RECORDS
JRH Records was a DIY label. It managed one singles. 'Sing Along With Jack Hawkins and his Show Band', I presume the label is actually called 'JRH': as can be seen, it could just about be J&H, or even JH with a squiggly separator. As Jack Hawkins was the artist I reckon we can be moderately sure that the 'J' and the 'H' are his initials, but the 'r', or whatever it is, is slightly perplexing - combined with the 'J' it could even be 'Jr' for 'Junior', as the record was aimed at children. There's no date on the label, but it has a distinctly '70s look to it, and the tracks are in stereo, so I'm quietly confident that it belongs on this site. Tracks on the EP are 'Goodnight Children', 'Gay Gordons' (a Scottish medley, including 'Donald Where's Your Trousers'), a slightly bloodless version of 'Let's Twist Again', and - the stand-out track for me - a sprightly rendering of the old HP Baked Beans jingle from the 1960s. Apparently the jingle caught on amongst children and turned into a kind of singing-game; thus, perhaps, its inclusion on this EP. A triumph for the advertising agency, there, and no mistake. Jack Hawkins was a 1960s and 70s British dance bandleader from Portsmouth. His music focused on uptempo arrangements of American soul songs, mod dancers and poppy ballads, and at the time was categorised as 'Big Beat' (a form of 60s mod music not to be confused with the late 90s dance music of the same name). Thoughout the 60s Hawkins' band had widespread residencies at ballrooms in Portsmouth and around the country. Hawkins and his Orchestra appeared in a sequence in the 1971 film Get Carter, set in a night club where they were playing. They also had numerous appearances on the BBC, broadcasting live on the radio for 'Swingalong'. and later featuring on television's 'Come Dancing'. Distributed By JRH Records. Thanks to Robert Lyons For The Info.
| 70s | Jack Hawkins And His Showband | Sing Along With Jack Hawkins And His Showband | JRH | JH | 001 |
