 |
It's always a good thing when you get the chance to relive the glory days of the musical hall. Besides, you can't help liking an album that opens with the finest comedian ever to tread the boards, Max Miller. As a retrospective of the music halls this album of course includes a number of well-known old favourites. Thus George Formby's "Leaning on the Lamp-Post", Gracie Fields (who sounds like Jane McDonald were she on 40 a day), "The Laughing Policeman", Flanagan & Allan's "Run Rabbit Run" (with Bud Flanagan clearly another 40 a day man), Arthur Askey's "Bee Song" (the one from that ad) and Jack Buchannan's "Everything Stops for Tea" all making an appearance. Some of the now less well-known turns featured showcase the various styles of entertainment that existed in the music halls. The "cor blimey, life stinks" London acts such as Billy Bennett and George Jackley are featured, alongside the silly songs of Charles Coborn and his female sound-alike Lily Morris, as well as the old-style skits of the likes of Will hay (although his contribution would have benefitted from pictures as well as sound). Other acts will remind you of people who have come later - could there have been a Les Dawson without Norman Evans or even Reeves and Mortimer without Clapham and Dwyer? There are some real forgotten gems from the likes of George Robey and Max Wall, a bizarre Tommy Trinder song about farting in Hitler's face and Robb Wilton's "the day war broke out" monologue - a real classic. Of course, this being a retrospective of the music halls in general not everything can be great and indeed there are a few duffers. Although both Frankie Howerd and Margaret Rutherford were fine performers in their own right their double act was a bit odd to say the least and it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the collection. Both Douglas Byng and Beatrice Lillie try too hard to be zany and come over as just annoying as a result. Meanwhile I think we could all do without Arthur Tracy wringing every last drop of sentimentality out of probably the drippiest song ever written "It's My Mother's Birthday Today". However, these minor criticisms aside, this is a fine collection of very old school entertainment and worth checking out. The music halls were fine low-brow entertainment from a more innocent time when hinting that the word "belly" was about to be spoken would cause raucous uproar but for any fans of the genre, or indeed anybody looking for something a bit different, this is well worth a listen if only to begin in earnest the Robb Wilton revival that we so richly deserve.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This CD was absolutely great I love old time music hall tunes and as I was brought up with this type of music and my parents came from the east end of London there were so many songs that I knew from childhood I remember watching arthur askey and gracie fields as a child brought back some great memories. Thank you very much
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best-selling in CDs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on CDs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
