Fings need to get betta!

So it's the time when a Burly Q hangover kicks in for a few days before I start to prep the next un. Time to perk and ditch the laziness D.I! Anyway it's an all British comedy hero special this week with a smatterin' of questionable sides that suggest that these folks certainly had a sense of humour when it came to their musical taste!

I genuinely got off to the Max Bygraves one this week which has been given some proper hammer since Den's bro stuck this one on a comp for him. Bernard Cribbins is a mildly amusing one; Kenneth Williams is a gag fast and the Bresslaw & Rossiter sides are to be listened to the once before you pop a knitting needle in your lug oles..! Who ever thought them two were good ideas to put out really do need their bumps feelin'! Not arf...

Max Bygraves- Fings ain't what they used to be

Bernard Cribbins- Gossip calypso

Kenneth Williams- Hand up your sticks

Leonard Rossiter- Miss Jones

Bernard Bresslaw- Charlie Brown

A young court wangler

And so off we set to Huddersfield on a cold, wet miserable Yorkshire morning. The faces of our fellow commuters glared at us as we jaw-jawed booshwash about the impending delights to be snaffled up in Harold Wilson's home town. Well it was a literal wash-out with diversions through South Yorks aplenty...I'll try and scramble together some barrel scrapes for next time...

And so on to the tunes...A couple of fairly deranged platters for your lug holes. First up is a slab from the 'King rockabilly' CD about that good for nothin' layabout Annie. Altogether now 'don't work, don't work, don't work', which is a mantra I can certainly subscribe to. Much searching of the net failed to bring up any pics of Mr. Wade....On the other side of the coin we've got PJ with one from 2000. I'd forgot how great this was (and this was before I saw the video!). I bet she didn't get those duds off the peg! And finally another smattering from some scruffy Hippy types called the Blues Magoos who I blogged recently...this is the flip of the equally great '(We ain't got) Nothin' yet'.

Ronnie Wade- Annie don't work

P.J. Harvey- This is love

Blues Magoos- Gotta get away

Den's been digging 'Round the Horne' this week with the fantabulosa Kenneth Williams. There's a whole gammut of clips out there on the tube but it's good to see him sit in for that old fart Wogan on his show back in the '80's. He don't half ramble on and on and on...and that frock of Babs' O.M.G...and the barnet!! There's also a load of ol' hogwash on the Parky show...

Kenneth Williams interviews Barbara Windsor

Kenneth Williams on Parky

Kenneth Williams as Sid Rumpo

I'll have a pint of white lightning, you can keep your frosty jack

So Den and sits and waits patiently for the train that may never come he has to find things to fill in those 24/7. So he's mainly been eating chocolate and watching lotsa films on the one eyed lodger. So this week there's the usual smatterings of goodness from good ol' Uncle D. Plenty to keep you outta trouble and away from the reeb...

You can't beat good ol' Piano Red. Somebody once told me he was an albino black man. I dunno what ethnic grouping he would sit on but this guy surely should be better known than this! He certainly pounds them ten long fingers like a mad-man. I scoured youtube for my fave '1-2-3' but to no avail so you'll have to make do with this version of Carl Perkins' classic slab.

Piano Red- Right string, wrong yo-yo

And for the first time some lily-livered Merseybeat which in the house of Den has aged about as well as a Stilton off the rotten shelf that rolled under the bed on a hot summer's day...that said yup- most of it was cack (and the yanks flipped their wigs for it?). This one is the Macca lookylikey (even down to the Hofner bass) on this Mary Wells cover. Ain't ever heard this one before peeps- fairly competent cover that turns a Motown classic sound as if it's just crawled outta the Mersey tunnel after getting robbed by some scallys.

Tony Jackson- You beat me to the punch

So on to some stereotypes. Hillbillies drinkin' hooch made out in the barn. This is written by the Big Bopper- which blew my mind (has he ever recorded it??). These guys look like they should be workin' at Butlins in those stoopid red coats but we'll let em off for being able to go deep on the 'white lightning' line!

George Jones- White lightning

So I watched this Bergman flick yesterday: Sawdust & Tinsel. There was me declaring it wasn't his usual bleak stuff, that was until a screaming, fat, ringmaster shoots the circus bear! That said Harriet Andersson is in it and led me to think if you could build a time machine that could travel through time and space that would just be the berries! So here you have a clip (not sure what from?) of her backed by some nice Dixieland jazz.

Harriet Andersson- Smokin'

And so to the end...last time I was bangin' my drum about Joe Black and so on to more 'boylesque' (those gals really need to raise their game to enter Den's world any time soon!). I've been trying to describe this half man/ mouse to my sidekick at the day gig but have been struggling all week so we just had to book him for Burly Q. Top- notch stuff that makes the generic tits and tassles tedium look like increasingly so late- noughties!

British Heart Boylesque

Honey drizzled bagels, Disappointing red wine and a minefield of options...oh yeah and some black face

So Densville is Fat City this week- with a bunch o' fem- vox to keep you company. Sandy Posey & The Crystals apparently being two of Mozza's fave slabs to get down (read: depressed) to. I recently managed to snarf up The Crystals side (the flip of the Gene Pitney penned 'Uptown') from one of my side shifters in the US. Tawney Reed is someone I know zip about, but features on a cheapo costly disc over on the amazon whose title escapes me at the mo- she's from blighty tho...Remember folks our good friends at Zamzar can ream, steam and dry- clean ya: so make the most of the youtube.

Sandy Posey- I take it back

Tawney Reed- I got a feeling

The Crystals- What a nice way to turn seventeen

And so to the end and some burly for the first time in a looong time. Maybe I'm getting complacent or lazy, I dunno; but having seen so many pairs of tassled tits and half-baked 'doyennes' murdering obvious show tunes the future has to be something that makes you think (and it will never be a load of catdogs stripping to Harlem Nocturne). Anyway, soap box is now in't skip so we have a guy; In black face; Singing; A song from Oliver; I ain't a fan of Max Raabe (bad memories, Denettes!) but the whole act is an act of genius. Like or loathe, this ain't no Al Jolson hark-back. Dig it folks! On another note, you've gotta love that shot of Joe- it's like DIY time at Chez den!

Joe Black- Oops I did it again

Ketchup

So it was time for a long weekend and catching up with a plethora of dudes not seen for many a day. Whilst in the midst of the dead soldiers and blur of the night before I pored over my first article in print and flitted back to '95 with a couple of tunes that I first dug out back then...that and a hoot fest from Bernard Manning...how often can you say that?! No burlesque again this week but I ain't got owt that knocked me out so I wasn't gonna retread the same old hooey like some folks do...

So Kippington Lodge became Brinsley Schwarz and then Nick Lowe became that slightly tedious occasional side-kick to Elvis Costello. Twee as they come but never the less how British can you get...On another note I had a dream the other night that Elvis C did a duet with Susan Boyle. At least I think it was a dream!

Kippington Lodge- Shy boy

Never used to really appreciate this side for many a year, giving the v. sim 'Love loves to love love' much more TLC. I recently picked this one outta the gutter at Chez flea and myself and occasional sidekick, Cherryred, have been known to dust it down of late. Great clip!

Lulu- The boat that I row

I can't bear to paste a picture of this over-weight dead guy so I'll let the clip do the talkin'. I'm mumchanced by where this came from but I'm guessing some comedy show from the '90's. Shits and giggles time folks! You can tell he ain't ever heard the origs' as well!

Bernard Manning sings the Smiths