5013929191907

Climb Aboard My Roundabout! The British Toytown Sound 1967-1974

Various Artists

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Format: 3CD

Cat No: CRSEGBOX119

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Release Date:  28 October 2022

Label:  Grapefruit / Cherry Red

Packaging Type:  Clamshell

No of Units:  3

Barcode:  5013929191907

Genres:  Pop  60's  

  • Description

    • First-ever legitimate anthology of British toytown pop, a much-loved sub-genre among collectors.
    • Four-hour compilation with 87 tracks including hits, misses, rarities and previously unreleased material.

    Issued at the start of 1967, Beatles’ single 'Penny Lane' coupled a widescreen production (bolstered by a phalanx of session musicians on brass and woodwind) with a mildly hallucinogenic lyric populated by mundane characters going about their unremarkable suburban lives.

    It proved to be an enormously influential record. For the next year or two, British pop was awash with records that married quasi-classical arrangements with newly-minted fairy tales and character vignettes based around the grey everyday lives of ordinary small-town folk.

    Many years later, this burst of English eccentricity came to be known in collector circles as toytown pop – a pseudo-genre that took in everything from Jeff Lynne's early band The Idle Race and Deram-era David Bowie to backroom auteurs like Mark Wirtz, whose ambitious ‘Teenage Opera’ project inspired the young Andrew Lloyd Webber, who provided similarly over-the-top arrangements for CBS hopefuls Cardboard Orchestra.

    Featuring 87 excerpts from various pre-teenage operas, ‘Climb Aboard My Roundabout!’ is a 3CD celebration of the toytown pop experience. It includes contributions from the key players as well as many obscure delights and some huge rarities, including a hitherto-unreleased track from Wirtz's aborted ‘Teenage Opera’ project.

    With four hours of music housed in a clamshell box featuring a lavish 48-page booklet, ‘Climb Aboard My Roundabout!’ is an invitation that very few late 60s pop aficionados will be able to resist.

  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. THE SKELETON AND THE ROUNDABOUT (mono single mix) – The Idle Race
      • 2. JENNY ARTICHOKE - Kaleidoscope
      • 3. CUDDLY TOY – Fruit Machine
      • 4. PHENOMENAL CAT – The Kinks
      • 5. LITTLE LESLEY – The Alan Bown!
      • 6. EMILY SMALL (THE HUGE WORLD THEREOF) – The Picadilly Line
      • 7. MAN IN THE TEAPOT - Fire
      • 8. MR. LIGHT – John Carter and Mickey Keen
      • 9. THE DUBIOUS CIRCUS COMPANY – Clifford T. Ward
      • 10. ICE CREAM MAN (alternative version) - Kidrock
      • 11. LOLLIPOP MINDS – Wimple Winch
      • 12. PETER'S BIRTHDAY (BLACK AND WHITE RAINBOWS) – World Of Oz
      • 13. HA! HA! SAID THE CLOWN – Tony Hazzard
      • 14. SAD SIMON LIVES AGAIN – Tim Andrews
      • 15. UNCLE JOE, THE ICE CREAM MAN – The Mindbenders
      • 16. PHOEBE'S FLOWER SHOP – The Cortinas
      • 17. COPLINGTON – Persimmon's Peculiar Shades
      • 18. COLOUR SERGEANT LILLYWHITE – West Coast Consortium
      • 19. OUR FAIRY TALE – The Herd
      • 20. TEENAGE LOVE SONG - Hetherington
      • 21. EBANEEZER BEAVER (demo version) – The Mirage
      • 22. FAIRY TALE (demo version) – The Next Collection
      • 23. BROTHER JACK – Barry Wigley
      • 24. TRAFALGAR SQUARE – The Good Time Losers
      • 25. SADIE AND HER MAGIC MR. GALAHAD – The New Generation
      • 26. MARJORY DAW – Morning Glory
      • 27. THE LAST PERFORMANCE OF THE ROYAL REGIMENTAL VERY VICTORIOUS AND VALIANT BAND – The Syn
      • 28. RAINBOW ROCKING CHAIR – Majority One
      • 29. EXCERPT FROM “A TEENAGE OPERAâ€� - Keith West

