Customer Reviews

Tip Of The Freberg: The Stan Freberg Collection 1951-1998 (4-Disc Set & VHS Video)

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For those of us old enough to remember a little puppet show called, "Time for Beanie," broadcast as far as I know, only in the early days of television in Los Angeles, Stan Freberg honed his comedy skills with some most interesting puppet characters he brought to life as Cecil the Seasick Sea-serpant, Dishonest John ("the world's meanest crumb") along with his fellow puppeteer, Bob Clampett who hired Stan for the show. Together they also created for the show, the lion with false teeth, Mouth-Full-Teeth Keith, Beanie and his uncle, Captain Horatio K. Huffenpuff as the little intrepid group sailed aboard the captains boat, The Leakin' Lena. That said, Freberg supplied this world with such albums as "A Child's Garden of Freberg" and more. His genious took him to the world of advertising and he was a genious there, as well. This set of CDs is, indeed, "The Tip of the Freberg." Long live Freberg.

Most people know Stan Freburg from either the Christmas Classic St George and the Christmas Drag-net or the evil toy exec from the Monkees TV show.

This four disk CD collection is more than a best of. It is a well rounded collection of Freberg thru the years. From radio bits of his short lived radio show to his 1990's syndicated show, the short bits of parodies will make you laugh and think. Comedians, humorists and TV skit writers owe a great deal and a large debt from his imagination and satire. I remember reading once that even Stephen King remembered a comedy parody bit about filling the Grand Canyon with hot chocolate, whipped cream and a 2000 ton cherry.

There is a VHS tape of some of his television ads. I could wish for a DVD release for this collection. Everything from Chun King egg rolls to Encyclopedias, the humor is funny. The parodies barely date themselves. These ads could run today on TV

The comedy of some of these pieces are timeless. The wit will make you laugh even today. For those of you who don't know Freburg, get this and laugh it up!


Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Tip Of The Freberg is as advertised -- the definite collection of a true genius of comedy and satire, Stan Freberg.

From his song parodies to his satires to his radio and TV commercials, this collection has it all and it is so much fun.

The next American Humor award should go to Stan Freberg.

Twice during this exceptional, deacdes-spanning box set, Stan Freberg asks you to imagine Lake Michigan filled with hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream from dump trucks, and topped with a cherry flown by a Royal Canadian Air Force plane to cheers of 25,000 extras. He first does it trying to sell radio as an advertising medium ("Doesn't TV stretch the imagination?" "Up to 27 inches.") , one among hundreds of influential, Clio-winning campaigns. The second time, joined by his daughter and legendary voice actress June Foray, he simply asks, "Does Anyone Remember Radio?" Stan Freberg, heard and seen here with a career spanning 4CD box set and accompanying video, is our last link to that legendary theater of the mind.

Joined by a troupe of actors including voice-over giants June Foray, Paul Frees, and Daws Butler, and helped by Broadway-brassy Billy May arrangements, Freberg recorded sonically accurate but hilarious pop song parodies. An overechoed "Heartbreak Hotel" features Freberg's ersatz Elvis tearing three pairs of pants and a piano solo "close enough for jazz." "Sh-Boom" features inarticulate doo-woppers coached by a Stanley Kowalksi impersonator. (In his exhaustive liner notes, written with movelty music curator Barrett "Dr. Demento" Hansen, Freberg denies racism motivated his stinging attacks on the then-new music. He said he just liked jazz and wanted to understand the lyrics, which hardly explains his collaboration with Jesse White on hilarious if mean-spirited "The Old Payola Roll Blues".)

A "Yellow Rose of Texas" features an overactive snare drum which became a Freberg in-joke on subsequent hit records. Freberg also bit the TV hand which later fed him, parodying Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan and, in "Tele-Vee-Shun" practically putting Newton Minnow's "vast wasteland" speech to music. (But the version included here omits Freberg's closing shot, "But is it art?/Don't make me laugh." )

"Green Christmas," a huge, controversial 1958 hit, is arguably Freberg's finest moment. Transposing Dickens' "Christmas Carol" to Madison Avenue he successfully combines satire, (hear what happens to Tiny Tim) clever songs and genuine righteous anger to show ad agency Scrooges (who Freberg later served in his own fashion) "who's birthday we're celebrating." Coming when it did at a season in an era dominated by advertising, it's as clever and reverent to the true meaning of Christmas as any traditional holiday song, not to mention twice as funny.

"Tip of the Freberg" also includes portions of his two remarkable "Presents the United States of America" CDs, recorded nearly 40 years apart. But the last two discs lose some momentum. Apart from a haunting, darkly humored ad aimed at cutting off Vietnam war funding, you hope the milk and chow mein products Freberg wrote for had less filler than their ad upon ad repetition does on Disc 4. (Rhino, whose gathered some remarkable box sets, could cleverly have interspersed Freberg's commercials throughout the set for a more evenly funny listen.)

