Customer Reviews

The Firehouse Five Plus Two Story

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Firehouse Five Plus Two were wonderful musicians. This is a fact often overlooked, as they clearly played for fun -- both the listeners' and their own. In their early years, their humor and slapstick antics on stage often obscured their excellent musicianship. This double CD of their earlier recordings shows their growth and development, but the goofiness which characterized their live performances is not present in these studio recordings. In my view, they did not reach their peak till the arrival of George Probert and his magnificent soprano sax playing; Probert appears on only a few of these tunes. But the infectious energy and joy of this band was apparent from the start, and these songs can be played again and again with satisfaction and joy.

I'd been thinking of getting a Firehouse Five Plus Two cd for many years, but it was the recent passing of Ward Kimball (the founder of the group and the animator behind such famous Disney characters like Jiminy Cricket) that made me search for their cds on Amazon.

I have always enjoyed the taped performances I've seen by the group (you can catch them on the "Disneyland, USA" DVD released last year), but listening to the music--a frentic, frantic, and altogether fun collection--one can really sense that these men, so reknowned for their artistic talent, were blessed with a multiplicty of talents.

It's not intended to be listened to as background music for a quiet evening at home--the fire bells at the beginning of Disc One makes that quite clear--but it definitely is meant to be listened to when you feel like smiling, enjoying some wonderful dixieland jazz (one might feel inclined to look for the nearest speakeasy and dance the charleston), and remembering some of the greatest animators who ever lived, put on this collection, which highlights some of their greatest moments.

I bought it without knowing who these guys were. After talking with some older people they told me that Firehouse Five plus Two had been very famous in the 50's. This CD is a great selection. The sound is very good considering that are recordings for the 40's and 50's. If you like this kind of music you'll find here the best.

This is a great collection of the first sessions of the Firehouse Five PLus Two. Unfortunately, it's missing 2 tracks from the session in Los Angeles, CA, on October 10, 1950:
LK181 12th Street Rag
LK182 Wabash Blues
(These 2 are on the CD)
LK183 Jingle Bells
LK184 There's A Tavern In The Town
(These 2 are not)

It's unknown why these 2 tracks were left off the CD. There is room for them and they were on the vinyl release of Volume 2 of the 3 volume FHF+2 story (Good Time Jazz L12011). [...]

These 2 tracks can be found on the collection "Settin' the World on Fire: The Whole Story, Vol. 1", which also has alternate versions of two tracks which differ between their 78/45 and album versions: Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me and Down Where the Sun Goes Down. (Again plenty of room on the Good Time Jazz Release).

I am surprised these tracks got away from the folks at Fantasy who are usually really good about completeness and bonus tracks.

In any case, buy this set and pick up "Settin the World on Fire:The Whole Story, Vol. 1" and "Stoking the Fire: The Whole Story, Vol. 2" for a complete compilation of fine Dixieland jazz.

If you feel gloomy and a bit down,there's nothing like Firehouse Five Plus Two to cheer you up and put a smile back on your face - and if you think the music sounds like something out of Disney cartoon,well,you are not so far from the truth since these guys actually worked for Disney as cartoon animators and played as amateurs just for fun of it.
There is something irresistible and adorable about people who play simply because they love the music and joy of banging on those drumms and honking those trombons comes clearly through music like it was recorded yesterday.
Trombonist Ward Kimball lead his work-buddies into playing some ridiculously happy old-time Dixieland where joy bursted like champaigne bubbles and sun shines forever when they break into "Yes sir,that's my baby" - it was not unusual for them to let firemen siren right in the middle of the song,laugh and add some comic twist.
They were still keeping their day jobs but music attracted such following that they recorded several records and this compilation covers their first three LPs: Firehouse Five Plus Two,Goes South! and Plays For Lovers althought they more or less continued later in the next decade,but they were big novelty hit during 1950s and this is where material comes from.
"Runnin' Wild","Five Foot Two","Who Walks In When I Walk Out","St.Louis Blues" and "Everybody Loves My Baby" are some of the highlights of this crazy compilation that would make perfect background for 1920s theme garden party and if you remember movie "Some like it hot" that's kind of music that girl band played.
I understand this is not for everybody and some of my friends said "what the hell?" but it does work miracles for me and always makes day look brighter.I guess good ole' Louis Armstrong performed this kind of music with real enthusiasm and sure he knew a thing or two about Diexieland,but these guys were just fun-loving amateurs and you know,sometimes there is nothign wrong with being "amateur".

I am no musical scholar but i have always been fascinated by the Prosperous, wild, and immoral times of the roaring 20's. When you listen to this music you can picture those times with cop cars chasing after gangsters in a high speed chase with Tommy Guns Blazing. You can picture happy people doing the Charleston and flappers doing their naughty dances. You can picture guys like Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey in a speak easy pounding down beer after beer and giving every cutie on the dance floor a spin. This music captures the upbeat happy times of the ragtime, dixeland wild era of our countries history. If you liked the music in the film The Sting......if you like Rag and Dixie.......then this is that music on Steroids. Most reviews classify this group as a more like a jazz band that had costumes and antics and made some toe tappers. Believe me when i tell you that i'm looking at the big picture and i mean what i say when i say that if i were to pick one album to represent what the Music of Americana was during the teens and 20's.........this would be the album. There are some songs on this album that get your blood up so much that you wish you could intimidate a cop for no reason into a high speed chase with tommy guns ablazing. It is the funnest, wildest, toe tappin, good time jazz you'll ever hear. But It!!

A long time ago it took me a short while to figure out the things I liked about Disney were all Ward Kimball efforts. In fact, I didn't like straight-up Disney product at all. Hated it in fact. No balls, sap-headed, a bit too precious. Much of Disney couldn't stand Ward either but Walt had a special place in his heart for the maniac. He knew nothing would fly in vison and magic-land unless there was a Trickster there to give it a kick in the arse--something the modern Disney has completely forgotten.

I've heard these wonderful recordings of the band Ward got together described as corny. Banana oil! They're fun and ironic and if you listen carefully you'll hear the spirit of Spike Jones in most of them and you'll also hear the spirit of Ward years later in the Squirrel Nut Zippers (check out the first cut on their Music for Lovers album!). We were starting to see a revival of healthy fun, style, and zaniness in the world until that drip and his entourage of downers turned up in the White House. And of course 9-11 knocked it all into a cocked hat. Too bad.

So screw 'em. Pick this up and blast it while driving through town in your SUV. Order the recently released Thin Man collection and that 90s screwball masterpiece, "Freaked." Hey, one of those Thin Man flicks has a bonus cartoon--Screwy Squirrel dealing with a saccharine Disney-type cutsey-bootsy bunny. Cool. Fight the drips.

This is a two disc set. I have a problem that I have never been able to resolve. When I try to play disc one, I get the music from disc two. It plays OK on a regular CD player, but when I try playing it on Windows Media player where I normally play CDs for background music while I am on the computer, the playlist comes up showing disc two. This is most annoying and I have been unable to determine why this is happening.