Customer Reviews

Firesign Theatre's Box of Danger

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

 

 

While there are gems in this box set, there is bit of so-so material. "The Further Adventures of Nick Danger" (aka "Cut 'em off at the Past!") is, of course, brilliant, but most Firesign fans already own that. "Three Faces of Al," which I had never heard before is quite enjoyable, though doesn't approach the genius of the original. "The Case of the Missing Shoe" has some great moments. The first three Parts of "Shack Out on the Alien Highway" are completely improvised and just don't work. But parts 4 through 7 are partially scripted and quite funny. If you're a hard core Firesign fan you have to have this, unless you have copies of all the tracks, including a bootlegged live performance.

For the Firesign completist, this is an essential box. We finally get a re-issue of "Three Faces of Al" (the world's first comedy CD!), for starters! Besides that and the classic first piece from "How Can You Be In Two Places...," we get several live performances and pieces done for radio. For those who are new to this brilliant comedy troupe, this is a good place to start. The "Nick Danger" pieces were always a bit more accessible than the more surrealist longform pieces the group is also known for. A mish-mosh for classic radio detective serials and Goon Show-type surrealism filtered through a counter-culture sensibility, the bits are both silly and smart all at once. And, they're short, easily consumed pieces with a lightning pace. Very, very enjoyable. Nice way to discover America's most unsung comedy team!

The Firesign's devotion to Old Time Radio was evident in much of their work, including a brilliant send-up of "Let's Pretend" on their "Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour," but never as obviously as in the Nick Danger pieces. From the original Beatle allusions rampant in "The Further Adventures of Nick Danger" to the two-minute bits comprising "The Case of the Missing Shoe," their rapid fire, but deliberate, delivery makes these ever-funny and ever-punny pundits pure joy to the ear and brain. Even for those of us who have tried to collect everything that any of these four have published, this collection is a joy. A couple of the pieces are slightly redundant, but the variations on a theme are at the heart of their artistry. Whether you were there at the time or not (...an old joke about the 60's) I recommend this collection whole-heartedly. Then I recommend that you run out and grab up anything else you can find from these "four or five crazy guys."

The Firesign Theater revolutionized comedy on records in the 1960s and 1970s by creating their inspired bits designed FOR records, not just recording a live performance, which is more typical for comedy albums. Nick Danger is a recurring sketch on the records that is a parody of old radio serials (Sam Spade, The Shadow, etc.) and over the years they did good sendups of the genre in their surrealistic style. The early material is good. However, this box is a bit of too much in one place. Listening to all of this material over a brief period of time on my daily commute, it became obvious that much of the material is repeated, not just in style but the actual jokes get repeated frequently. The more recent material, on discs 3 and 4, is pretty weak, much of it appears to be improvised, and not very well, and a lot of time is spent breaking the third wall by discussing how much sound effects cost and needing to import Buddhist writers from Canada. The material just doesn't work. If you are a new fan wanting to be introduced to the Firesign Theater I would recommend their early, classic albums from the '60s as the place to start. This is a nice box to have all the Nick Danger material together in one place, I just would NOT recommend listening to it in a short period of time...give some time between the bits and it would probably be more enjoyable.

For the Firesign fan, not much explanation is needed. Leaving the anchovies for a moment, this is a great collection of the Nick Danger archives. However, this could have been a much better collection of 3 CDs, instead of being stretched across 4. The Back from the Shadows elements were unnecessary here, serving no purpose but to demonstrate how the Theatre sometimes blow their lines on stage. The All Things Firesign tracks come across as filler. Three discs would have served. Including the Shack Out On the Alien Highway, aired in the early, wonderful days of XM when anything was possible, was a must, and preserved here for as long as anyone will be interested.
The booklet is superb, detailing the varied background of each sketch. Illustrated with pictures that must be seen to be appreciated. Rocky Rococo is exposed as never before, while Danger himself is still, in his own words, "regnaD kciN."

The Firesign Theatre's style of how-many-puns-can-we-fit-in-a-minute comedy may be too cerebral for people raised on the modern style of how-many-obscenities-can-we-spray-our-audience-with. But for any culture geek out there who likes their humor clever and original, you cannot ignore the genius of these four guys {and their caste of thousands} Of course, the original episode, from How Can You Be In Two Places At Once, will never be surpassed. But there are laudable moments on all four of these CDs. When these guys go, there will be none to fill their inflatable shoes. Sit down with Box Of Danger and grok the past forty years of regnad kcir, if you're able!

Great episodes from out of print records and live stage stuff as well. Great to have!