Florence Foster Jenkins & Friends: Murder on the High Cs [Import]

John Charles Thomas (Artist), John Charles Thomes (Artist), Robert Merrill (Artist), Alexander Kipnis (Artist), Ezio Pinza (Artist), Florence Foster Jenkins (Artist), Jack Barnett (Artist), Earl Cahn Sammy / Brent (Artist), Felicien David (Artist), Leo Delibes (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0000AE7AO
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,926 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the definitive FFJ!, January 8, 2005

By 

Curmudgeon "grantc" (West Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Florence Foster Jenkins & Friends: Murder on the High Cs (Audio CD)

A fellow reviewer has not paid close attention to the contents of "Murder On The High C's": this release actually contains every recording that FFJ made. She recorded 9 arias and released them on 5 78's (the fifth, "Valse Caressante", was split), all of them gathered here for the first time. What this album omits from the previous cd release ("The Glory??? of the Human Voice") is the arias by an almost equally incompetent baritone. "Murder..." more than compensates for this with the inclusion of some unbelievably tragic recordings by artists who could actually sing but found themselves saddled with shockingly bad material; it's an absolute feast for those who love outsider music. The 'nursery rhyme' songs provoke bewilderment, the swing version of "Blue Danube" must be heard to be believed, and the excellent liner notes accurately describe Lauritz Melchior's valiant performance of "Please Don't Say No" as "the single worst recording of anything ever made by an opera star who should have known better". "Murder On The High C's" is an insanely delirious treasure.

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sounds Like A Vacuum Cleaner Ingesting An Owl, October 14, 2004

By 

Robert I. Hedges - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Florence Foster Jenkins & Friends: Murder on the High Cs (Audio CD)

Florence Foster Jenkins was a socialite who enjoyed singing in vast disproportion to her musical talent. This CD has some of her greatest works (so to speak) although the disc pales in comparison to her masterwork "The Glory (????) of Human Voice." (In fact several of the songs on this CD are available on that recording.) Particularly ear-shattering are "Musical Snuff Box" (watch out for that last note if you have pets, they will seriously dislike it), "Bell Song" which is essentially a series of a cappella pentatonic scales by and large, and finally the unique rendition of "Valse Caressante" (which was actually released as a single!) which will leave any listener in a near delirium.

In short, these rare Jenkins masterworks are amazing and hilarious. I can't recommend them highly enough to anyone even mildly curious about outsider music. Why the three star rating? It is certainly not due to Florence's participation, rather due to the packaging. The cover boasts "Florence Foster Jenkins and Friends." Little will most people suspect that the "friends" make up about half of the CD, and are totally unrelated to Jenkins except for possessing no musical talent. Some of the songs are merely boring (like the Jimmy Durante selections), and some are quite laughably funny like the dreadful "The Fireman's Bride," and "Please Don't Say No." Finally there is the real puzzler from the "what were they thinking?" file, "Little Jack Horner," an operatic retelling of the classic children's tale. The other reason I only give this disc three stars is because four of the nine Jenkins' songs are available on "The Glory (????) of Human Voice." I had expected different material on this CD.

The bottom line is that this CD is for Florence Foster Jenkins completists. (Ponder that.) People who want more exposure to Florence should buy her delightful "The Glory (????) of Human Voice," which I can't recommend highly enough.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars comedy classic, May 26, 2004

By 

"dunigan04" (Richland, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Florence Foster Jenkins & Friends: Murder on the High Cs (Audio CD)

In the summer of 2003, I had the luck of hearing Florence's recordings. Even though no one is quite sure whether she meant to be funny or not, listening to her cds always puts me in the best mood. Hearing her try to reach those high notes and missing terribly is the funniest thing in the world!! My family and I love Florence!!!