Customer Reviews

The Best of Flanders & Swan - A Transport of Delight

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Flanders and Swann were brilliant, witty songwriters who wrote acute but subtle satire (among other things). In spite of the title, this record is not a "Best Of" collection, but a repackaging of their two best-known albums, "At the Drop of a Hat" and "At the Drop of Another Hat." A lot of people don't realize that there were two recordings of "At the Drop of a Hat": the first, produced by George Martin for Parlophone, was recorded during its original run at the Fortune Theatre in London in the late '50s, and is much better than the Angel Records version recorded on Broadway. This reissue, unfortunately, uses the Broadway version, in which Flanders seems a little bored with the material (or perhaps unsure that the American audience will get some of the jokes) and tends to rush the punch lines. This collection also omits one of the best songs from "At the Drop of a Hat"(which certainly belongs on any CD with this title), the conscientious-objection allegory "The Reluctant Cannibal."

While this is well worth listening to, your money would be better spent on the original "Hats" in their complete form (with "Cannibal"), preferably the Martin-produced version, if it's still available.

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.

Michael Flanders and Donald Swan composed and sang their own amusing songs, accompanied by Donald Swan playing the piano. Flanders was a large man in a wheelchair and Swan a slight man. Good natured, somewhat dry, very English lyrics, and somewhat dated as they were popular in the 1950s and 1960s. They did wonderful stage shows in those simpler times.

This live recording of some of the best loved Flanders and Swann songs is truly a transport of delight!

Well if you have ever seen Flanders & Swan,this CD is a MUST......it certainly is literally a TRANSPORT of delight...as for The Gasman Cometh...its the story of our lives. They were a unique pair.Thanks so much for making these products available and so so easy to procure via Amazon,on line.This is an
Amazon Verified Purchase.

I loved this LP when I was a schoolgirl.
Now that I'm a senior citizen I bought the CD and love it just as much.

I grew up with the first of the records on this compilation CD and loved it from the first moment I heard it. I was 10 at the time. I learned most of the songs by heart. The musical aspect of the songs is both completely accessible and sophisticated at the same time. It is a bit dated, with references to people who are a couple generations back now, but the themes are as relevant today as then. It wasn't written for kids, but is still perfect for them and a welcome change from the miserable quality of stuff generally created for them these days. I found myself singing the songs to my 8 year old daughter one day and decided to see if the records were still in print. To my delight they still were and nicely piled together on one CD. I'd still like to find "The Bestiary" which was a collection of their animal songs, but the songs on this CD are the perfect well rounded collection, and as a kid I loved every one of them. My daughter was in stitches listening to The Gnu Song which is all she's had time to listen to so far. She is still singing it to the best of her memory every day. I expect she'll have the words memorized to the whole CD before long. The words and music are extremely well crafted and rendered with comic dramatic perfection. I so wish these guys were alive today.

Excellent CD still funny after all this time.Little chatty snipits too.Couldn't get away with it now in this era of political correctness.

This takes a careful listening, but as one's ear grows accustomed to the delightful English diction, mirth grows. I found myself laughing out loud, and I haven't done that in a long time.

Combine John Stewart ("The Daily Show") with cabaret and set it in 1950's England -- you've got Flanders & Swan. Funny. Insightful. Cutting. Wise. Fun. How can you go wrong? The singing duo were a delight and their humor feels as timely now as it must have forty years ago. Highly recommended.