Stan Freberg - Very Best Of Stan Freberg
List Price:
Our Price: $9.65
You Save: $7.32 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.39 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: Stan FrebergEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-08-11
Music Label: Collectables
Soundtracks:
- John & Marsha
- I've Got You Under My Skin
- That's My Boy
- Try
- The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise
- St. George and the Dragonet
- Little Blue Riding Hood
- Christmas Dragnet (Yulenet), Pt. 1
- Christmas Dragnet (Yulenet), Pt. 2
- C'Est Si Bon
- A Dear John & Marsha Letter
- Sh-Boom
- The Yellow Rose of Texas
- The Great Pretender
- Heartbreak Hotel
- Rock Island Line
- The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)
- Tele-Vee-Shun
- Wun'erful, Wun'erful (Side Uh-One): Bubbles in the Wine/Thank ...
- Wun'erful, Wun'erful (Side Uh-Two): Moonlight & Shadows/Bubbles in The
- Green Chri$Tma$
Free Music Notes for Very Best Of Stan Freberg
Free Music Review: No One Was Safe .... Or Sacred
Hit: 5 Stars
Parodies of the hits and radio programs were a staple during the Forties and Fifties, beginning with Spike Jones & His City Slickers sticking it to everything and everyone from Cocktails For Two to Adolf Hitler (Der Fuhrer's Face), and from The William Tell Overture to the Tennessee Waltz. Joining him part way through his mad slashing of seriousness was Red Ingle & The Natural Seven featuring Cinderella G. Stump (Jo Stafford) lampooning Temptation (Tim-Tay-Shun) and Nature Boy (Serutan Yob - A Song For Backwards Boys And Girls), among others.
Then, in 1950, the master entered the picture. Only Stan Freberg wasn't content with just poking fun through sound effects. He went straight for the heart. Born in Pasadena, California on August 7, 1926, he got started at age 17 doing impersonations on the Cliffie Stone radio program in 1943. Soon his voice was in demand for movie cartoons, and in 1950 became one of the pioneers in TV, along with Daws Butler (later Huckleberry Hound among other voices) and Bob Hope side-kick Jerry Colona, on the Time For Beany puppet show.
A year later he released his first record, John And Marsha, on the Capitol label, taking a dig at the many radio soap operas. It contained just two words - John ... and Marsha ... and with Cliffie Stone's orchestra playing suitable shmaltzy music in the background, two star-crossed lovers would say "John .. Marsha .. John John ... Marsha Marsha ... John John John ... Marsha, Marsha, Marsha" with enough emphasis to suggest that there was a lot more going on than just mundane conversation. It was hilarious and an instant hit, going to # 21 pop in the spring of 1951.
A few months later he was back with a double-sided hit backed by Les Baxter's orchestra and using old buddy Daws Butler (who would appear on most of his hits). The A-side went after The Weavers' "On Top Of Old Smokey" by cleverly using its call and response arrangement in the old standard I've Got You Under My Skin. A number 11 hit, it was joined on the charts by the B-side, That's My Boy (not in this set) which reached # 30.
In 1952 Johnny Ray felt the Wrath of Stan when his monster hit Cry was crucified in Try, a # 15 hit in May with the Billy May band, and a little over a year later, with Walter Schumann & His Orchestra and June Foray, he stuck it to everyone's favorite TV show, Dragnet. St. George And The Dragonet was brilliant and, complete with Jerry Lewis and Jack Webb imitations, it went to the top of the charts late in the year. The flip-side - Little Blue Riding Hood - didn't do too badly either, going to # 9.
That disc went so well, in fact, that he had another shot at the show over the holiday season with Christmas Dragnet (Parts I and II), backed by the Nathan Scott orchestra. In this "Scrooge" became "Grudge" and it topped out at # 13 (it would be re-released in 1954 as Yulenet).
By the time he decided to take a shot at Eartha Kitt (C'est Si Bon - # 13 in February 1954) the fans - and artists - were divided into three camps. Those who loved him and those who hated him - both because of what he was doing to the establishment - and those who appreciated his satirical genius. Which camp the Senate was in was never recorded, but Point Of Order, billed as by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler and using "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep", ripped the Senate's Army-McCarthy hearings.
Then it was Rock & Roll's turn. Here was a whole new field for Stan who would take great delight over the next three years in exposing the sleazier side of the industry, and taking pot-shots at some of the genre's more obvious gimmicks. First up was Sh-Boom which, with Billy May's orchestra, and chorus by "The Toads", went to # 14 late in 1954. Then, in 1955, he split his attack with a savage and side-splitting spoof of Mitch Miller's Yellow Rose Of Texas (# 16) and The Platter's Great Pretender.
