''Rock Follies'' is a soundtrack album of the 1976 UK television series '' Rock Follies''. The album featured songs from the show, sung by stars

Julie Covington Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of " Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album Evita. Early life Julie Covington was born in ...

, Charlotte Cornwell and

Rula Lenska Rula Lenska (born Róża Maria Leopoldyna Łubieńska, 30 September 1947) is a British actress. She mainly appears in British stage and television productions and is known in the United States for a series of television advertisements in the 19 ...

. The songs were composed by Howard Schuman and

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone ...

Andy Mackay Andrew Mackay (born 23 July 1946) is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member (playing oboe and saxophone) of the art rock group Roxy Music. In addition, he has taught music and provided scores for television, while his ...

. The album reached No.1 in the UK album charts.

Overview

The series ''Rock Follies'' was a musical drama, which centered on a singing trio and their struggles to become famous. Throughout the series, the fictional band (The Little Ladies) performed a number of songs - all original compositions. During the success of the series, an album containing 12 of the tracks was released by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...

in the UK, and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most im ...

in the US. It exceeded expectations by entering the charts at No.1, which was very much a rarity at the time.Official Charts - entry at No.1
/ref> It remained at the top for three weeks in April 1976. Two singles were taken from the album; "Glen Miller is Missing" backed with "Talking Pictures", and "Sugar Mountain" backed with the non-album "War Brides", although neither of these charted.
/ref> The music was written by

, who was a founding member of

, while the lyrics were written by Howard Schuman (who also wrote the television screenplay). ''Rock Follies'' was re-released on Compact disc in 2000 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

Track listing

All tracks credited to Howard Schuman and Andy Mackay
Side One # "Sugar Mountain" — 2:47 # "Good Behaviour" — 2:35 # "Stairway" — 4:05 # "Daddy" — 2:00 # "Lamplight" — 3:55 # "The Road" — 3:55 Side Two # "

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forc ...

is Missing" — 3:12 # "

Biba Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon. Early years Biba's early years were rather humble, with many of the ou ...

Nova" — 3:55 # "Talking Pictures" — 2:53 # "Hot Neon" — 3:02 # "Roller Coaster" — 1:25 # "Rock Follies" — 3:58 CD Bonus track: # "War Brides" - 2:47

Personnel

- lead vocals * Charlotte Cornwell - vocals *

- vocals * Ray Russell - guitar *

Brian Chatton Brian Charles Chatton (born 19 July 1948 in Farnworth, Lancashire, England) is an English keyboardist, author and songwriter. He played with bands like the Warriors with singer Jon Anderson and then formed another group named Hickory with dru ...

- keyboards * Peter Van Hooke - percussion *

Tony Stevens Tony Stevens (born 12 September 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist with the bands Foghat, Savoy Brown, and Nobody's Business. Career Stevens joined the British blues-rock band Savoy Brown in 1968, and contributed to fo ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Ray Russell - string arrangements *Robin Williams - violin solo *Sadie McKenzie - backing vocals *

- saxophone

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{reflist 1976 soundtrack albums Television soundtracks Island Records soundtracks