Dad's Army Memorabillia - LP Records - Bless 'Em All! by Arthur Lowe

Bless 'Em All! by Arthur Lowe

ARTHUR LOWE SINGS THE SONGS OF WORLD WAR II
with the Richmond Orchestra & Chorus Under Malcolm Lockyer

Originally Released World Record Club, 1969.

Cat No. WRC ST 1008

STEREO

Special thanks to David Noades and David Homewood for images supplied for this page.

The album was reissued in New Zealand under EMI's Regal label.

Tracks:
Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr. Hitler? / This Is The Army Mr. Jones / Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major / I’ll Be Seeing You / Lili Marlene / Mairzy Dotes and Dozy Dotes / The Army The Navy The Air Force / Bless ‘Em All / Run Rabbit Run / (We’re Gonna Hang Out) The Washing On The Siegfried Line / That Lovely Weekend / Underneath The Arches / Aloutte / Waltzing Matilda / Now Is The Hour.

This album was recorded in the autumn of 1969 and was released in the UK in December that year via the mail order company World Record Club (it was not available in the shops).

It was reviewed and received a front page headline
in the company's mail order newsletter, The World Record Club News in January 1970, which carried the headline 'Captain Mainwaring Joins WRC'. The
article featured a photo of Arthur as used on the record sleeve and repeated some of the information from the album's sleeve notes with details of
Arthur's singing career.

Inside was a photo of the sleeve front cover and a
full track listing which also reveals that the album was only issued in stereo and unlike many other WRC releases was not issued on tape.

As it did not receive general release the album was not reviewed or advertised in the music press, and this is the only reference to the album I have found in any publication. Interestingly the newsletter also lists releases of comedy albums by Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtnedge, Steptoe and Son and Tony Hancock, so Arthur was in good company.

A Songsheet for the Dad's Army Theme Tune as featured on Arthur Lowe's "Bless 'Em All" Album

Bless 'Em All Label - Original WRC Pressing

Bless 'EM All Label - WRC revised label pressing

WRC News - Jan 1970, Captain Mainwaring's New Album makes front page News!

What is interesting to collectors is that there were three different versions of the album issued. The first pressings carried labels featuring the old WRC
design which had a red background with silver text and the old WRC logo (set across capital 'S' denoting Stereo).

In January 1970 the company was deleting all of its old outdated mono stock and decided to update its label design at the same time which became two-tone orange and black with black and white text.

There was also a new streamlined logo with WRC in capital letters, and as the company had just been absorbed into the huge EMI empire the EMI logo also appeared alongside. The sleeve remained the same for both versions and featured several specially commissioned photos of Arthur as Captain Mainwaring in an unknown location. It is interesting to note that he is not wearing his official Mainwaring uniform as presumably the BBC didn't give WRC permission to use it.

As far as I can see the album was only available for a short while in the UK and was deleted a couple of years later. However there was a third version
issued in New Zealand on EMI's Regal offshoot in 1973 (Regal SREG 30176). This time it was not a mail order item but could be bought in the shops but again was only available for a short time.

Also in New Zealand, Bless'Em All received a reel to reel tape release; catalogue number: TT1008.

There is supposed to be a single taken from the album featuring Arthur's version of 'Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler', although I have
never seen a copy of it. EMI published sheet music of the song in 1969 with Mainwaring pictured on the cover. This was normally only done for singles
and the sheet music carries a reference to EMI Records SH6749A, which would seem to be a catalogue number for a single, so perhaps it was released, albeit briefly (if anyone has a copy, please let me know).

David Noades