... 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 ...

... Chess Cast Album (RCA PL 70500} Smart-assed people might say that this collaboration between Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, recorded by a cast which includes Elaine Paige, Murray Head, Barbara Dickson and Denis Quilley, is exactly what one might expect, a mixture of Evita and Abba, with, at the end, a dash of Tchaikovsky thrown in to establish the fact that one of the main ...

... Charlie Parker. Vol. 6. South of the Bonier; Vol. 7. Big Band (Verve 817 447-1. SI 7 AASi-l\ Reissued on French Polydor, these two albums are taken from the numerous sessions on which Norman Granz teamed the outstanding jazz musician of the early post-war years with an assortment of orchestras and groups, including, on one occasion, the Dave Lambert Singers of which Annie Ross was a member, ...

... Swing is in the Air Ambrose and his Orchestra (Decca RFL 35) DESPITE THE TITLE, this is not instrumental Ambrose but a compilation relying heavily on the voice of Evelyn Dall, one of those singers who, in the late thirties, when these tracks were made, would be described as a peppy bundle of personality. Which never did make her much of a singer, but the songs bring back memories, other ...

... The Last LP John Spencer's Louts (Beggar's Banquet BEGA 3) It is to be hoped that the title of this album is not to be believed, because Spencer, a somewhat eccentric graduate of the folk scene, mainly at the Half Moon, Putney, is a remarkably facile songwriter and performer, seemingly able to find himself in any style, from rockabilly to country to satirical rock. His equally versatile ...

... Back to the fifties with Jimmy Young SB ^SBP Hk Soats of the SOs (Decca FRLD 49) Most people would not regard the fifties as being a golden age for pop music, but 636 records during the decade sold over a million copies and this double album proves that many of the songs are not to be discounted. Yet it was the end of an era, not only pre-rock but full of songs which formed to the pattern ...

... Sturm Und Drang/ Brighton Beach Scumbags RIVERSIDE STUDIOS Phil Gibby BERKOFF returns with a double bill which offers all the usual vitriol and above average amounts of sensitivity. The opening piece, Sturm Und Drang, covers much the same ground as the earlier Decadence, but it's more of a postscript than a carbon copy. BerkofT teams up with Timothy Walker an excellent combination to waltz ...

... DISC DATA Greatest Hits -Steely Dan (ABC ABCD6I6) An excellent two-record compilation of what can now be seen as one of the most significant bands of the present decade, built around the very considerable songwriting and vocal abilities of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Judged in total, one can appreciate the careful merging of influences to produce something individual in rock and also ...

... 112 Rock 'n' Roll Greats (available only from Reader's Digest Association Ltd, 25 Berkeley Square, London W1X6AB) Reader's Digest may have put out more musically satisfying compilations than this, but none so evocative. Every one of the 1 12 tracks probably brings back a memory to somebody, especially if you are over 40, for some of them date from the fifties, the majority from the early ...

... The Golden Age of Hutch (EMI GX 2550) Previous collections of Hutch recordings have been mainly on the Decca label, but many of his best numbers were made for Parlophone, and later for HMV, and 16 of these have been packaged for EMI's new Golden Age series. Hutch's style of singing may have had its detractors in the forties ana ne was sometimes accused ol oeing over-dramatic. But listening ...

... Memory Serves Material (Celluloid ILPS 9693) 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 ...

... 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 ...