ANDY LOTHIAN ORCHESTRA - LIVE - 1960'S

In March 2009, I put a record up on Retro Dundee by Andy Lothian. This was a traditional Scottish tune that featured his violin skills.

Andy, however, was equally known for his big band sound, his orchestra being the resident band at the Palais for over 3 decades. In fact, he ended up owning the venue!

We are talking ballroom dancing music styles here, the orchestra supplying the tempo for the dancefloor with a mixture of latin, jazz and pop.

In 1946, his band was heard all around the UK when his orchestra was broadcast live from the Palais on BBC radio a few times.

Andy kept the big band going in the Palais up to around 1970, then bowed out to make way for the start of the disco era.

Below is a rare recording live at the Palais itself, from the mid 60's and showcasing the full orchestra sound - no lead violin.

The line-up includes - J. Couper - D. Gold - J. Croft - R. Bronson - G. Cully - B. Cooper - C. Fotheringham and C. Coats.

So go grab your partner and swirl around the room to this track below - Duke's classic..."The A Train".

Many thanks to Carolyn.

THE "ARE YE DANCIN'?" BOOK

Following on from yesterday's post - here's a great wee book that embraces the same subject, called "Are Ye Dancin'?".
It came out at the tail end of last year, and although it covers the full historical span of Scottish dancefloor action, it's the 60's, 70's & 80's which uses up the largest chunk of the book, hence me bringing it to your attention.
Here's a descriptive paragraph from the book itself to give you a flavour of the content -
*"Are Ye Dancin'?" is the unique inside story of "the dancin'" in Scotland in the 20th Century. It's a frank, hilarious account with anecdotes from the people who lived it - the bands, cashiers, stewards, promoters, entertainers, managers and the dancers themselves.*
Needless to say, Dundee struts it's stuff and gets a good mention, which also includes material from the Retro Dundee archives.
It was written by Eddie Tobin & Martin Kielty and is great insight into our own jiggin' years, with plenty of laughs along the way.
So boogie on down to your local book shop and go grab a copy for a tenner...before it becomes an expensive collectors item!

DUNDEE'S DANCING YEARS - 1989

Many of you will be familiar with the work of Maureen Reynolds who has written lots of Dundee based books since the 90's.

What we have here is an early example of Maureen's writing, published in the Scots Magazine in February 1989.

It's entitled "Dundee's Dancing Years" and is all about the dancehalls & ballrooms that were scattered around town, covering quite a few decades.

Just about every-place gets a mention - Robbies (West End Palais) - Continentale - Palais - J.M. - Empress - Locarno - Kidd's - Chalet - Star... and she tells stories like when locals had to take their gas masks with them when they went dancing during the war years, then goes on to recall her own dancing days at the Palais where the lassies had a perfume machine!

It goes right up to the 70's & 80's with the Barracuda - Sands - Samantha's & Buddies being name-checked, an era when they changed from old style ballrooms to discos for the "strobe light generation" as she describes it. Yeah, that sound like us lot!

Plenty photos and adverts to accompany the article too.

I've scanned in all 9 pages actual size - so if you fancy a wee read, just click onto the items to view the large versions.