Hancock on 8 Track
Do you remember the 1970s? If so, you will probably remember 8 Track Stereo Cartridges? Did you, like me, have an 8 Track Player in your car? Bad luck, we backed the wrong horse, didn't we! It was a story similar to that of the Betamax video - forced out of the marketplace by the VHS video system. Similarly, the 8 Track Stereo player arrived, lasted a while and disappeared, while the audiocassette survived well into the era of CDs.
The BBC and other record companies produced a number of 8 Track Stereo recordings, as an alternative to the vinyl LPs and audiocassettes of the same shows. 8 Tracks were never so popular as vinyl LPs and audiocassettes, and many album titles were never issued in this format. For example, recordings of 'Hancock's Half Hour' were relatively plentiful as vinyl LPs and audiocassettes, but only four recordings were ever issued in the 8 Track format: two by the BBC and two by Precision Tapes Ltd.
The four recordings were as follows:
Unique Hancock
This cassette contained the same material as the vinyl LP and audiocassette of the same title, i.e. extracts from a number of ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ radio shows:
‘Almost A Gentleman’ (opening scene from that show),
‘With My Woggle I Thee Worship’ (opening scene from ‘The Childhood Sweetheart’),
‘Like A Dog’s Dinner’ (opening scene from ‘The Grappling Game’),
‘Christmas – East Cheam Style’ (from ‘Hancock’s Happy Christmas’),
‘The Hospital, or Hancock Revisited’ (from ‘Hancock In Hospital’),
‘Michael Hancockelo’ (the opening scene from ‘Michelangelo ‚ÄòAncock’),
‘The Doctor’s Dilemma’ (from ‘The Insurance Policy’),
‘P. C. Hancock – Have Feet Will Travel’ (two extracts from ‘Hancock In The Police’, and
‘Is That Your Car Outside’ (from ‘Hancock’s Car’).
Release Date: 1974 Catalog No: RCT 8002
Hancock: The Lift / Twelve Angry Men
These shows are the soundtracks of the BBC-tv ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ shows of the same name, with some editing. In the case of ‘The Lift’, the opening non-dialogue sequence have been omitted and one additional line of explanatory dialogue added: ‘Watch that door-button – Oh My God’, recorded by Hugh Lloyd on 24th August 1976. For ‘Twelve Angry Men’, the signature tune, incidental music and a few lines of dialogue have been omitted and some of the pauses shortened.
Release Date: 1976 Catalog No: RCT 8018
Tony Hancock: The Blood Donor / The Radio Ham
These are the studio remakes, adapted from the original Galton and Simpson BBC-tv scripts, recorded by Pye on 1st. October 1961.
Release Date: Catalog No: Y8MA 872 - Marble Arch (Precision Tapes Ltd.)
Golden Hour Of Tony Hancock
This cassette – like the vinyl LP and audio cassette of the same title – contain recordings of ‘The Wild Man of the Woods’, ‘A Sunday Afternoon At Home’ and ‘The Secret Life of Tony Hancock’ (the ‚ÄòTest Pilot’ sequence from ‘The Diary’).
Release Date: 1974 Catalog No: Y8GH 577 - Golden Hour (Precision Tapes Ltd.)