We have already featured one ionic LP cover in this short series - that of James Shepherd on the front of Black Dyke’s 1969 ‘High Peak’ album. This 1981 recording is undoubtedly another. 

At a time when brass band LPs were still adorned by stereotypical images of battered instruments and postcard snaps of bucolic vistas, this one made you look twice, despite it costing £4.50 (about £16.00 today) when it was eventually released in September 1982. For real trend setting, you could even get it on cassette for your Sony Walkman (which had come out in the UK in 1980).

Virtuosic

Designed by Hilary Scudder (who went on to become a highly respected ceramicist, photographer and artist) it summed up Grimethorpe Colliery Band at its flamboyant best - a showcase of virtuosic individuality that at the time set them apart from anyone else.  

This was the band that had just notched up a hat-trick of Carreras Rothman’s Brass in Concert wins, had regained the Granada Band of the Year title and had appeared at a Proms Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. They were about to fly off for a tour of Australia.

Right mood

Ray Farr had been in the post of resident MD since 1979 and with players such as Tom Paulin, Peter Roberts, Brian Smith and Stan Priestley, in the ranks, along with new stars in the making such as Nicholas Childs and Alan Morrison, they were a band that swaggered with musical intent - if and when the mood took them.

It certainly did here - none more so than Peter Roberts, whose performance of ‘On With the Motley’ recorded at St George’s Hall in Bradford was rumoured to have been done in one take. Even now you are stunned by its powerful poise, whilst Steve Sykes also provided a sublime ‘one take’ performance of a condensed version of ‘Scherzo’ by John Golland (cut down to fit the LP time constraints).   

Elsewhere, the two Stans were artfully languid in their solo features, whilst the playing on the likes of ‘Berne Patrol’, ‘Songs of the Quay’ and ‘A Festive Prelude’ reeks of almost casual brilliance that occasionally teeters on the edge of anarchy.

Breathtaking

Ray Farr’s clever arrangements, packed with colour still sound remarkably fresh - from Prokofiev’s ‘Sleighride’ to the ‘Infernal Dance’ and ‘Final Hymn’ from Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebrid’, but it is the cherry-topping arrangement of ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by Elgar Howarth that still has the ability take the breath away.

And to do that 36 years after it was recorded, tells you why you should still take a second look at it.

Iwan Fox (with thanks to Steve Jack)

Side 1:

1. Midnight Sleighride (Prokofiev arr. Sauter-Finnegan/Farr)
2. On With the Motley (Leoncavello arr. Farr)
Soloist: Peter Roberts
3. Songs of the Quay (Goff Richards)
4. In a Sentimental Mood (Ellington arr. Howarth)
Soloist: Stanley Lippeatt
5. Picture at an Exhibition) Mussorgsky arr. Howarth)

Side 2:

1. A Festive Prelude (Stephen Bulla)
2. Scherzo (John Golland)
Soloist: Stephen Sykes
3. Berne Patrol (arr. Howarth)
4. Why Did I Choose You (Leonard arr. Farr)
Soloist: Stanley Preistley
5. The Firebird (Stravinsky arr. Farr)