Peter has made a number of
recordings over the years as can be seen from the Recordings
listings page and, indeed, he had a recording contract for a number
of years. Although most
feature him singing, Peter has also done some spoken recordings.
Solo
Recordings
In his own right he has
recorded a single called Follow That Girl and two LPs, Songs Of The
Sea and Peter Gilmore Sings Gently; a couple of tracks from Songs Of
The Sea have also been released as singles in Europe.
Released in 1960, Follow
That Girl is a “pop” version of the title song from the musical
Follow That Girl (see Theatre section).
Personally, I prefer the original version on the cast LP but
the B side of the single has a lovely ballad called Come Away, one
of my favourite of Peter’s songs.
The LP Songs Of The Sea,
recorded in 1974, contains twelve tracks and, as indicated in the
title, most relate to the sea in some way.
The songs are:
Side
1: The Onedin Overture
Side 2: We
Home Lovin’ Man
Seasons In The Sun
If You Go Away
Beyond The Sea
The Boy From Rotterdam Love Theme
Best Of Both Worlds Sailor
Hushabye Mountain Starry Night
Peter’s rendition of
Hushabye Mountain, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is a particular
favourite of mine, in fact, I prefer his to Michael Ball’s recent
version in the London stage production.
The LP was recorded in The Netherlands and Peter was also
filmed in mid 1974 singing the songs for a Dutch TV special.
His second solo album, Peter
Gilmore Sings Gently, was recorded three years later in Barnes,
London. This also has
twelve tracks:
Side
1: I’m Easy Side 2:
Justin
You And Me Against The World
Polka Dots And Moonbeams
For The Good Times There’s No Such Thing As Love
Morning, Please Don’t Come Rainy Days Ahead
I Need To Be In Love It’s All In The Game
The Sun Died Blue Eyes
The back of this LP cover is
of particular interest since Peter asked his Onedin Line brother,
Brian Rawlinson, to write a few words for it:
“You,
SING?!” I said incredulously.
“And
I’ve made a record,” said my television brother smugly.
“I
don’t believe it.”
“What’s
more,” he went on, “I’d like you to write the blurb.”
He’d
touched a sensitive spot. I
was mollified. I shut
up.
As
“Onedin Line” brothers, James and Robert, we argue a lot; as
ourselves, Peter Gilmore and Brian Rawlinson, we argue even more:
always with good humour and always agreeing with each other
in the end.
Of
course I knew Peter could sing!
Heaven’s sakes, he began his career in show business
singing - as a pop star. Peter sang with the best:
musicals, variety, revues; in London’s West End, abroad,
television - the lot.
By
the time I met him (we were in a fibre-glass dinghy on the Thames,
rowing, typically, against the tide!) Peter had become an actor.
From then on, we worked a lot together, on and off.
It was only when the BBC asked me to play Robert Onedin in
the now famous series that I really got to know Peter Gilmore.
Keen, nervous, intense, wayward, funny, vulnerable,
argumentative, but above all lovable - I got to like the guy.
After six years of working closely together, I’ve come to
love him like the brother he portrays. I’d completely forgotten his music. This record reminded me.
They’re all great songs and he sings them (in a way we
never argue) gently.
Group
Recordings
As well as his solo efforts,
Peter can be heard singing on a number of other records, mostly
recorded in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In terms of musicals, he
reprises his roles of Tom/Constable Blenkinsop on the original cast
recording of Follow That Girl; as David Tooke on Valmouth (still
available on CD in the USA); and finally as Captain Macheath in The
Beggar’s Opera. The
latter also features Peter’s second wife, Jan Waters.
As well as singing the title track, Peter has a second solo
on Follow That Girl - the lovely (sorry!) Lovely Meeting You At
Last, and sings with other cast members on several more.
The LP crops up now and again on eBay and is well worth
purchasing.
In addition, Peter sings on
a few studio cast recordings of musicals he didn’t appear in on
stage: Bye Bye Birdie, Salad Days/The Boyfriend and The Sound Of
Music. On the latter he
only has one song - Sixteen Going On Seventeen.
On Bye Bye Birdie, which also features his Carry On
compatriot Sid James, one of the songs performed by Peter is the
well-known Put On A Happy Face; his duet on An English Teacher with
Joyce Blair is a particularly fine recording.
He has more duets on Salad Days/The Boyfriend, the best
probably being another popular song, I Could Be Happy With You,
recorded with Pamela Charles.
Two further famous songs
Peter has recorded are Mona Lisa and The Man From Laramie which are
included on a compilation LP Music From The Movies.
Peter also sings in the film
Oh! What A Lovely War and he may be heard on the cast LP though we
aren’t sure of this.
Spoken
Recordings
The spoken word recordings
include singing and reading in a 1963 recording of Much Ado About
Nothing, starring Rex Harrison and Rachel Roberts.
Similarly on Shakespeare/Soul Of An Age, Peter is heard in a
couple of extracts from Shakespeare’s plays; Sir Michael Redgrave
undertaking the main readings and Sir Ralph Richardson narrating.
Shakespeare/Soul Of An Age was an NBC production which used
the text from Shakespeare’s plays against a backdrop of locations
where he lived or where his plays were set; it was released on both
video and LP.
Peter has recorded only one
audio book that we are aware of.
His reading of RD Blackmore’s Lorna Doone is extremely good
and it is puzzling why he hasn’t done more.
His most recent recording is
as narrator on Carry On Doctor.
The soundtracks from a few of the Carry Ons were released on
audio tape in 1995 with a specially recorded narration overlaying
the film’s audio track.
Peter was also advertised as
doing the audio commentary for the 2003 Special Edition DVD release
of Carry On Henry but sadly ill-health prevented his participation.
EPs
Peter also turns up on a few
EPs, both singing and speaking, including some children’s stories.
He is Rat on Toad Of Toad Hall, takes the part of Mouse on
Thumbelina and plays the girls’ neighbour Laurie in Little
Women*Little Men. A
further EP he can be heard on is the musical Hooray for Daisy!
(although he doesn’t feature on the original cast LP).
To see the covers of some of
these recordings,
click here …..