Light Music

In many ways the 1930s was a troubled decade, opening with a prolonged period of hardship for the world following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and ending with the outbreak of the Second World War. Radio was gradually becoming common in the home, and weekly visits to the cinema (now that they 'talked') helped to relieve the gloom. Gramophone records slumped badly from their peak sales at the end of the 1920s, but fortunately new recordings were still being made and light music (partly through its wide use in broadcasting) regularly featured on the lists of new releases. People like Eric Coates, Jack Payne, Louis Levy, Jack Hylton, Ambrose and the Commodore Grand Orchestra became household names, and they are just some of the varied ensembles featured in Guild Music's third salute to the 1930s (the previous nostalgia trips are on GLCD5106 and GLCD5116).

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