It was all primary DNS. It is a basic web server serving a handful of basic asp.net apps.
On each DNS I used export list which exports simplistic tab delimited *.dns file. This was done individually for each Forward and Reverse DNS. There is no point for me to show the records as they are the same 'format' as any exported dns file.
Even though DNSCMD is being retired and replaced by powershell for this task, it was used to load the dns zone data back in. The dns file was placed in the new dns system folder and the file was read using DNSCMD commands but did only resulted in an SOA record with nothing in it. This despite the fact that the dns text files were unchanged and in their proper folder. The recordadd switch is cumbersome at best and its use is more akin to a command line 101 typing exercise. It is faster to start from scratch using the gui. The reality is there are only 'n' types of dns records which need to be dealt with in a dns file such as SOA, A, CNAME, MX, TXT etc. They have finite fields and settings.
The simplest and most commonsense solution should be achievable by simply backing up the text files from the old 'dns' folder and then placing them back into into the 'dns' folder of the newly reinstalled server. Its *.dns files and subfolders would be wholly intact and unchanged. A refresh command that does something could read the text files and that should be all that is required. Server DNS recovery would be complete in seconds, not hours.
On the microsoft 'Windows Server' to do list a DNS 'import' gui option would be very useful as the current DNSCMD methods are decades old. If there is an 'export' there should be an 'import'. Alternatively a single powershell import command to read any one or all DNS backups back to their respective positions. The convoluted methods required currently should not be required for such a simplistic task.
A useful software update may include a new command to export DNS records to the Azure DNS repository account. Then the DNS role feature may not even need to be installed on a basic windows web server.
I was on my way to closing this question before anyone replied. Please don't waste your time adding answers as the issue has been resolved. DNS records were transferred to Azure, and a single A record was added locally for the internal IP address as the server is on premise. I will undertake tests to identify if I can remove the DNS role altogether and rely wholly on Azure.