Write a Review
Critic's Review
Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide
This four-CD or cassette companion to the Stan Freberg Show, Vol. 1 (2000) features the rest of the CBS Radio program run circa the fall of 1957. These broadcasts are offered here the way they were originally aired and have never been available in their entirety before. The host is joined by frequent collaborators Daws Butler, June Foray, Peter Leeds and musical director Billy May. Collectively, they are the perfect foils for Freberg's often eccentric and always funny ideas. The opening "Audience Gripes About Freeway" allows each participant to take on numerous personas as Freberg moderates what turns into a spirited debate. They are also given multiple roles in "Freberg in Adverstisingland," where Freberg plays himself as the others interact with him in a variety of parodied personas. The brilliant writing is apparent as the actors bring to life what are essentially cartoons dramatized for radio. The same troupe were similarly responsible for some of Freberg's enormously popular recordings as well. On this box, both the Jack Webb-inspired "St. George and the Dragonet" and the calypso spoof "Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" are performed live and the overwhelming response serves as evidence of their impact and the studio audience's familiarity with the sides. For the final Stan Freberg Show, Vol. 2, the gang reenact their most requested bits. Perhaps the knowledge that the series was ending resulted in a freshness and verve that make them seem funnier than ever.
