Get it if you can
absolutqueer | Auckland New Zealand | 08/04/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Quetin Crisp at his glorious best. The first CD is all dry witt monologue. Mannered and very amusing. Some side splitting moments of humour. And he's just so gosh darn likeable- bitchy but with such niceness about it that its fun and wit.The second CD is the best of the two, where Quentin answers questions put in by the audience at half time. If you at all liked his writing, this performance just adds that extra dimension of hearing the right voice reading out the words.I imagine, Quentin Crisp sitting in an arm chair, in a glorious velvet suit, waving his arms and rolling his eyes during the whole story telling. So I am a Quentin 'Fan boy' of sorts. But this was a find in the back of a dusty bin in a record shop, and is one of my favorite CD's."
Cherry Red have botched the remasteriing of this gem
John Frame | Brisbane, Queensland Australia | 02/11/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The actual content, in terms of the words spoken, is worth five stars. However, the recorded quality of this Cherry Red Records "remastered" version is truly appalling - and there's simply no excuse for that. The original recording was made in 1979 and yet the 1992 DRG label release was near perfect in quality.
I have the 1992 DRG label 2 CD set, and its sonic quality is excellent - just a few minor analogue tape related dropouts. However this new Cherry Red version, although licensed from DRG, has the volume overdriven throughout to the point where there is almost constant and very annoying clipping in both channels, plus some extra distortion in the left channel.
Mercifully, there is no audible distortion on the one added feature on the Cherry Red release - a June 1980 interview with Quentin by a man named Morgan Fisher. Morgan has set his directional mic in a stationary position, facing Quentin - so Morgan's own voice is a bit too low in volume. We have no trouble hearing Quentin - and that's the main thing.
If you already own the 1992 DRG 2CD set, then I'd suggest that you should give this version a miss. If you want to hear a great interview with Quentin (recorded in his last year of life) then listen to the mp3, as recorded by Steve Pride, on his queer cinema interview/review site "prideonscreen.com". There is an excellent extra on the UK DVD release of "The Naked Civil Servant": "Mavis Catches Up With Quentin Crisp - An Interview From 1989" (video filmed in New York).
The 1992 DRG 2CD version was not only much better quality but also much more sensibly arranged - with the complete "An Evening With" performance on disc one (55 minutes), after which he took a break before returning (on disc 2, another 55 minutes) to answer questions from the audience (which had been written on cards during the break).
The Cherry Red version crams 73 minutes on to disc 1, and then dumps the last half hour of Q&A on disc 2 (leaving space for the Morgan Fisher interview). This not only shows a lack of finesse - but also a lack of due respect for the late great artist."