"The Conspiraski Theory" puts three of 1998's infamous news personalities into a smile-inducing but slight ditty, where prime Freberg could have turned it into a grand slam sketch. (That, plus his NPR "Stan Freberg Here" commentaries link him more closely to Fred Allen than Andy Rooney.) Even so, anyone wanting to understand the satirical, pun-filled, even seething 1950s humor - which inspired "Bullwinkle," the Firesign Theater, National Lampoon, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld and every single commercial you've ever laughed at, should hear Freberg's work. Highly recommended, but if budget prohibits choose any of Freberg's one-disc Capitol collections or multi-disc sets from his radio show.

This set is worth the price of admission for Disc 3 alone: "Omaha!" is the gem of the entire set, but "Christmas Dragnet" is up there too. The skits from Freberg's radio show tend to capture the breadth of his imagination, as the inclusion especially the entire 25-minute "Incident at Los Veroces", but the skits "Grey Flannel Hatful of Teenage Werewolves" and "Face the Funnies" (on the radio show boxed sets) are even funnier.

Stan Freberg is not only the Father of the funny commercial but the Dean of American satire. This four cd set and video gives the listener/viewer ample evidence of this. Because there is such a wealth of material given, it really is pretty difficult to pinpoint. I am glad that Rhino records was the label to give Stan Freberg the attention he deserves. Two of my favourite Freberg tracks included are, "Green Christmas" where Stan makes a full frontal attack on the advertising industry and the commercialization of the holiday season and, "Does Anyone Remember Radio?" teaching the listener about how radio will always be the theatre of the mind. This was extremely on-the-edge stuff back in the buttoned-down America of the 1950s. The audio quality of the cds is excellent along with a great liner book featuring interviews and wonderful pictures from Stan, Dr. Dememto and others. I just hope Mr.Freberg doesn't make us wait another 35 years for the History of the U.S.A. part 3

One would expect some of Freberg's satires, parodies and commentaries to sound dated. After all, some of them are 30 years old. But songs like "That's my boy," "Elderly Man River," and "Payola Blues" are not curiosities from the time capsule -- they are musical premonitions of the society we would become. If you loved Freberg years ago, you will love AND respect AND be amazed by him now.

In addition to classic Freberg on these four CDs, we're treated to items that were not previously released (including Stan's hilarious and ripping imitations of Ed Sullivan and Arthur Godfrey, which his timid record company was afraid to release.)

And what's this? A video of some of Freberg's great commercials? A highlight is sci fi legend Ray Bradbury feuding with an announcer.

I could go on and on and on. There is SO MUCH HERE (including a booklet). Freberg and Rhino really delivered quality and quantity with this one. Just the clever box is worth forty bucks, if you asked me.

Stan, I salute your wit, talent, and amazing output. Please keep up the good work. We need you more than ever.

Much as I love this stuff, I find the commercials and the videos of the commercials unrewarding. If they had to do a "video" of Freberg, I'd have loved excerpts from live 50's TV when he did some stand up, his CHUNG KING special, and clips from the three films he was in. I've seen GERALDINE, and his Johnnie Ray spoof, "Flaming Lips" is very funny, him tearing off his clothes like the other singer and contorting his body...

...so there needs to be another collection, one with more of "Stan Freberg here..", his other audio recordings, the PBS special, scattered writings for an enclosed booklets, etc.

And no commercials. I think I resent Freberg's descent into advertising, since it proved he could be a funny ad man, but that's what it was. Ad man. Snake Oil with a good name. The advertising took him away from what he did best, and gave us less of Freberg than we wanted.

As a child, I heard "Green Chri$tma$" on the radio and laughed myself silly, delighted that someone had the guts to take on the commercialization of the holidays. When I learned it was a man named Stan Freberg and he had recorded it many years earlier, I determined to learn more about this wonderfully funny man. In the generation to come, I read, listened to, and enjoyed as much Freberg as I could get my hands on. Then came this incredible box set, the ultimate anthology of Stan's amazing career. With the sole exception of cartoon and puppet voices, virtually every aspect of his life in show business and advertising is represented in loving detail. It is the career tribute Stan so richly deserves, and displays the stunning range and versatility of his genius. Be prepared for hours of laughter from one of America's most original minds.

After searching for years, i've finally found him again. This CD
is fantastic. After only having the "Dragnet" songs on old 78's
before,it's great to here the clarity on CD. My only regret is
that two classics that i remember are not here. "Rock around with
Stephen Foster" and "Widescreen Mama". Does anyone know if they are on anything else?