“an immaculately-realised album skilfully evoking and paying tribute to the golden era of British film and television library music as produced by the likes of KPM, DeWolfe, Bruton, Chappell and others... It’s the perfect escapist soundtrack for these lockdown days, an affectionate and well-accomplished realisation/recreation of easy listening” We Are Cult - James Gent

“This LP has been put together with painstaking attention to detail, wonderful craft and a true love for the form displayed throughout.” Louder than War - Ian Canty 

“File proudly between your Scarfolk annual and favourite KPM library records.“ 4 Stars. Shindig! Magazine - Paul Osborne 

Introducing The Lounge Bar Orchestra  - a loose group of journeymen musicians, who recorded the music of the composer Reg Omeroyd for Ousewater Television between 1968 and 1975. Fruits de Mer Records is proud to present an LP of forgotten 70s theme tunes from imagined tv shows.. Pilot Episodes (Ousewater Television, season 1974 - 1975, theme/underscoring selection) comes to you in glorious orange and traditional black vinyl, complete with the original sleeve notes and as a download.

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 library music provided the soundtrack our everyday lives. Greg Healey is a musician, author and occasional music journalist. The influences and inspiration behind The Lounge Bar Orchestra are: Frank Zappa, 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, John Barry.


In 1974, the year before his suspicious disappearance from a woodland carpark, Reg Omeroyd took Ousewater Television’s Lounge Bar Orchestra to the height of their powers. Working 18 hour days in the draughty former aircraft hanger that was their studio, this ramshackle bunch of journeymen musicians recorded a host of long forgotten favourites. Overcoming the mediocre abilities and recalcitrant attitude of his charges, Omeroyd was able to realise his sonic vision and distill the unique atmosphere of such tv shows as Inspector Yoohoo Calls, Operation 222and Wake up to Craft. 
	With rumours swirling around him, Omeroyd, a consummate professional of the old school variety, put aside accusations that he was an East German spy to compose what he described as his “most forgettable collection of ordinary tunes.” As the world teetered on the brink, with war in Vietnam and Nixon disgraced, Omeroyd sprinkled his own brand of highly suspect magic across Ousewater Television’s shows and, in the process, created a pure form of dark escapism that seems wholly at odds with his alleged communist beliefs. 
	Now, available here for the first time in over forty years, Pilot Episodes (Ousewater Television, season 1974 - 1975, theme/underscoring selection) comes to you in glorious coloured and traditional black vinyl, complete with the original sleeve notes. 
	Originally produced as a showcase  Ousewater Television’s programmes for prospective buyers, this unique and imaginary snapshot takes you back to a happy time of power cuts, strikes and rotary dial telephones.

07 Queenie Of The Desert - The Lounge Bar Orchestra - Pilot Episodes -

Forget Watergate! Listen to Reg Omeroyd and his Lounge Bar Orchestra. 

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. Greg Healey is a musician, author and music journalist. His previous music projects include HealeyIsland and Milo Moesche. Healey has written extensively about 60s and 70s children’s television and socio-political context of behind some of our most loved shows. 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.