London Pride - Tour of London in Song [Import]

Catherine Bott (Artist), David Owen Norris (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 13, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B0001FYRCQ
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,208 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful musical love letter to London, June 28, 2011

By 

G.C. (St. Louis, MO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London Pride - Tour of London in Song (Audio CD)

This CD derived from live performances at the Savage Club in London, at the instigation of composer Jonathan Dove, who offered Catherine Bott a chance to devise a cabaret concert. Bott came up with the idea of a musical tour of London through concert hall songs, old English music hall numbers, and popular songs. Newer composer contributions also came from Dove himself, fittingly enough, as well as pianist David Owen Norris.

Both Bott and Norris are excellent throughout. As Bott writes in her notes, she tried to steer away from the generic "Good old London town" type of song, to focus on particular locations in London. Thus most of the choices will not be familiar to American audiences, except for the Gershwins' "A foggy day in London town" and Sherwin & Maschwitz's "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square". In addition to his piano playing, Norris contributes vocally, duetting with Bott in "A Room in Bloomsbury" and acting as the umpire in "Wimbledon Idyll". He even gets to go solo vocally in my own favorite song on the album, "Mayfair Merry-Go Round", which is sort of the spirit of Sondheim's "The Ladies Who Lunch" about the vagaries of the idle class, but in a more sprightly vein.

By the way, the last song, Noel Coward's "London Pride", initially reminded me of Lerner and Loewe's "Wouldn't it be loverly?" from "My Fair Lady". However, Coward acknowledged that he based "London Pride" on the old London cry "Won't You Buy My Sweet-Smelling Lavender", so it may well be that Lerner and Loewe used the same source for their own song for Eliza Doolittle in the musical.

Also, there's one error in the liner notes on the songs: the dates for Manning Sherwin are given incorrectly as "1940-2000", whereas they should be 1902-1974 (or possibly 1898-1974). But don't let that get in the way of a terrific album.