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Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief is a 1973 collection of (mostly) album-only interwoven sketches. The best bits are ones that take full advantage of the radio idiom--"Novel Writing," in which sports announcers breathlessly chronicle the first sentence of Thomas Hardy's newest book; or "Wasp Club/Tiger Talk," in which a typical BBC show about pets quickly turns into a savage fight for life inside the studio. John Cleese, having practiced on the mid-1960s radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again is the most assured performer on the album. But Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and quasi-Python Neil Innes all figure prominently. Very British, somewhat 1970s, Matching Tie and Handkerchief is an absolute joy for any Python fan. A minor quibble: the LP sported a cool double-grooved side 2, and every time you put the needle down, you didn't know which lineup of sketches you would get. Obviously--and unfortunately--the CD can't do this. --Michael Gerber