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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. A Transport Of Delight |
| 2. Song Of Reproduction |
| 3. The Gnu Song |
| 4. Songs For Our Time (Philological Waltz/Satellite Moon/A Happy Song) |
| 5. A Song Of The Weather |
| 6. Greensleeves |
| 7. Misalliance |
| 8. Madeira M'Dear? |
| 9. The Hippopotamus Song |
| 10. All Gall |
| 11. Horoscope |
| 12. The Gas Man Cometh |
| 13. Sounding Brass |
| 14. Ill Wind |
| 15. First And Second Law |
| 16. By Air |
| 17. A Song Of Patriotic Prejudice |
| 18. Hippo Encore |
| 19. The Wompom |
Product Description
22-track anthology from the great comic songwriting duo - "Hippopotamus Song", "Madeira M'dear" & more
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
100 of 102 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This recording comprises 19 selections (plus two intros) taken from the three CDs available as a boxed set. Nine of Hat's 17 selections, nine of Another Hat's 17, and only one of Bestiary's 25. (Several of the omitted items from the two Hat albums include spoken pieces by Flanders, and pieces played and sung by Swann alone.) Purchasing this album will get you the most good F&S for your money, particularly if you have a special interest in just one of the selections -- every hornist aware of its existence wants his/her own copy of "Ill Wind." But if you want a gem like "Los Olivados" you must still buy the set. Many of the omitted selections are quite good, and EMI would have done better to have simply offered Another Hat for sale separately. EMI has also failed us on a second count. As with the three complete albums, the tracks on this CD are separated so that Michael's prefatory remarks for a song appear at the end of the prior track, rather than at the beginning of the track to which they pertain, so one is unable to program a meaningful selection of tracks to be played, or to simply call up "Ill Wind" or "Song of Patriotic Prejudice" and hear the entire "bit" without pressing the fast-reverse button.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
If you enjoy comedy, and you haven't had the pleasure of hearing Michael Flanders and Donald Swann's hilarious act before, then this is a good candidate for you. Although, I would say that you may want to pick up "The Complete Flanders & Swann" instead of just the best of, because you will miss out on some very funny stuff if you purchase this instead of the complete collection. Nevertheless, this is a good starting place and certainly a less expensive option than the other. Flanders and Swann were Michael Flanders (actor and singer), and Donald Swann (composer, pianist, and linguist) and together they wrote, and sometimes performed their marvelous songs.
Known best for a series of Animal songs, the most popular was probably "The Hippopotamus", they also wrote many songs commenting on popular culture, "Song of Reproduction", and the oddities of life, "The Gas Man Cometh", and even occasionally politics, "All Gall". All of them are delightful and funny, as is Michael Flanders commentary between each number. Sadly, neither Michael Flanders nor Donald Swann is with us any longer, but they will never be forgotten as long as their music and their humor stay with us.
This best of retrospective consists of 10 songs from their 1960 album "At the Drop of a Hat", and 10 songs from their 1964 album "At the Drop of another Hat". It closes with an encore of "The Wompom", which appeared on their album "The Bestiary of Flanders & Swann" from 1961. If you appreciate English humor at all you are going to love this CD, and if you are anything like me you will pick up on new things each time you hear it and grow to love it even more. Your only regret from buying this would be that you will likely realize that you should have bought "The Complete Flanders & Swann" box set, but you have been warned.
Known best for a series of Animal songs, the most popular was probably "The Hippopotamus", they also wrote many songs commenting on popular culture, "Song of Reproduction", and the oddities of life, "The Gas Man Cometh", and even occasionally politics, "All Gall". All of them are delightful and funny, as is Michael Flanders commentary between each number. Sadly, neither Michael Flanders nor Donald Swann is with us any longer, but they will never be forgotten as long as their music and their humor stay with us.
This best of retrospective consists of 10 songs from their 1960 album "At the Drop of a Hat", and 10 songs from their 1964 album "At the Drop of another Hat". It closes with an encore of "The Wompom", which appeared on their album "The Bestiary of Flanders & Swann" from 1961. If you appreciate English humor at all you are going to love this CD, and if you are anything like me you will pick up on new things each time you hear it and grow to love it even more. Your only regret from buying this would be that you will likely realize that you should have bought "The Complete Flanders & Swann" box set, but you have been warned.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The material on this CD is superb - Flanders and Swann were wonderful performers and superb comic song writers. Not only that, but they're clearly thoroughly enjoying performing - you can clearly hear Swann laughing away during Flander's monologues, even though he must have heard it all hundreds of times before. The material has a gentle, dry humour about it, which sems to be missing from modern comedy. Much of the fun comes from poking a little fun at day to day life, along with some very witty word play. Perfect listening for a wet sunday afternoon at home.
Though the material and performances are top notch - I have rarely enjoyed a CD more - I have to knock a star off for the rather strange editing by EMI. Each song has a short monologue from Flanders to introduce it, but instead of having the intro and song on the same track, the intros are all tacked onto the end of the previous song. THis means you have to listen to all the tracks in order to get the intros and tracks in the right order, and can't just listen to the odd track in isolation, or the whole thing won't make much sense.
So all in all, classic material which anyone will enjoy, let down by the CD editing.
Though the material and performances are top notch - I have rarely enjoyed a CD more - I have to knock a star off for the rather strange editing by EMI. Each song has a short monologue from Flanders to introduce it, but instead of having the intro and song on the same track, the intros are all tacked onto the end of the previous song. THis means you have to listen to all the tracks in order to get the intros and tracks in the right order, and can't just listen to the odd track in isolation, or the whole thing won't make much sense.
So all in all, classic material which anyone will enjoy, let down by the CD editing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A TRANSPORT OF DELIGHT
This is all about Flanders and Swann. All their greatest HITS are here, and they really are some very clever songs. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Macshepherd
Real entertainment
My husband and I had seen At the Drop of a Hat in London shortly after we were married in 1962. Flanders and Swann are pure entertainment. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Lloyd Williams
"A transport of delight"
A wonderful collection of British (English) humour. I owned the vinyl version , a long time ago, and each time one hears it, the better it seems to get. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Frederickxx
A complete joy.
This was a joyful trip down memory lane.
All of the famous tunes I heard as a very young child are here.
Transport of delight.
Mud, mud, glorious mud. Read more
All of the famous tunes I heard as a very young child are here.
Transport of delight.
Mud, mud, glorious mud. Read more
Published 13 months ago by PetePortsmouth
Totally transporting!
I grew up listening to the Drop of a Hat on vinyl and bought this for my parents as a nostalgic Christmas present. Read more
Published 17 months ago by VLT
I'm NOT a gnu!
A classic recording of a classic duo: makes you realise all over again how brilliant a spoof of Flanders and Swann, Armstrong and Miller create. Read more
Published 17 months ago by gillusia
A Gem
The title says it all. If you are old enough to remember the original acts, then it is tremendous to relive the exprience. The gas man cometh is worth the money. Read more
Published 21 months ago by NIBS
Flanders & Swann
Sheer genius!
I am delighted with this bit of reminiscence, - just as I remember from hearing them the first time round. Read more
I am delighted with this bit of reminiscence, - just as I remember from hearing them the first time round. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mrs. R. P. Meinke
Gentle But Cutting Humour At Its' Best
I was introduced to Flanders and Swann by a music teacher at secondary school nearly 50 years ago, and loved their cutting humour from the start. Read more
Published on 17 May 2010 by I. C. Ross
Mud, mud, glorious mud
Lots of those well known tracks recorded during a live show so this makes it slightly difficult to follow unless you give it your full attention. Read more
Published on 7 April 2010 by On the move
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