VA - Listen To The Banned

This collection of wittily salacious songs encompasses familiar personalities (Mae West), longtime musical legends (Cliff Edwards, George Formby, Sophie Tucker, Gertrude Lawrence), and less well-known figures such as Billy Cotton & His Band, Randolph Sutton, and Art Fowler, doing songs that could be considered risqué. The only problem with that notion is that Formby, in particular, is so guileless and offhanded that the censorable nature of "With My Little Ukulele in My Hand" is mostly in the mind of the listener; not so Mae West's "A Guy What Takes His Time," which is an excellent and supremely suggestive musical piece by the actress/singer.

What makes this collection different from the various risqué blues collections familiar to American blues and nostalgia buffs is that most of what's here is British in origin (such as "All Poshed Up With My Daisies in My Hand" by Charlie Higgins), and comes from a music hall tradition that, today, seems rather remote. Of course, ASV is a nostalgia label, and the fact that the British dance bands of the era felt they could and should do material such as "She Was Only a Postman's Daughter, But...." will be a pleasant revelation, but the material will mostly still seem tame (and least in tone) next to the risqué blues of the period. In this company, Jimmie Rodgers' "What's It" is as raunchy as it gets. The sound is fairly good -- little of the contents have been totally restored, so listeners do get source and surface noise, but nothing to interfere with the listening, and the annotation is reasonably thorough; there's obviously precious little extant information on some of the artists represented.              

Tracklist:

 1. I've Gone And Lost My Little Yo-Yo - Billy Cotton And His Band

2. With My Little Ukelele In My Hand - George Formby And His Ukelele

3. A Guy What Takes His Time - Mae West

4. She Was Only A Postmaster's Daughter, But... - Durium Dance Band

5. Nellie, The Nudist Queen - Ross And Sargent

6. My Private Affair - Dawn Davis

7. What's It? - Jimmie Rodgers

8. He Hadn't Up Till Yesterday - Sophie Tucker

9. Winnie The Worm - Ronald Frankau

10. I'm A Bear In A Lady's Boudoir - Cliff Edwards

11. Everyone's Got Sex Appeal For Someone - Ronald Frankau And Monte Crick

12. All Poshed Up With My Daisies In My Hand - Charlie Higgins

13. Pu-leeze! Mister Hemingway! - Elsie Carlisle

14. Let's All be Fairies - Durium Dance Band

15. I'm Going To Give It To Mary With Love - Cliff Edwards

16. The Physician - Gertrude Lawrence

17. No Wonder She's A Blushing Bride - Art Fowler And His Ukelele

18. Flora McDonald - Douglas Byng

19. Or Anything Else I've Got! - Randolph Sutton

20. And So Does He - Dawn Davis

VA - Listen To The Banned
(320 kbps, cover art included)