Product Description

Fantastic three CD box set of the recorded works of one of Britain's most popular comedy duos. Their keen observations of everyday British life and abilities to exemplify them in song made them the darlings of the UK. Cleverness, wit and absolute hilarity were the order of the day, in just about any style of music. Pure comic genius on three discs!

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Transport of Delight
2. Song of Reproduction
3. Gnu Song
4. Design for Living
5. Je Suis Les Tenebreux
6. Songs for Our Time
7. Song of the Weather
8. Reluctant Cannibal
9. Greensleeves
10. Misalliance
11. Kokoraki
12. Madeira, M'Dear
13. Too Many Cookers
14. Vanessa
15. Tried by the Centre Court
16. Youth of the Heart
17. Hippopotamus Song

Disc 2:

1. Gas-Man Cometh
2. Sounding Brass
3. Olividados
4. In the Desert
5. Ill Wind
6. First and Second Law
7. All Gall
8. Horoscope
9. Friendly Duet
10. Bedstead Men
11. By Air
12. Slow Train
13. Song of Patriotic Prejudice
14. Built up Area
15. In the Bath
16. Sea Fever
17. Hippo Encore

Disc 3:

1. Warthog (The Hog Beneath the Skin)
2. Sea Horse
3. Chameleon
4. Whale (Mopy Dick)
5. Sloth
6. Rhinoceros
7. Twosome-Kang & Jag (Kangaroo Tango and Jaguar)
8. Dead Ducks
9. Elephant
10. Armadillo
11. Spider
12. Threesome-Duck Billed Platypus/... [Medley]
13. Wild Boar
14. Ostrich
15. Wompom
16. Twice Shy
17. Commomwealth Fair
18. p**p*b****b**d******
19. Paris
20. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Cha Cha Cha
21. Hundred Song
22. Food for Thought
23. Bed
24. 20 Tons of TNT
25. War of 14-18

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1139 in Music
• Released on: 1991-10-14
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: Box set

Customer Reviews

The best of British Satire
The genius that is Flanders and Swann lives on in this boxed set of their complete works. One cannot help but wonder how they might have changed the historical course of musical satire had Michael Flanders lived longer and they had continued writing and recording their songs. This is musical satire at its very best, and along with Tom Lehrer are memorable examples of the genre. Even though I already own the three individual analogue recordings that comprise this set, the compulsion to hear the recordings without the crackles, hisses, pops and squeaks of black plastic was overwhelming. As a bonus, there are some previously unreleased songs on the last CD....fine examples of what might have been. Gone, but not ever forgotten, these two great artists have their rightful place in the history books for their contribution to music and comedy.

An Excellent Example of the Genre
Flanders and Swann epitomise the 1950s and 1960s revue and (gently but somehow more powerfully) satirical comedy (c.f Tom Lehrer). The context is amazing (brought together in the booklet and with sleeve notes compiled by John Amis, an erstwhile friend and colleague of them both) - they wrote songs for other people and then decided they would hire a theatre and invite a few friends to hear them sing "At the Drop of a Hat"! There is also one video (EMI/PMI MVP 9913393 - it may no longer be available) to feature them with COLOUR footage recorded in the US in April 1967 which contains some of the old favourites and a few of the newer songs. CD set is well worth having even if you have them on analogue.

They make an old fan very happy
Flanders, the perfect after dinner speaker with a delightfully mellow and versatile baritone voice; Swann, the supreme partner, both on the keyboard and in the singing. Michael Flanders is expert with language, Donald Swann with music: the latter achieving the highest art -- that of singing counterpoint with MF while playing the perfect accompanist on the piano to them both. All this, and it is VERY funny: even when the jokes are dated they retain their punch and they are told and sung so well that they still convey their humour, and, on occasion, biting satire. These are timeless pieces with duets, solos, monologues and instrumental displays linked by MF in inimitable form. There will never be the like again.