciting. Singers are currently set a much higher standard than in the early rock days. They are expected to count bars and sing in key, two things formerly regarded as frivolous refinements.

Summing all this up, the '6.5 Special' LP session had the excitement and hubbub of a jumble sale; the "Oh Boy" session had the excitement and organisation of a rocket launching.
All the artists and all the numbers on this record have been featured on the actual show and, just as in the programme, we race from one item to another without pause. It was a very happy recording session. The audience has a whale of a time (as you can hear) - so did the artists. But then they always do. It is such a friendly team that every rehearsal and transmission is like a party. That this atmosphere has been vividly captured by the L.P. is a tribute not only to the skill of those at E.M.I. who created it, but also to the imagination, faith - and, dare I say, courage? - of A.B.C Television who gave the "Oh Boy" show a chance to prove itself on the millions of television screens it serves." -

JACK GOOD

TRACK LISTING

Side A

"At the TV hop"_Cliff Richard
"Little Jonah"_Two Vernons Girls
"Rockin' Robin_Cliff Richard
"When the saints"_The John Barry Seven
"Buzz, Buzz, Buzz"_Vince Eager
"Good, Good"_Neville Taylor and The Cutters
"High school confidential"_Cliff Richard
"Bad Motorcycle"_The Vernons Girls
"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey_Cuddly Dudley
"Zing went the strings of my heart"_The Dallas Boys
"Your hand, your heart, your love"_Peter Elliott
"Early in the morning"_Cliff Richard

Side B

"King Creole"_Cliff Richard
"There's never been a night"_Two Vernons Girls
"Leroy"_Neville Taylor and Dallas Boys
"Pancho"_The John Barry Seven
"Blue Ribbon Baby"_Vince Eager
"Little Miss Ruby"_Neville Taylor and The Cutters
"I'll try"_Cliff Richard
"Don't look now but"_The Vernons Girls
"Let's rock while the rockin's good_Cuddly Dudley
"Joshua"_The Dallas Boys
"The end"_Peter Elliott
"Somebody touched me"_Cliff Richard

NOTE:
Cliff Richard and Peter Elliott were not at the recording studios along with everyone else on that evening of October 19th - they both had previous engagements. Their contributions to the LP were recorded later and added in.

In Cliff's case, he returned to Studio 2 at the Abbey Road Studios on Tuesday October 21st and between 6-10pm that evening he recorded his 6 tracks - all of which were sung by Cliff in various episodes of the TV show.

The "Oh Boy!" Long Play album was re-released twice many years later. One issue was on the Music For Pleasure label: MFP 50462.
It was also re-issued on EMI: NUTM-13 Music For Pleasure issue EMI issue

THE STRINGBEAT YEARS

  

The Stringbeat Years cover2

Now available!

The Stringbeat Years: Songs accompanied by John Barry

Now available, a 4-CD box-set comprising of 144 tracks, a 24-page booklet (replete with period photographs and comprehensive notes) and including ten bonus tracks (among them the CD debut of the first ever cover version of a John Barry instrumental composition).

Featuring – for the first time – the film versions of ‘Mix me a Person’, ‘The Time has Come’, and ‘What a Whopper’ (slightly shortened). There’s also an unique opportunity to hear the original version of ‘Ah, Poor Little Baby’, making its premiere appearance on CD.

The box-set is limited to 500 copies and is only £16.99 post-free in the UK, so don’t miss out! It is available direct from this website!

£16.99  post-free in the UK
£19.99  anywhere else in the world

Order now!
https://paypal.me/Geoffers007

Let us know if you aren't able to do this and we'll work out another way. 

Track listing

HIT AND MISS: THE STORY OF THE JOHN BARRY SEVEN

HitAndMiss 1000

Thoroughly and painstakingly researched over a number of years, it features contributions from several ex-members of the band and from friends and relatives of John Barry.

Comprising of over 360 pages, it is packed with an array of rare photos of the band, and the singers they often supported, as well as some unique images of memorabilia and documentation from that era; some never previously published, many more seldom seen.

Even if you are not necessarily a devotee of The John Barry Seven per se, the book offers a fascinating historical insight into the British music scene of the period and, more importantly, provides an essential read for anybody remotely interested in discovering more about John Barry’s formative career.

The book’s cover price is £30, but anybody ordering direct from us will receive a 33% discount, reducing the cost to £19.99.

Order now (click this line)!

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