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Very B.O. Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg
Very B.O. Stan Freberg
Genres: Special Interest, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (21) - Disc #1


     
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CD Details

All Artists: Stan Freberg
Title: Very B.O. Stan Freberg
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: Collectables
Original Release Date: 8/11/1998
Release Date: 8/11/1998
Genres: Special Interest, Pop
Styles: Comedy & Spoken Word, Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 090431273326, 724381998557

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Member CD Reviews

Earl D. from NASHUA, NH
Reviewed on 5/15/2011...
Stan Freberg nothing but the BEST!

CD Reviews

The Right Intro To Stan "The Man" Freberg
Michael Daly | Wakefield, MA USA | 09/19/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Stanley Victor Freberg's brilliance was summerized by Stephen Holden, music critic of the NY Times, who noted that Freberg's parodies were more than just of passing fads, but were superb self-contained radio comedies. The twenty-one tracks on this compilation serve up some of the best of his work during the 1950s.Born in 1926 as the son of Baptist minister Victor Freberg, Stan first entered show business with his uncle, Raymond Freberg, whose stage act was as Conray the Magician. "Radio was my first library," Freberg has said, as he grew up during the audio medium's golden age and thus became enamored of the effect sound created. After graduation from Alhambra High School, Stan hopped a bus to Hollywood and set up a voice audition with Warner Brothers in 1944. Termite Terrace's legendary directors, Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson, and Isadore "Friz" Freleng hired Freberg on the spot and he started work alongside the equally legendary Mel Blanc.Soon Stan was branching out more and more, doing cartoon voice work for the majority of the studios as well as a steady diet of work on radio. The Army then beckoned, and after his discharge in 1947 he was contacted by ex-Warners director Bob Clampett, for a puppet TV series he was developing. This became "Beany and Cecil" and became an all-time TV classic.Then in 1951 he released "John and Marsha," a two-word satire of soap operas that became an instant classic. His career in musical satire thus launched, he compiled more such satires. Among his best are his "Dragnet" parodies. In "St. George an the Dragonet" Freberg uses June Foray as a near-devoured maiden and Daws Butler (with whom he'd worked during "Beany & Cecil") as the dragon (voiced as a typical Dragnet heavy) and also the skipper of the woods' homicide division.On "Little Blue Riding Hood" Freberg takes on the famed fairy tale as Sgt. Wednesday, with Little Blue and her grandma running a "goodies" ring - his use of the term "goodies" makes the listener genuinely take the term as police jargon for illicit substances. Capitol made Freberg do one more Dragnet parody, the brilliant two-parter "Yulenet." Sgt. Wednesday and his partner, Frank Jones, interrogate Grudge, a non-believer in Santa Claus (as well as a non-believer in the Easter Bunny or Columbus - or Cleveland or Cincinatti, though he can't make up his mind about Toledo) who leaves Frank quite shaken and Joe determined to prove Santa's bona-fides.The greatest strength of Freberg's Dragnet parodies is their attention to the show's detail - Daws Butler, who co-wrote "Yulenet," voices Frank, and perfectly captures the mannerisms Ben Alexander imbued in the character in his time on the real "Dragnet," while Freberg not only parodies the monaural delivery of Jack Webb, he also rattles off believable spoofs of the arcane numerical jargon used by police in reporting crimes - most brilliantly at the track's beginning. "Yulenet's" other enduring quality is its good-natured approach - the ending is believably happy, so much so that comes across as a legitimate "Dragnet" episode rather than just a parody. The real Sgt. Friday couldn't have done it better himself.Music parodies continued for Freberg, and his funniest was "Banana Boat," his savaging of the embarassing Harry Belafonte hit "Day-O." Freberg exaggerates the song's absurd title and ludicrous lyrics, and the foolishness of the whole enterprise is displayed by the interruptions of Peter Leeds, a friend of Stan's from his radio days, who plays a too-hip bongo player who forces Stan to leave the studio repeatedly to sing. "Banana Boat" was Leeds' third track with Stan - the first was Stan's take-off on "Great Pretender," followed by Freberg's "skiffle band" parody, a send-up of Lonnie Donegan's "Rock Island Line" and the common folk song trait of backgrounding the song's story more than necessary before going into the actual number. The calypso form of "Day O" is then used in one of Freberg's tracks that is among his funniest and at the same time one of his most serious. "Tele-Vee-Shun" rips into circa-1957 television and with its terrific jokes and puns makes a serious point about the downside of the medium. There is a caustic nature to this parody that is used to greater effect on his controversial 1958 skewering of Christmas commercialization, "Green Chri$tma$," qualities reflecting his birth as a Baptist minister's son. While by no means a complete compilation of Freberg's work, this CD is the right place to start in appreciating his work."
A true creative genius shares some of his best work.
Jerry McDaniel | 09/22/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you don't want to pop for the boxed set TIP OF THE FREBERG, then at least treat yourself to this bargain collection of Stan's hilarious (and often painfully true) satire. He was creative genius LONG before the term was worn out on much lesser talents. Example: If you took out all of the funny stuff in his BANANA BOAT song, you'd still be left with a rendition that would rival Belefonte. Want to see how far we haven't come? Take a listen to his 40 year old TELE-VEE-SHUN. As on target today as it was when first released. What else can you say but "WUNNERFUL...WUNNERFUL...""