Customer Reviews

Club Verboten

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starting out with a scratchy ditty from the roaring twenties, this excellent historical collection manages to span a variety of musical genres, from rousing broadway musical to intimate diva-wrung blues to classical orchestra. some may carp about choices, and some are obvious, there are rarities here among the cliches. this is an invaluable historical document as well as an entertaining collection of tunes.

Everyone's bound to have quibbles with a collection such as this one. I would much prefer to have Mabel Mercer's version of "Ballad of the Sad Young Men," for instance (although Rod McKuen's is lovely), and I regret the absence of certain gay "standards" such as Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes" and Dusty Springfield's "Quiet, Please, There's a Lady on Stage." But it's all fun, not mention educational, and I'm grateful to Marshall Blonstein and Richard Oliver for a magnificent effort, which is destined to take its place next to classics of the literature such as William J. Mann's "Behind the Screen" and "The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage"--not to mention the collected works of Barbara Streisand! To underscore their sense of history, the producers have included a near-100 page booklet with the 4-disc set that even features a bibliography of recommended reading and viewing. There are also generous notes on the songs and songsters, period essays, and some great photos. There are, as well, a few miscalculations, including a numerical listing of the songs in the booklet that doesn't correspond to the list on the box. The recording dates for some of the songs are given as "unknown" (where did these transfers come from?), and the dating itself (a "Cabaret" medley from the `20s?) is eccentric. But these are minor, well, quibbles, and I admire Blonstein and Oliver their daring in attempting such a project. If I may, I'd like to suggest that these gentlemen do a 4-CD set every year or so (how about an exerpt from Diamanda Galas' "Plague Mass" for the classical disc?), if only to demonstrate how un-Verboten gay music by gay musicians has become.

Complied in 1997 this is an odd collection of songs "composed by gay or lesbian musicians or embraced by the LGBT community". It has all kinds of music- jazz, classical, pop, Broadway, disco, etc. Songs by gay icons are included (Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Mae West, Shirley Bassey). There are also several tracks by non- gay performers like Donovan (Try for the Sun which hints the love and caring between two men, although the song was about Donovan and his road buddy Gypsy Dave Mills) and Barry Manilow (All This Time, which "could apply to anyone") Of course many of the songs could apply to anyone.
The problem is the order shifts around- the first disc includes a medley of songs from the musical Cabaret (two from the Broadway cast recording and one from the film) The last track on Disc 3 is Gloria Gaynor's "I Am What I Am" and is incorrectly listed as recorded in 1995- it was recorded in the mid-eighties. The fourth disc is a classical collection of pieces by Tschaikovsky, Barber, Britten, Saint-Saens and others. Of course this collection omits a lot of great singers and songs. As someone mentioned there is no Streisand, instead Jim Bailey a Streisand impersionator is included. Also nothing by The Village People, Queen, Paul Jabara (who wrote Last Dance for Donna Summer), Boy George, Elton John, Madonna, ABBA or Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" mentioned in the liner notes but not in the collection. Perhaps there'll be an improved version of this collection one day

The is a wonderful collection of music from and by gay artists from across multiple generations. I originally bought this boxset when it first came out in the late-90s but lost the cds and i was quite relieved to find it on Amazon. Can't beat the price either!!