It was announced this week that pop star Louisa Rose Allen or Foxes as she is better known. Some fans seem to be taking a large cartoon inhale that such a thing as a pop singer appearing in the show singing a song. Myself however fickle fan that I am love Foxes. I bought her album as soon as it was announced she was going to be in Doctor Who and haven’t turned back since!
So here everybody is a selection of records for the rest of you fickle fans showing there is nothing wrong with “another” pop star being in Doctor Who, in Part One of The Doctor Who Record Collection.
10 – John Smith and the Common Men
SUSAN: It’s John Smith and the Common Men. They’ve gone from nineteen to two.
IAN: John Smith is the stage name of the Honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn’t he, Susan?
In reality this is a track of stock music – i.e. free to use, called Three Guitars Mood 2 by the Arthur Nelson Group. However, it was contemporary and with it – This set the intention for the series as much as the Daleks, and the TARDIS and the Theme. Much like the use of pop music in the modern series – this was showing us that this was a cool series, and a modern series – it was now.
9 – Doctor Who – Geoff Love et al
By the late 70’s Star Wars brought with it a new wave of merchandising and a new appreciation of movie music – How could the easy listening world of Geof Love and his contemporaries resist bringing this world to the masses through Woolworths. The ideal gift, for many these compilations lovingly padded out with sci-fi themes past and present for many were a sci- fi fans definitive versions of their beloved soundscapes. A 70’s orchestral arrangement of Doctor Who however is still a bit of a aural shocker when used to the oscillations of Delia Derbyshire. Even the themes composer himself Mr Ron Grainer couldn’t help giving us his own show time 70’s interpretation is wrongly described on some sites as what the theme would have sounded like without Delia Derbyshire – however the 70’s Tijuana congas suggest it’s nothing more than it being re -interpreted as a hard hitting cop show.
8 – The Earthlings – Landing of the Daleks
Not only a cash in, but an opportunity for free publicity – with Dalekmania secured experimental Birmingham band through this treat our way – not content from riding on the popularity of our favourite time travelling telly show, they also happily kept quiet as top producer Joe Meek was linked to the record as it bared a striking resemblance to his in house style. He of course had nothing to do with it. The record wasn’t helped by being banned by the BBC for containing the …—… Morse code signal for SOS. “We are a broadcasting operation and use SOS in cases of emergency. If this record was heard over the air it might be taken as a general emergency and subject to misinterpretation. We have broadcast records with Morse in them but the code has always been scrambled. To our knowledge this is the first time we have had to restrict a record because of a real message in Morse.”
Well all publicity being good publicity, the track was quickly re-recorded and how big a hit was it? well when did you last hear it
7 – Puccini – Madame Butterfly
since the shows return there has been a raft of pop songs and classical pieces, but this isn’t limited just to the new series – plenty of pop songs and famous tunes have popped up throughout the shows 50 year history , and this was featured in Doctor Who the Movie from 1996. which I bought because it was in Doctor Who which is. of note are The Great British Dance Bands Play the Music of Irving Berlin’ (1921-31) and Savoy Havana/Savoy Orpheans: ‘The Savoy Bands which together allow you to recreate all of the incidental music in Black Orchid, and The Devil’s Triangle by King Crimson as featured in The mind of evil being to music, what the clangers are televisually to the master! and Jo dancing to a track by the pretty things at her engagement party, surely a must at the wedding do’s of all Doctor Who couples.
6 – The Human League – Tom Baker
The series has had many tracks inspired by the music and stars – Orbital, Blur, The Pet Shop Boys and Pink Floyd have all cited the Radiophonic Workshop as inspirations in various compositions, however This is different. The B side to Boys and Girls – quite an important record to the league, heralding their new and what would be classed as their most famous line up, this was a record to establish the league in the serious pantheon of electro and new romantic music – a novelty record could be the death of the group – but here not only did they title their Radiophonic homage Tom Baker after the announcement of his departure from Doctor Who, they also had a thank you message to him etched around the centre of the single.
5 – Doctor in Distress
On one hand this record is a triumph bringing together 6th Doctor, current companion Peri, arch nemesis the Master and The brigadier himself! A line up even the most cynical or waning of fans would love to see as the series went on hiatus. Also we can’t sneer at the fact this was a charity record. However we can question the motives of writer and producer – the shy and retiring Ian Levine, at the time hot on the heels of the blossoming Stock, Aiken and Waterman with his own raft of musicians – all of whom appear on this record, and all who were having a lull in their careers – Tight Fitt, Dollar and Bucks Fizz all lingering in the top 60 and certainly not paying for Ian’s quest for missing episodes, the project which he currently retires shyly from.
4 – The Beautiful South – How longs a tear take to dry?
This heart was like a tardis
I went and lost the key in a fight
I’ve never found a locksmith
Will you be my locksmith tonight?
Radiohead – up on the ladder, where does the discerning fan stop at collecting records with references to Doctor Who and lets not forget the Iron Maidens Somewhere in Time sleeve. Records like this were also useful for the anal fan to demonstrate to their friends just how cool Doctor Who was for pop stars to reference it! How far would the Anal fan go to look cool in the sixth form common room? by saying Exterminate by Dutch Dance Duo snap was a tribute to the Daleks, that’s how far!
3 – Billie – Honey to the Bee
In January 2007 the UK top 40 allowed non – single downloads to be eligible for the charts. To test this Radio 1 DJ decided to test it by launching the first of many campaigns to get a random song in the charts. Riding on her popularity in the hit TV show he decided to campaign for Billie’s (as she was) 1999 hit Honey to the Bee to hit the charts, and it did at no 17!
inspired by this a number of fan campaigns have been launched to get Murray Gold’s compositions into the top 40. Most prominently was “Love don’t Roam” from the Runaway Bride sung by Neil Hannon of the divine comedy. I don’t know how it fared in this country, but it reached number 19 in Iceland.
2 – Bonnie Langford – Now
One of the divine fiery red headed vixen Bonnie’s more recent releases. The reason a fan would own this such item? I like many people hunt out my telly heroes and ask for nothing more than a simple autograph. Conventions and official signings are good for these, but often these days carry a charge. SO what better way to collect the signature of a beloved hero than to stand outside the stage door after an enjoyable matinee performance at a local theatre! Now many people would be happy to push their DVD’s, Action figures or target novelizations under the noses of the celebrities, but if you are like me, you feel you need to show you don’t just like them because you like Doctor Who, you want to show you are in awe of all that they do – hence the purchase of a Bonnie CD, or perhaps a Lalla Ward knitting book or most personally obscure a box set of The Archers for Terry Molloy to sign after a sensational performance of The Lady Vanishes!
1 – The Beatles – I am the Walrus
What top ten would be valid without The Beatles at Number 1. Before we get on to this song choice we need to mention some of the appearances of the Beatles in the show. The most prominent being in the Chase – originally intended to actually appear in silver suits performing in a projected future 1996, manager Brian Epstein vetoed but allowed a showing of their then current single Ticket to Ride (a bit like foxes) again showing just how important and of the moment Doctor Who was. The inclusion of this footage would delay the VHS release of the chase as would the other tape in the box set remembrance of the Daleks where the Beatles play on the Juke Box. But why is I am the walrus the most tenuous Doctor Who related track. It isn’t the fact that Jo quotes from it in the Three Doctors, it’s because In the randomly tuned Radio featured in the sound scape of the recording, you can hear BBC Radio’s production of king Lear with lines being spoken by Roger Delgado.
So Foxes is added to my collection of Doctor Who records. As for the fans moaning about Foxes being in the show, at least it’s stopped them deciding if she’s playing Susan or the Rani!
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