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Queenie of the Desert

by The Lounge Bar Orchestra

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Ousewater Television Presents Queenie of the Desert

She makes a mean mess of beans and has a darn good shootin’ arm - that’s Queenie Tipton.

Follow the exciting adventures of Queenie Tipton and her pals as she takes her wagon train west. Cut throat killers, hucksters or packs of hungry wolves, there ain’t no problem on God’s green earth that can’t be solved with a plate of beans and shootin’ iron.
Ousewater Television’s most ambitious and cinematic production to date Queenie of the Desert was filmed on location at Seahouses North Beach, Northumberland.

Starring Giselle Plaume as Queenie Tipton (My Mother Likes You, Space Library, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming). With Georgie Flax as Pearl Handles (Moribund, A Feather For You, Space Library) and Robert Roberts-Robertson (Mrs Dougle Has An Itch) as Smitch the ranch hand.

Written by Francis Lard and Alfred Manners. Directed by Jack Whitley. Original soundtrack and theme tune by Reg Omeroyd.


COMING SOON
The Omeroyd Sound EP featuring:

Washing Lines, Maximum Strategy, Space Library.

For the first time in over forty years you can enjoy the adequate pleasures of the Lounge Bar Orchestra and their signature Omeroyd Sound. Released as a limited edition vinyl EP by Fruits de Mer Records (as part of Fruits de Mer and Megadodo’s one day Thunderbolt Festival in Bristol, on November 2nd). It will be subsequently made available by Ousewater Television Recordings on the 6th of November as a downloadable computer online digital recorded music file.

Ltd Edition Vinyl EP Fruits de Mer Records (available 2nd November)
Download Ousewater Television Records (available 6th November)

THE LOUNGE BAR ORCHESTRA, REG OMEROYD AND OUSEWATER TELEVISION

On the 3rd of October 1975 Reg Omeroyd waved goodbye to his colleagues at Ousewater Television Studios, climbed into his almost new Ford Taunus TC coupé and drove off. The composer had just finished recording the theme music for Ousewater’s next big thing and, on the face of it, everything was good in the life of the 52 year old.

The Lounge Bar Orchestra, the group of in-house musicians put together by Omeroyd in 1968 when the Ousewater Television Studios opened, were at the height of their limited powers. They gelled fitfully over his scores and worked cautiously through whichever genre they were tasked to bring to life - pushing themselves in pursuit of the music vision that was known as the Omeroyd Sound. That latest theme tune, known as The Washing Line after the series it was written for, had, however, drawn moderate praise from across the industry and there was even talk of a pay rise.  

One month later, after an intensive police search and countless public appeals, Omeroyd’s car, polished and immaculate as always, was discovered in the carpark of a nearby beauty spot. Omeroyd was nowhere to be seen. The only clue to his whereabouts was a note, blurred and faded due to overnight rain, which read: Just off for a wee. Back in 5 mins. Reg Omeroyd never came back from that wee. Over the ensuing months rumours circulated that Omeroyd was an East German spy, had been abducted by aliens, or that he’d made off with the seed money raised to fund the new Washing Line tv series. None of these stories were ever substantiated. To this day nobody really knows what happened to him.

Crippled by debt due to a string of failed projects, Ousewater Television and Film Productions Ltd closed its doors for good on the 5th of November 1975. The brainchild of Wing Commander Jackie Baird-Lockless, Ousewater had been plagued by poor decision making since its inception. Based at a disused World War Two airfield, in the remote region of Kielder, Northumbria, the studio produced a succession of instantly forgettable tv shows and films, in an atmosphere one former employee described as “very pleasant and quite productive”.

Nothing remains of the films and tv shows made during those heady few years at Ousewater Television. Luckily, the musical recordings were saved and placed in the hands of the Omeroyd Foundation. This and four Shell Garage crystal tumblers is his legacy.

The Lounge Bar Orchestra is a playful celebration of library and film music from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Written and recorded by Greg Healey it is a wistful backwards glance to a time when it was possible to summon fifty-odd skilled musicians to a studio in one of Europe’s major cities, pay them a pittance and get them to work quickly through a composer’s score. The influences and inspiration behind The Lounge Bar Orchestra are: Keith Mansfield, Alan Hackshaw, Sven Libaek, Peter Thomas, Gert Wilden, Piero Umiliani, Piero Piccioni, Bruno Nicolai, Nora Orlandi, Vittorio Gelmetti, Stelvio Cipriani, Berto Pisano, Gianfranco Plenizio, Carlo Rustichelli, Ennio Morricone, Johnny Pearson, Barry Gray.

Greg Healey is a musician, author and music journalist. His previous musical projects include HealeyIsland and Milo Moesche. He has written extensively about the social and political context of children’s tv from the 1960s and 70s, both in his book Not In Front of the Children: Hidden Histories In Kid’s TV and in the pages of Shindig! Magazine.

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released September 11, 2019

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The Lounge Bar Orchestra London, UK

A loose group of journeymen musicians, know as the Lounge Bar Orchestra, who recorded the music of the composer Reg Omeroyd for Ousewater Television between 1968 and 1975.

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