10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astonishing collection of early 20th century song, October 21, 2009
This review is from: I've Never Seen a Straight Banana: Rare Moments, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)
This is an astounding collection on a number of levels. First and foremost, it's a brilliant anthology of early American song, sung with love and introduced with learned background by Tiny Tim. The set's liner notes provide additional information on the songs and details of how they fit into Tiny Tim's career. These recordings capture Tiny Tim singing songs of his own choice, with no record label breathing down his neck for a novelty release that would reignite memories of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." Instead, Tiny Tim picked tunes that range from the dawn of the Edison cylinder (1878's "Mr. Phonograph"), early twentieth century tunes in their original style, 1960s Tiny Tim originals, and a medley that sandwiches Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" between a pair of songs from the late 1920s. The latter includes an imitation of Rudy Vallee singing Dylan, and Dylan singing Vallee.
Equally incredible is the genesis of these tapes in 1976 sessions, recorded by a 16-year-old Richard Barone (of Bongos fame) in a Florida hotel room and a ramshackle studio. Having discovered Tiny Tim playing a gig at a local hotel, Barone made his acquaintance and was treated to a personal after-show performance. He quickly parlayed this into an opportunity to record Tiny Tim in his room, and then more formally in a local studio. The tapes sat on Barone's self for 33 years awaiting release. There are a few artifacts of the informal recording circumstances (e.g., a bumped microphone here and there), but the sound quality is generally superb. More importantly, the performances are casual and heartfelt, without the artifice of a clock ticking away a label's dollars.
Tiny Tim sang solo to the accompaniment of his ukulele, but for the title track Barone post-produced a magnificent backing arrangement that includes additional ukuleles, accordion, percussion, bass and a happy chorus of backing singers. Tim's performance is so effervescent as to feel like it was feeding off the energy of the backing musicians and vocalists. What's revealed in all of these performances is that while Tiny Tim and the songs he loved may have been novel, they were a lot deeper than novelties. His comedic persona often obscured the seriousness and deep respect with which he approached early American music and its performers, and though his falsetto vocals were played to the public as a gimmick, they were of a piece with the music. Tiny Tim was a greater musician than the public typically saw, and it took a wide-eyed 16-year-old to get it down on tape. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An hour that is well spent, October 31, 2009
This review is from: I've Never Seen a Straight Banana: Rare Moments, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)
This is a great document of a night in 1976 when Tiny Tim performed his personal favorites for an audience of 3 teenage fans. The tunes were recorded in Tiny's motel room on a cassette recorder. However, through the magic of audio restoration the sound has been scrubbed and is more than acceptable. Tiny introduces his favorite songs with some information as to when they were originally recorded and the original performer. I only wish that more of his dialogues could have been recorded. This man was a true encyclopedia of music. This is not "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips" material. The songs are heartfelt and delivered just that way. The more I hear these "guerilla recordings" that have recently surfaced the more I admire the man. Many of the records he made in the later '70's and early '80's were based on the more humorous aspect of this performer. The songs contained on this CD are his personal favorites and are mighty obscure for the most part. The producer did talk Tiny into going into a ramshackle studio the next day to record four tracks which were recently overdubbed with backing musicians and singers and are a delight. Tiny also performs three original songs which are also quite good. This material has been released via Collectors Choice Music and they are to be commended for an excellent all around package. The cover says Volume 1 so here's hoping Volume 2 will not be far behind.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A tribute to the great songs of the acoustical era (except for one track) by a pop culture icon, January 17, 2010
This review is from: I've Never Seen a Straight Banana: Rare Moments, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)
This is definitely a quirky CD but most of it is a lot of fun. I won't go into details as to how it was recorded (you'll see that in other reviews) but will concentrate on the musical contents.
The always-eccentric Tiny Tim loves old songs and holds (well HELD, until he died) himself out as a walking encyclopedia of early Tin Pan Alley. He has the right enthusiasm but I'm not sure how much recording history he has read. So, first and foremost, don't count on Tiny's brief introductions to give you the facts. They are fun but when he announces the dates that a song was recorded, and the liner note booklet (with nice notes by producer Richard Barone) give the correct date as 3-4 years after Tiny's dates, And he erroneously states - and Barone repeats in the notes - that the song "Mr. Phonograph" was recorded in 1878 as the first cylinder record. (The song was composed for the piano, and was never commercially issued on a wax cylinder record. In fact, Edison's phonograph played a piece of tin foil and it was not until 1888 that the WAX cylinder record was developed.).
But back to the songs. Its fun to hear Tiny imitate Bob Dylan and Eddie Cantor and anyone who spreads the word about singer Billy Murray gets props in my opinion. The one song that is way out of place is "Dear Tuesday", an ode to cult actress Tuesday Weld. I gave that track one pass. I'm not sure this is a CD you will play a lot - and you have to listen to Tiny's introductions each time - but its fun the first time. And it's good to know its out there, and not just in producer Barone's cassette tape library.
Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
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