Simon Park Orchestra
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The Simon Park Orchestra is a group which is most notable for producing the instrumental work Eye Level which spent four weeks at the number one position in the British music charts in September 1973 and has often been cited as one of the best theme tunes on television[citation needed].
[edit] Eye Level
Eye Level was produced originally for the De Wolfe Music Library and selected by Thames Television to be the theme tune for their Dutch detective series Van der Valk. The work was based on a Dutch nursery rhyme[citation needed] which Jack Trombey wrote a top line for and Simon Park arranged for orchestra and conducted.
The song was called And You Smiled which is performed by Matt Monro.
The tune became very popular with audiences and, in a move which was unusual at the time for both library works and television themes, Columbia Records issued it on a single record (number DB 8946) with the theme to Granada Televisions drama series Crown Court on the B side. The record entered the British charts and spent 22 weeks in the top 40, four of them at number one. Total sales were 1,005,500.
It was also used for TV adverts for Alton Towers in its pre-Lunar Park mode of gardens, fronted by Frank Muir.
[edit] Later works
Following the success of Eye Level Columbia released two albums of their work, Something in the Air and Venus Fly Trap. Neither achieved the remarkable success of Eye Level.
| Preceded by "Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)" by Wizzard |
UK number one single September 25, 1973 |
Succeeded by "Daydreamer/Puppy Song" by David Cassidy |
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[edit] References
- Chartwatch chart positions and record details
- Department TV CD with details of Eye Level and subsequent works described in the liner notes.
