Search - Flanders & Swann :: At the Drop of a Hat

Not What it Claims to be

Tesserat | London | 12/10/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For those of you who grew up with the UK recording of "At the Drop of a Hat" be warned - in spite of what it says on the box this is NOT the recording of the 1959 show at the Fortune Theatre. This is the Broadway show.



The identity of the recording can be determined in the first minute from Flanders' introduction of Swann as "noted composer, pianist, linguist, also contains lanolin" - in the Fortune Theatre recording he is introduced as "noted composer, pianist, linguist, and all round egghead". There are substantial differences in the two performances, not least of which the pace which is a lot quicker in this recording, lacking the elegant timing which characterised the UK performance and which is comparable to the available CD of "At the Drop of Another Hat" (which WAS recorded in the UK).



Many of the jokes and asides are different - for instance in "Have Some Madeira", the Fortune Theatre recording includes an aside "He slyly inveigled her up to his flat, to view his collection of stamps [aside] All unperforated! ha ha ha ..." clearly this was regarded as too risqué for the US performance.



The songs are the same vintage and hilarious Flanders and Swann but the presentation, to me, is nowhere close to the quality of the earlier performance - it sounds to me like they were by this stage tired of the material and "going through the motions" for an audience that they did not relate to in the same way as an English audience.



Incidentally - Too Many Cookers, Vanessa, Tried by the Centre Court and The Youth of the Heart were not on the original LP recording and judging from the acoustics these were recorded elsewhere. The sleeve notes identify these as being recorded in 1957, 2 years prior to the Fortune Theatre performance."

Witty, clever and a joy to listen to

Frank Nesbitt | Goleta, CA USA | 08/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first encountered Flanders and Swan on the LP version of this recording forty years ago. Loved it then, love it today. These two inventive and joyful British devils have delighted theatre audiences for years and their "Hippopotamus Song" has become something of a children's classic. This is the original cast recording of their first hit London show and is a marvelous performance. Can't say enough good about it but best of all my wife and I have been humming the songs and quoting the lyrics to one another now and then ever since we got the LP as a wedding present."

Good Memories!!

Beverly A Beeman | Colorado Springs, CO United States | 12/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My father used to work in the kitchen, cooking or cleaning, with music playing in the background. One of his favorites was this album by Flanders & Swann. He had seen the show and loved the record. I sang the songs through my childhood and now I sing them to my children, my co-workers, my friends! I only just realized that I can get the original album on CD. WHAT JOY!!!"