Frankie Howerd: Please Yourselves

Whoever at BBC Worldwide came up with the idea of re-releasing the BBC's classic LPs from yesteryear deserves a medal.We live in an age where consumers are completists and look for box sets of our favourite comedy shows. Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, we miss the fact that sometimes it's just great to have 45 minutes of comedy gold highlights, such as  Unique Hancock: (Vintage Beeb)  and  It's Morecambe and Wise (Vintage Beeb) , which is what these original LPs were all about.Even better, some weren't highlights at all but produced especially for LP release, such as this disc,  Frankie Howerd: Please Yourselves: (Vintage Beeb) . There is great joy in being able to just stick on a disc and get a whole raft of comedy genius in a nice consumable chunk. As this was recorded for LP in the late '70s, it's a cracking stereo recording. Pedantics may be interested to know that it's generally a gapless album programme, and there is no gap between the original "side 1" and "side 2". Whilst this offers a nice seamless blend, some fans of the original vintage album may find it disappointing - especially as Frankie himself instructs us to "please turn over"!Regardless of this, this album is one of the best from Vintage Beeb. Buy it.

With Frankie Howerd, you always know exactly what you're going to get. Usually, you get the same things from his acts in the nineteen-fifties as you get from his acts in the nineteen-nineties. This is not always a bad thing, and this album presents Francis in a mixture of stand-up routines and sketches, punctuated at all points by some appalling puns. I personally prefer his album recorded at the Establishment, but I have no complaints about the contents of this disc either. Listen, and be prepared to get your titters out.

ITEM ARRIVED IN GOOD TIME AND ORDER. I GREW UP LISTENING TO FRANCIS AND SAW HIM ONCE LIVE JUST BEFORE HIS DEATH. THIS REMINDS ME OF A TIME GONE BY AND OF SOMEONE THE LIKE OF WHOM WE WILL NEVER SEE AGAIN.

If you like Frankie Howerd you will love this new CD from the BBC. It is a lot funnier than the one from Universal, but get that one as well because it's good, too! This is the first time on CD for this recording. A great CD for Frankie fans!