Product Description

This title features thirteen episodes of the groundbreaking show starring Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. Immensely popular and hugely influential, legendary series "The Goon Show" changed the face of British comedy. Now, for the first time, this box set collection presents the episodes in chronological order of original broadcast date. This volume includes: "The Whistling Spy Enigma", "The Lost Gold Mine" (of Charlotte), "The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler" (of Bexhill-on-Sea), "The Phantom Head Shaver" (of Brighton), "The Affair of the Lone Banana", "The Canal", "Lurgi Strikes Britain!" (aka Lurgi Strikes Again), "The Mystery of the Marie Celeste" (solved), "The Last Tram" (from Clapham), "The Booted Gorilla" (found?), "The Spanish Suitcase", "Dishonoured or The Fall of Neddie Seagoon and Forog".Also featured are some rare archive bonus items including out-takes and the programme "Me and My Shadows: Peter Sellers". Two illustrated booklets tell the story of the show's development with reference to original archive paperwork, plus the history of the recordings themselves. Remastered using new material and the latest technology to give the best possible sound quality, these recordings are sure to appeal to all collectors of "The Goon Show". The majority of the episodes on this first volume have been previously released on cassette and CD but their sound here will be remastered using new source material and technology. A half hour archive bonus feature will also be featured (t.b.c.).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5506 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-07
• Released on: 2008-04-07
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

The Goon Show Compendium Volume 1 - Thung Me Cringling Nurglers!
Finally. The BBC has decided to take its crown jewels and give them the treatment they deserve. Following from the excellent series of collectors editions of `Round The Horne' and `Navy Lark', the show we have all been waiting for is, at last, being restored, given some interesting extras and released in a definitive, comprehensive edition. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's the highly esteemed Goon Show!

The BBC only holds recordings from the beginning of series 5 onwards. Some series 4 episodes exist, but due to licensing problems I don't hold out any hope for these episodes appearing anytime soon. Series 1-3 are, sadly, totally lost to us. Hence, this definitive collection begins with series five, and aims to release all extant recordings the BBC still hold from all subsequent series.

If you're looking here you don't need to e told how good the humour is, so I will just review the release itself. Volume 1 collects the 1st 13 episodes from series 5, a few outtakes and an episode of `Me and my shadow', featuring Peter Sellers reprising some Goon show characters. The remastering is worthy of especial praise. In the main these episodes sound much better than they have in any other release. Much material has been restored, unfortunately this often comes from poor quality sources, so these restored sections sound quite bad. The restored snippets add much to the shows though. I'm very impressed with the overall quality. This really will be the definitive collection when finished.

This release contains 7 CDs, with two episodes per disc. These are collected into two 4 CD jewel cases, encased in a flimsy cardboard outer. There are two booklets, one in each case, with essays, details for each episode and original Radio Times listings.

Episodes are:-

The whistling spy enigma
The lost goldmine (of Charlotte)
The dreaded batter pudding hurler (of Bexhill on sea)
The phantom head shaver
The affair of the lone banana
The canal
The lurgi strikes Britain!
The mystery of the Marie Celeste (solved)
The last tram from Clapham
The booted gorilla (found?)
The Spanish suitcase
Dishonoured
Forog

Me and my shadows
Outtakes

This really is as good as it gets. 5 stars for the episodes, and 5 for the quality of the release. Well done BBC, keep them coming! (and any chance of a proper release for `I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'?)

An excellent Goon package
I bought this for my dad for his birthday, and he absolutely loves it. My whole family are Goon fans and I was delighted to find something like this. We have listened to it and laughed and sang all the way through until our sides were sore. A great product for any Goon fan, or in fact any comedy fan! If you like Tony Hancock, Dad's Army, Milligan or Sellers independently, Monty Python... anything like that, you'll like this. It's charming, silly and witty.

a worthy compendium
most of these shows were previously released on beeb disks. some may have had an additional tweak or two, but nothing obvious. "dishonoured" is new to me as is "forog". the latter suffers from very poor quality sources, which is unfortunate. the latter is a great recording of a very funny performance. it was re-recorded as "dishonoured - again" & released by emi but this performance is arguably better - the recording is definitely better.