Back in the early '80s a 2-LP set was issued on the budget Cambra label of "The Many Sides Of Johnny Douglas". All of the tracks were licensed from RCA which makes me assume, rightly or wrongly, that these are selections from his Living Strings albums. One of the tracks is Douglas' lovely theme from "The Railway Children", but does anyone know on which Living Strings album it first appeared?
This is a link to someone's CD transfer of the set:
Many thanks for the info, but I'm curious to know the origin of the cover version Douglas made for RCA. I'm fairly sure it's the not the same as the one on the EMI/Columbia LP, which itself was a re-recording of course.
I've gone over the track lists of all of the Living Strings albums (of which there were not that many after the 1970 release of "The Railway Children"). The theme (or any other track) from that film does not appear on any of them.
Perhaps it was a previously unreleased track. Or maybe RCA did indeed license the track from Columbia for the Cambra set, so that there would be some representation of one of Douglas' most famous works.
I've gone over the track lists of all of the Living Strings albums (of which there were not that many after the 1970 release of "The Railway Children"). The theme (or any other track) from that film does not appear on any of them.
Perhaps it was a previously unreleased track. Or maybe RCA did indeed license the track from Columbia for the Cambra set, so that there would be some representation of one of Douglas' most famous works.
Thanks for checking out the Living Strings LPs, Bob. I too wondered if it was taken from the Columbia album but the arrangement is quite different. As you say, perhaps it was intended for an album that never materialised, or perhaps it's not actually a Living Strings recording. I have contacted Dulcima Records, who look after Johnny's music, and they have very kindly said they'll look into this for me, so I will keep you posted!
Having enjoyed watching the film again, I was tempted to purchase the Dulcima 2-CD set. I managed to find samples online and discovered the score album is "pop/easy listening" versions of Johnny Douglas's themes - anachronistic and jarring to me, but clearly a product of the album's time. I feel only one cue vaguely resembles its film counterpart - "Birthday Waltz".
If the original film recordings are available I believe they would make a delightful album.
