In the ‘Avenues and Alleyways’

Regular visitors may have noticed two renditions of ‘Avenues and Alleyways’, the theme from The Protectors, by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander and originally sung by Tony Christie, on this blog. One is from jazz singer Rinaldi, and presented here in full, and the other is a shortened version performed by Chris Moyles on The X Factor—Simon Cowell’s other show.
   I’m not sure if non-Brits know of X, but here’s their chance to see Simon being less of a prick—and realize he does heap praise when the performance is good. Moyles sounds like he fudged the shortened chorus a tad (I believe it is meant to be a mixture of the first and second choruses, and the backing vocalists seem to be singing something different toward the end), but I prefer this key to Christie’s original, plus the arrangement is rather nice.
   Rinaldi lacks the oomph, but the visuals—a parody of The Saint, Get Carter and swinging London—more than make up for it. He delivers a more loungey version, which is very pleasant on the ears.
   It shows that a lot of these old Brit themes are still in the public consciousness after all these years—‘Avenues’ was more of a hit for Christie when he revived it in 2000, and it certainly was a hit for Moyles and Rinaldi. I remember when 1969’s ‘We Have All the Time in the World’ from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service caught on again in the 1980s after it was used for UK TV advertising.
   Interestingly, as I discussed with my Brit friends, the Athertons, after they moved down to New Zealand, I seem to have more in common with them than many of the locals, in sense of humour and tastes. The former is down to the similarities between Cantonese and British humour, but the latter could only have come from being brainwashed by Lew Grade and his TV shows in my formative years. And I still carry a wee passport with Dieu et Mon Droit on the front.