However the latter, complete with the constant tink tink tink tink tink piano in the background, did not chart, nor did his next Rock parody, Rock Island Line, and when the excruciatingly funny Heartbreak Hotel (schriiiiiip - I riiiiped muh jeans) could only manage a # 79 in 1956, it was clear that this genre that everyone said wouldn't last had some pretty loyal fans who were all coalescing into the "hate Stan" camp.
Apparently calypso wasn't so sacrosanct, however, because Banana Boat (Day-O) hit # 25 in the early summer of 1957, and later that year he found another delightful target. Lawrence Welk. In what I consider to be his best, and with Daws Butler and Peggy Taylor in tow, Wun'erful, Wun'erful (Side a-one and side a-two) offers the tale of a dance band, performing at a seaside bandstand, breaking away from the main structure and floating out to sea due to a malfunctioning bubble machine (a-turn offf the a-bubble machine.) It topped out at # 32 in November.
In 1958 he laid bare the commercialisation of Christmas with the magnificent Green Chri$tma$, a # 44 charter that was both funny and poignant. No easy task.
For the reviwer looking for The Old Payola Roll Blues, if you haven't found it yet go to Lost Hits Of The 50s. There you'll find it with a whole slew of other gems. As for its performance on the charts, the tale of Rock star Clyde Ankle only went to # 99 in March 1960, perhaps because this time he was stepping on some pretty prominent toes as he delved into the late Fifties bribery scandals. Clyde, by the way, was a thinly-disguied Fabian.
An absolute gem of a CD, and if you can afford the box set also listed, go for it. You will love it.
Miscellaneous Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Miscellaneous Music CDs
Rudolph Wurlitzer - Slow Fade (As Read By Will Oldham)Release date: 2011-05-03; Music CD
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
3 Fools 4 April - 3 Fools 4 AprilRelease date: 2008-03-25; Published: 2006; Music CD
Best price: $7.20
Price in other shops:
Judy Clark - Sing Like the StarsRelease date: 2008-07-22; Published: 2008; Music CD
Best price: $23.99
Price in other shops:
Race and Win: Race Boat Crewing with Tucker ThompsonBennett; Release date: 2007-01-01; DVD
Best price: $31.25
Price in other shops:
Rebecca Cooper - Coming Home to our Appetite: Guided ImageryRelease date: 2009-06-01; Music CD
Best price: $12.03
Price in other shops:
Sharon Bridgforth - Bull-Jean StoriesRelease date: 2005-12-27; Published: 1999; Music CD
Best price: $14.74
Price in other shops:
Janice Tucker Rhoda - The ABCs of Violin for the Intermediate, Book 2: Performance CDRelease date: 2009-03-17; Music CD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
![You Can Dance - Waltz [VHS] Image](/images/You-Can-Dance-Waltz-VHS-0769720692-X.jpg){kind=small}
You Can Dance - You Can Dance - Waltz [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $2.49
Price in other shops:
![You Can Dance - Rhumba [VHS] Image](/images/You-Can-Dance-Rhumba-VHS-0769720668-X.jpg){kind=small}
You Can Dance - You Can Dance - Rhumba [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Dino - Dino Collector's SeriesBenson Records; Published: 1998-07-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $9.13
Top Rated Albums
Tom Lehrer - Songs & More Songs By Tom LehrerLEHRER,TOM; Release date: 1997-05-06; Music CD
Best price: $5.23
Price in other shops:
Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records Of All TimeRhino; Release date: 1991-05-21; Music CD
Best price: $21.60
Price in other shops:
Bob Newhart - Button Down Mind of Bob NewhartRelease date: 2009-12-08; Music CD
Best price: $2.63
Price in other shops:
Bob Newhart - Something Like This... The Bob Newhart AnthologyNEWHART,BOB; Release date: 2001-03-20; Music CD
Best price: $11.25
Price in other shops:
Tom Lehrer - The Tom Lehrer Collection (CD/ DVD)Release date: 2010-04-13; Music CD
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Allan Sherman - My Son, The Greatest: The Best Of Allan ShermanSHERMAN,ALLAN; Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.21
Price in other shops:
Stan Frieberg - Emi Comedy ClassicsRelease date: 2008-07-08; Music CD
Best price: $12.19
Stan Freberg - Capitol Collectors SeriesRelease date: 1990-05-10; Music CD
Best price: $44.50
Stan Freberg - Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America, Vol. 1, The Early Years, And Vol. 2, The Middle YearsRelease date: 1996-07-02; Music CD
Best price: $183.44
Stan Freberg - Stan Freberg - Greatest HitsRelease date: 2011-12-14; Music CD
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops: