There's a farm called Misery, but of that we'll have none
Dean Monti | 05/11/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band started their career in offbeat trad jazz before branching off into areas of rock, blues, and the just plain wonderfully weird for weird's sake. Those who sing the praises, and rightly so, of the Bonzo Dog Band and particularly that trad jazz sound, would do well to add this CD to their collection. The chief reason to own this is that it's a darned good bit of fun. Neil Innes explains in the liner notes that the music of the The Alberts and The Temperance Seven (actually eight wonderful musicians) was the jumping off point for the birth of the Bonzo Dog Band. Indeed. Hearing the opening number, Morse Code Melody, performed by the Alberts one can easily imagine the much-missed Vivian Stanshall having a go at the same song in a similar singing/commenting way. Here you'll hear the best of the Bonzo Dog Band's trad jazz sound, including one additional little gem, On Her Doorstep Last Night, which was previously unreleased. Now that all manner of Bonzo recordings are available again on CD in various reissued incarnations, one wonders how this charming little tune got missed in all the collections. If you're a Bonzo Dog Band fan (and why are you reading this at all if you're not), it's a must-have CD for this reason.But it's not the only reason to own this CD. If you like the Bonzos you're going to like what you hear from The Temperance Seven and the Alberts. Morse Code Melody, Sahara, Blame Away -- these all sit nicely alongside Bonzo favorites like By a Waterfall, Ali Baba's Camel and Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold. And good luck trying to find other CDs by The Alberts and The Temperance Seven. After hearing this CD, you'll wish there were more by these groups, and one can only hope that a renewed interest, much like the one the Bonzos are enjoying, will prompt more reissues.The title of the CD, taken from comments made at the end of the Alberts Morse Code Melody, is most certainly a misnomer. If this is rubbish, one needs to root around in the dustbin more often."
Haven't stopped smiling since it arrived!
Paul Curtis | Jersey City, NJ United States | 07/17/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was familiar with much of this material thanks to a Bonzos/Alberts/Temperence Seven compilation I bought 20-some years ago, but it's great to hear it all again, and with such nice sound.I have to say, though, that the newly-found Bonzo song has made me smile for days! I can't praise it enough! The one song (brief and loosely-played as it is) is worth the price of the CD to me, and that's remarkable!"
Jazz? Art? Comedy? Lunacy?.......Trad Jazz it ain't....
Mr. Mrs. W. G. Krouwel | 03/16/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Largely featuring the Alberts and two better-known bands that emerged from their world,(The Bonzos and the Temperance Seven), this is a truly great album. In some ways, the bands are all different: the Bonzos are famously pythonesque; the Alberts utterly anarchic; the Temerance Seven are probably the best musicians, best recorded, and stiffest upper lips.
The music is where the common threads emerge: 1920's white jazz (a La early cartoon etc. soundtracks - all plinking banjoleles, muted cornets and baritone saxes ) forms the basis for lunatic improvisations and surreal lyrics invariably delivered by a lounge-lizard in a Woosteresque upper class drawl. The results are strangely catchy and you'll find yourself singing something like "Pasadena" in public, to the embarrassment of your loved ones.
It's far too deliberately stiff and archaic to be typical of the jazz of the Ball/Barber/Bilk 1960's trad boom, but - because of the anarchic surrealism - has remained much more listenable.
Favourite tracks are the absolutely loony Alberts/Spike Milligan collaboration "You've got to say aah" and the Bonzo's irreplaceable "Hunting Tigers Down in India". For me the least best was Peter Sellers' strangely muted attempt at "Ukulele Lady". Most underrated thing on the whole album is "Whispering" Paul McDowell's immaculate vocals for the Temps.....
Buy it, love it, convert others, get moer of this stuff released"
Track Listings (26) - Disc #1