      Disc 2

      • 1. LAVENDER POPCORN - Scrugg
      • 2. KNOCKING NAILS INTO MY HOUSE – Ambrose Slade
      • 3. MR. JOB - Jigsaw
      • 4. UNCLE ARTHUR – David Bowie
      • 5. THE BITTER THOUGHTS OF LITTLE JANE - Timon
      • 6. CELLOPHANE MARY JANE – Astronaut Alan and The Planets
      • 7. MR. KIPLING – Tuesday's Children
      • 8. IT'S THE BEST SEASIDE IN THE WORLD – Frabjoy and Runcible Spoon
      • 9. AND NOW FOR A LITTLE TRAIN NUMBER – Kenny Everett
      • 10. GLORIOUS HOUSE OF ARTHUR – Fairfield Parlour
      • 11. LAUGHING BOY FROM NOWHERE – Simon Dupree and The Big Sound
      • 12. AUNTIE MARY'S DRESS SHOP - Tomorrow
      • 13. THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE – The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
      • 14. JAMES IN THE BASEMENT – Denis Couldry
      • 15. TALES OF FLOSSIE FILLETT - Turquoise
      • 16. MY BEST FRIEND – The Picadilly Line
      • 17. HAPPINESS IS TOY-SHAPED – Harmony Grass
      • 18. BIRMINGHAM BRASS BAND – The Bullring
      • 19. WATCHMAKER – Persimmon's Peculiar Shades
      • 20. ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS – Timothy Blue
      • 21. AFTER TEA – Spencer Davis Group
      • 22. DREAM DREAM DREAM - Kidrock
      • 23. LEMON PIE FAIR - Complex
      • 24. UNCLE HENRY'S MAGIC GARDEN – David Matthews
      • 25. BRIC-A-BRAC MAN – Bill Niles
      • 26. WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE* (full version) – Chas Mills and Mark Wirtz
      • 27. EVERYBODY LOVES THE CLOWN - Nirvana
      • 28. SHARKEY - Christopher
      • 29. POOR JOHNNY – The Secrets
      • 30. FAIRGROUND – Pure Gold
      • 31. TOY SOLDIER – The Riot Squad

      Disc 3

      • 1. (HE'S OUR DEAR OLD) WEATHERMAN – Mark Wirtz
      • 2. ZEBEDY ZAK – Cardboard Orchestra
      • 3. FLORENCE - Tapestry
      • 4. MR. MOODY'S GARDEN – Gilbert O'Sullivan
      • 5. MUTINY – The Alan Bown!
      • 6. UPTIGHT BASIL – Magic Valley
      • 7. BANG BANG - Kidrock
      • 8. TOYMAKER – Wild Silk
      • 9. LANTERNLIGHT – Peter and The Wolves
      • 10. LOVE AND THE BIG BRASS BAND – Dave Christie
      • 11. PICCOLO MAN - Friends
      • 12. UWE AUS DUISBERG – The Hi-Fis
      • 13. EINER KLEINER MISER MUSIK – Tony Rivers and The Castaways
      • 14. THE HAPPY KING – Music Box
      • 15. MRS DAISY – Tintern Abbey
      • 16. MRS MURPHY'S BUDGERIGAR – Blossom Toes
      • 17. ANNIE'S PLACE – Gene Latter
      • 18. GLASSHOUSE GREEN, SPLINTER RED – John Pantry
      • 19. HENRY EVERYDAY* - Timothy Blue
      • 20. DEAR OLD MRS. BELL – The Shadows
      • 21. MR. NICE GUY - Dragonmilk
      • 22. MISTER WHITE'S WHITE FLYING MACHINE (album version) - Ayshea
      • 23. MAGIC SHOES (demo) – Fire
      • 24. KING OF THE CASTLE – Jason Crest
      • 25. THROUGH MY TELESCOPE – Marty Wilde
      • 26. TIME TO GO HOME – The Tots
      • 27. THE SAD STORY OF SIMON AND HIS BUGLE* (correct version) – Mark Wirtz