Hello, all...I'm finally embarking on my project of assembling a complete Bowlly
collection. This is probably folly, as so many of Al's early records are going
to be very hard to find (any suggestions, or copies of same, would be hugely
appreciated). Thus far I have only gone through the Ray Noble, Lew Stone and
dedicated "Al Bowlly" CDs and have compiled 748 unique recordings, but this is
just the start. I haven't yet gone through the Lew Stone or Bowlly LPs, nor the
dozens of other British Dance Band 78s, LPs and CDs I have, so those will no
doubt yield many further titles.

I am comparing the audio quality on each of the sources as I go along. The
Vocalion series is generally the best source for the Noble recordings, but not
always, surprisingly. I've learned you can't make assumptions; sometimes the
cheap, budget-label compilations will have a track or two that sound better than
something from a more expensive, elaborate release. And of course, I'm finding
in many cases that a given CD will have one or two songs not on any other
release, so I'm glad I've been obsessive and bought all of the Bowlly I could
find!

There are many instances where Al recorded two, or even three versions of a
given song, often one with Lew Stone recorded around the time of another with
Ray Noble. I seem to have found two different takes of Al singing "The Very
Thought of You" with Monia Liter at the piano. (I'm keeping my ears open for
subtle differences in performance as well as sound quality.)

Well, I haven't yet gone through any of the many, many LPs and 78s here, nor the
CDs of Roy Fox, Carroll Gibbons, Geraldo, Maurice Winnick, etc., but I'll keep
you all posted as this project moves along. Again, any ideas about locating the
more obscure 1927-31 (and beyond!) records would be very welcome.

All the best--
Randy Skretvedt