... DISC DATA London Scene Louie Bellson Big Band (Concord CI-157) Nice to see some strong British involvement on this prestigious American label, with the recording being made in the PRT Studios in London, Alan A. Freeman producing, engineering by Ray Prickett and Peter Brightman as executive producer. And it is an excellent album as well, made by the band Bellson brought over in the autumn of ...

... Memory Serves Material (Celluloid ILPS9S93) One of the most interesting New York groups, Material is a loose collaboration, varying in size and line-up, of musicians attempting to blend rock with the avant garde end of jazz. On balance, rock, with its heavy and consistent rhythmic patterns, probably comes out on top but the album could not fail to have much that is of musical merit with ...

... DISC DATA Vintage 1981 Stephane Grappelli (Concord Jazz CJ-189) For sheer consistency no jazz musi cian has ever equalled Stephane Grap pelli, who is certainly playing as well now as at any time in a 50-year career. This album, recorded in San Francisco, finds him playing numbers which, though familiar, have never been associated with him previously, among them l i^an t uet start ea in wnicn ...

... DISC DATA Thomas and the King (That's Entertainment TERB 1009) This musical, seen for only a few performances at Her Majesty's in 1975, lays some claim to being the biggest disaster since Wild Grows the Heather. But unlike that show it has moments of magnificence. Though our chief memory of it is probably Tim Good-child's superb settings and costumes this album confirms that it had a con ...

... ON THE RECORD Flying Home The Squadronaires (Decca RLF 19) The Squadronaires really did transform the face of British dance music, moving away from the sleek Ambrose sound (though nine of them came from that orchestra) to big band American swing, based less on Benny Goodman than, as Vic Bellerby sagely points out, Jimmy Lunceford. It was certainly a magnificent unit, with its ace soloists ...

... DISC DATA SINGLES DAVE BALLARD Sugaree PHAB THE BEATLES Love Me Do Parlophone PATTI BOULAYE That's My Man Shell DANCECLASS Setting Myself on Fire A M GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS Ferry 'Cross the Mersey EMI JOE JACKSON Steppin' Out A M JETS Somebody to Love EMI PAUL McCARTNEY Tug of War Parlophone MANFRED MANN Do Wah Diddy Diddy EMI MARILLION Market Square Heroes -EMI METAL MICKEY Do the Funky ...

... DISC DATA Love Will Turn You Around Ken- nv Rogers (Libertv LBG 30350^ Rogers, reportedly the highest paid singer in the States these days, is all but lost to country music on the evidence of this exceedingly bland album. The voice, with that slight emotional croak, is great, the songs are nothing much. Bugle Call Rag Harry Roy and his Orchestra (Dccca RFL 20) This disc is a tittle misleading ...

... DISC DATA Valmouth Chichester Festival j Theatre production (That's Enter tainment TER 1019) It is one of life's mysteries that Valmouth has failed to take off not once but twice, the reason presumably being that Ronald Firbank's decadent, perfumed, exotic style just does not work on stage. It cannot be the fault of Sandy Wilson's music and lyrics, the peak of his output or the performances. ...

... DISC DATA Just Dance Sydney Upton and his Grosvenor House Orchestra (Decca RFL 22) Sydney Lipton never lea one 01 the fashionable pre-war dance bands, but its abilities are by no means to be discounted. It did not boast the name musicians attracted to the Lew Stone, Roy Fox and Ambrose outfits, yet it did have some highly competent ones, well able to do |ustice to such jazz-tinged ...

... Complex and bold shadows ROYAL BALLET Valley of Shadows IN SETTING the sweetness of charmed lives against the blighted victims of a concentration camp, Kenneth MacMilIan's Valley of Shadows is both complex and bold. To understand, it helps to have Giorgio Bassam's novel The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (from which he drew his inspiration) and to know the gackground of this rich Jewish ...

... Another Page Christopher Cross (Warner Bros 92.3757-1) The usual mutual admiration society, in which artists appear on each other's albums, is well in evidence on Christopher Cross' latest effort--guest stars being Art Garfunkel, Carl Wilson, Michael McDonald, Don Henley and J.D. Souther, as well as a whole flock of the West Coast musical mafia--Steve Gadd, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, you ...

... Dr Faustus NOTTINGHAM CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE'S emphasis on the possibly evil consequences of too much knowledge mades 'Dr Faustus a very relevant play for 1983, and Michael Winter's production, in conjunction with York Theatre Royal, is as compelling a rendering as you're ever likely to see. Ian McCulloch portrays Faustus as a frank, genial Tudor materialist with an unfortunate prediliction for ...