Customer Reviews

Nick Danger: The Daily Feed Tapes

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If you're a fan of the Firesign Theatre, then the name Nick Danger (or, if you're reading it from inside his frosted-glass door, Regnad Kcin) will sock you between the eyes like the kiss at the end of a hot fist! This is a large collection of short-short radio bits from 1988-1990 by Phil Austin, resurrecting the famous "Nick Danger, Third Eye" private detective character from Firesign's classic (some might say best) album "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?" The original Nick Danger, Third Eye piece was a half-hour metaphysical spoof of 1940s hard-boiled detectives--with time travel, Beatles references, and some clever use of the vinyl LP format (a character leaps from one side of the record to the other). This set of two CDs follows in the steps of that classic piece in a slightly different format: dozens of 1- to 2-minute audio monologues by Austin as Nick Danger, produced for a radio syndication show in the late 1980s. While some of the pieces are episodic and follow in sequence (Nick tries to track down a sober Republican, has a tiny adventure in a HO-scale village, wrestles with a leprechaun intent on selling Nick Danger merchandise), many others are more straight-forward (but still offbeat and frequently hilarious) commentary on modern life, which reminded me of Ian Shoales's "I Gotta Go" spoken through the mouth of a hard-boiled dick. The pieces come fast and furious, so even if one sags then next one is bound to amuse. If you've never heard of Nick Danger, make "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once..." your first buy, but follow it up with this. A few cautions: none of the other Firesign Theatre members take part in these recordings. It's just Phil Austin, narrating and doing all the voices. It's a great format, but might disappoint those fans hoping to hear classic Danger characters like Inspector Bradshaw and Nancy. Second, there are so many short-short pieces on each CD that they can seem overwhelming if you listen to them all at once. I recommend short listening sessions.

If you are a fan of FIRESIGN THEATRE then you've GOT to have these. 2 CDs, packaged like a DVD containing OK but not great quality recordings of FST's Phil Austin as Nick Danger, apparently from some radio show. Each track is a minute or so long, some funny moments, as you would expect. Must for collectors of all things FST like me.

AS MUCH AS I LIKE NICK DANGER THE CD I BOUGHT FROM AMAZON THEMSELF IS A CDR. IS THIS A BOOTLEG?