Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Two world wars in a single century is scarcely a cause for celebration, but the Band of the Irish Guards work hard to persuade us that--in the field of military music at least--things weren't all bad. As might be expected, Kenneth Alford, the nearest equivalent to Sousa that Britain has produced, is generously represented. The album opens predictably enough with his Colonel Bogey, which despite later movie fame was actually written in 1914, remaining popular among British servicemen throughout both wars (especially with the unofficial lyric that began: "Hitler has only got one ball..."). His Voice of the Guns, best known from Lawrence of Arabia, was penned in 1917, while Alford's contribution to the WWII included Eagle Squadron, a stirring tribute to the volunteer US pilots who joined the RAF in 1940. But it's not all Alford's show, and there are further rousing parade-ground pieces from Leo Stanley, Sousa himself and Richard Rodgers (the composer of "The Carousel Waltz" turned his hand to marches for a documentary entitled Victory At Sea). Throughout this chronological sequence, the Band of the Irish Guards and their music director, Major Chatburn, march with an audible swagger in their step. --Mark Walker
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