Beach Boys – a super choice for tonight Johnny. I grew up on Long Island and never dreamed I’d live near the Pacific Ocean, yet our family moved to one of the big surf towns (Santa Cruz) where I lived for 20 years. Beautiful 70’s beach town. Anyway, great stuff in the first hour Mr. Mac!

I heard a song ‘New Love’ by Diane Solomon on Sonia’s show a few nights ago. This recording intrigued me as I can’t remember hearing it before and I knew little or nothing about the singer. However, it had the kind of tempo, stops, starts and changes that I think would have gone/would go down very well on the Northern Soul scene. Doing an internet search the only reference I can find to it is that it was a single released on Philips label in 1974. This would make sense as it was around this time that, for a short while, the Northern Soul scene emerged blinking in the daylight from its mysterious underground, and favourites – usually ten or more year old re-releases of deleted records that had never made it in the US, let alone had a release over here – plus new compositions in the style, if a little more pop-orientated, and some of which ‘blue eyed’, were making it into the charts. (There was also the utterly forgettable and cringingly bad ‘Footsie’ by Wigan’s Chosen Few…)

I also learned from my search that Diane had had a TV Series on BBC 1 in 1975 and an appearance on Morecambe & Wise so clearly a was a much higher profile artiste than realise. However, I was barely around a TV in those times; and, frankly, not a lot has changed as these days I hear more TV theme music on Andy’s show than I ever do via the box!

I was looking forward to the Bastille Day show, and I was not disappointed. Fabulous French songs. Merci beaucoup Roger! 🇫🇷 👍

Gene Pitney had such a distinctive voice! ’24 Hours From Tulsa’ is one of my favorites. What a treat Johnny – thank you!

Great programme Roger (as always!) and special thanks for including Donovan’s ‘Wear Your Love Like Heaven’ – it was really good to hear it again.

Thank you Adrian for playing One Day More. My favourite song from any musical, I could never hear it too much. That last but one note… as loud as possible on the alexa…never fails to give me goosebumps.

Hi Simon (McLean),

Having a sort out in a forgotten corner of the music shelves here and re-found these ones marked as missing for many years. Wondered if they might be a suitable style for Musicbox if you haven’t already played them.

Tol & Tol — ‘Recuerdos de la Alhambra’, ‘The Windjammer’, ‘A Passage to India’.
Nicolas de Angelis — ‘Les Roses Rouges de Cordoue’, ‘L’Espagnole’.

All the best and thanks for the Musicboxes.

Hi johnny. I have a suggestion for artist of the week. The Puppini Sisters. They are of course modern singers who sing our kind of music, and I have rather liked them since I first heard them on your show some months ago.

Many thanks for the lovely birthday spotlight on Don Black. Also for the lovely to tribute to Arthur Hamilton, who was coincidentally Don’s friend.

Good morning Sonia. I’m sure that you know the musicians’ definition of “Perfect Pitch” – it’s the ability to throw a banjo 50 yards so that it goes down an old mineshaft without touching the sides!
Do keep up with the banjo/bagpipe/drummer jokes, they’re great.

Best wishes
Chris Bocock

Oh my goodness it’s like finding a sea of calm and sanity in this ever crazy world.
Stayed at Radio 2 for too long, definitely past my sell by date because I hate commercial radio. Music interrupted by adverts for bingo, betting and various charities. I’m a pensioner, I am a charity!
Found you totally by chance after a rant to my daughter and she added the UK radio app to my phone and said, you’ll definitely find something you like there! How right she was and not a moment too soon as the podcasts of Sam Costa & Jack Jackson from the 60’s were running out!
I am ecstatic, thank you. Now breathe!

Woohoo, Demis Roussos was sounding mystical tonight with his band Aphrodite’s Child. Marie Jolie was the song if I remember correctly. Thanks to Steve James for transporting some of us back to the late sixties with that one. It was a time when Belgian and Dutch bands started to make singles and albums in English in order to appeal to a bigger market.

Steve, as you likely know the Dutch duo Greenfield and Cook came along a couple of years later with songs such as ‘Don’t Turn Me Loose’ and ‘Only Lies’. I wonder if you have played those songs.

Thanks for a great and moody listen this evening.

A lovely programme each and every week day with Sonia Beldon always a lovely selection of music brings back lovely memories of the singers we used to hear on the wireless. Thank you

Mark Steyn’s ‘ On the Town’: (57)
Another two hours of this show would still not be enough. It was utterly compelling. The career of the late Charles Strouse for all its great and magnificent success was made still more significant and strangely moving by its failures. Liz Robertson singing ‘Dance a Little Closer’ from the eponymous musical was transfixing and a moment of beauty. As for the composer’s last performance of ‘Once Upon a Time” ….well, it will live long in the memory. This show was truly moving. No hour was better spent. Thanks Mark Steyn.