Fab Forty compiler Alan Field reports

The Tunes Project is an occasional series broadcast on 192 Radio from the Netherlands. The show is presented by Frank van Heerde, with additional research and production from Kees Brinkerink who was previously associated with the Oldies Project.
 
Featured tracks typically include theme tunes adopted on the radio for particular programmes, or by individual dj's, as well as music used in station promo's and commercials or as fillers and voice-overs. The standard of research is incredibly high, and the results always interesting.
 
Episode 5 of the Tunes Project, which aired on Friday 18th October, 2019, turned its spotlight on the first two years of Radio London. It was, as expected, a very entertaining and informative two hours, with many themes identified - title and artist - and heard 'in the clear' by listeners, possibly for the first time. Key tracks are listed below, but there is one that deserves to be singled out for a more detailed discussion.
 
Mark Roman joined Radio London in October 1965, presenting his nightly show 'The Roman Empire'. He adopted as his theme tune a high-energy 'live' version of 'Wipe Out'. It has been widely assumed, and catalogued in at least three databases of dj themes, that it was by the song's original hitmakers the Surfaris.
 
But now, after painstaking research by Kees Brinkerink, and backed up by archive recordings from Radio London, it can be revealed that the version of Wipe Out used by Mark Roman was in fact by the Ventures!
 
Building upon their fairly orthodox 1963 cover of the Surfaris' number, the Ventures had gone on to make the song their own. By 1965 their high-energy, heavily improvised version of Wipe Out was a mainstay of their live performances in Japan and around the world.
 
It turns out there are three similar-sounding, but quite distinct, contemporary recordings of the track played in this way by the Ventures. Kees has made careful comparisons of these with vintage tapes of the Roman Empire to identify the exact version used by Mark on his show. It's the one that appeared on the 1965 LP "The Ventures On Stage".
 
By way of background, the Ventures On Stage album was actually conceived as a re-creation of the group's live performances: it is in fact a collection of studio recordings with audience reaction overdubbed. As a matter of interest, a 'clean' version of the studio take was released for the first time by Ace Records on volume 5 of the cd set 'The Ventures In The Vault' in 2014.
 
So now, for anyone who wants to know what was playing when Mark bid us 'Hail Citizens and welcome to the Roman Empire', or signed off with tales of 'ghoulies and ghosties and long leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night', the answer - rewritten after after more than 50 years - is Wipe Out by the Ventures, from their album The Ventures On Stage.
 
The Tunes Project continues on occasional Friday nights on 192radio.nl. Dates and times of forthcoming episodes are usually posted in advance on the station's website.
 
Alan Field

Tunes Project Episode 5, Key tracks

(Information courtesy of Kees Brinkerink & Frank van Heerde, transcription by Alan Field)

DJ and Show themes:

Walkin' with Mr Lee - Lee Allen - Pete Brady 1
Danger Man - Red Price Combo - Pete Brady 2
Potato Chips - The Palais All Stars - Earl Richmond
Pinball - The Van Doren Hawksworth Collection - Dave Dennis
Little Jasper - Bill Black's Combo - Paul Kaye 1
Town Talk - Ken Woodman & his Piccadilly Brass - Paul Kaye 2
Tijuana Taxi - Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - Duncan Johnson 1
Night Rider - John Schroeder - Duncan Johnson 2
Image - Sounds Orchestral - London After Midnight*
Nut Rocker - B Bumble & the Stingers - Kenny & Cash
Reveille Rock - Johnny & the Hurricanes - Battle of the New Sounds / Dave Cash 1
Rebel Rouser - Duane Eddy - Dave Cash 2
The Stripper - David Rose - Kenny Everett
Dizzy Miss Lizzy - Beatles - Beatles US Tour '66 Reports
Wipe Out - The Ventures - The Roman Empire
Getting Sentimental Over You - Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - Mike Lennox
Drum Diddley - Joe Loss - Ed Stewart 1, also the Juicy Fruit Show
Shindig - The Shadows - School Spot
Lover - Buddy Merrill - Ed Stewart 2
Waltzin' Matilda - Frank Ifield - TW / Windsor's Castle
Stranger on the Shore - Jerry Allen - Oxo show and recipe (with TW)
Right of Way - Andrew Oldham Orchestra - Chris Denning / Coffee Break
Mr Tambourine Man - Golden Gate Strings - Keith Skues
The Kid from Red Bank - Count Basie - Fab 40 Show (1965)
Swingin' 'Round the World - The Jonah Jones Quartet - UK Tops the World

Fillers and Voice-overs:

Ocean Terminal - Group 40
Boogie Man Boogie - Ted Heath
Piltdown Rides Again - Piltdown Men
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf - Jimmy Smith (with Duncan Johnson 'Big L' overdubs)

Featured in Radio London productions / Miscellaneous:

Mambo Jambo - Terry Snyder & the All Stars - 8am Exact position & News in Brief
Windy and Warm - Chet Atkins - promo for TW show
Minor Bossa Nova - Laurie Johnson Orchestra - station promo / Drive-In show
Trash - Duane Eddy - station promo & Big L Pearls commercial
Special 230 - André Brasseur - Brands Hatch motor racing
Walkin' the Strings - Merle Travis - filler used by Paul Kaye
Far Far Away - Bachelors - advertising movie I've Got a Horse (March '65)
I Do Know - Steve Darbishire - snippet included in promo for the Rabbit Patch
London My Hometown - Chantelles - 45rpm cover of the PAMS Hometown jingle

[I can't resist adding one of my own, in case this becomes the basis of a definitive list:
Most High - Ted Heath & his Music - a frequently-used filler and voice-over – AF]

* Over on Caroline North, Bob Stewart had been using 'Image' as his theme, choosing the 1965 Alan Haven single. On Big L, according to the 'Tunes' research, Duncan picked the Sounds Orchestral version, released in 1966. Tony Currie, posting on the 45.cat website believes that Big L used both Alan Haven and Sounds Orchestral. The Alan Haven B-side, 'Romance on the North Sea' was also popular on Caroline and also recorded by Sounds Orchestral.

There is a lot more info about 'Image' on 45cat, which states that it was originally a US radio theme. Hank Levine's version, with Part 1 on the A and Part ll on the B-side, was a UK release in 1961, but reissued in '65, presumably to cash in on offshore airplay of covers. (Webmaster)

The Roman Emperor Responds about 'Wipeout'

"That theme tune was created and produced for me by Dave Cash who was a sort of mentor for me in the early days, hence his voice on the intro. As for it being the Ventures, I have no idea, but I would hazard a guess that it was from their album simply because logic dictates that when looking for a specific type of track, you would not look through a pile of singles but use an album, and as a live track, it would have better atmosphere."

Find out about those 'ghoulies and ghosties' here.