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The Remains of Tom Lehrer | |||||||
 
| 80% Recommended by our customers. Label: Rhino / Wea Catalog: Music Release date: 2000-05-23 Media: Audio CD discs number: 3 Format: Box set Ean: 0081227983123 Upc: 081227983123  Tip: compare prices with similar music CDsArtist:
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Availability: in 7 to 10 days Current discount:9% off |
$44.99 | |
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| Professional Review: |
| This three-CD set collects many of Tom Lehrer's tunes, described by Time magazine as "brilliant and coruscating parodies," bringing back a bygone era when the "liberal consensus," as Lehrer calls them, knew who they were and could, therefore, laugh at both themselves and the well-defined enemy. Delivering clever, witty rhymes about topical subjects was Leher's strength. In "Wernher Von Braun" [the Nazi German scientist who later worked for NASA], Lerher sings: "I'll sing you a tale of Wernher Von Braun / A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience / Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down / 'That's not my department,' says Wernher Von Braun." Using a rollicking piano as accompaniment, Lehrer will remind some of Mark Russell, the current political satirist, but Lehrer's more pointed humor and grating, nasal voice make him a much tougher listen. His Jimmy Durante-like delivery, however, doesn't completely trump his truly quick mind and clever use of language. --Wally Shoup |
| User Reviews: |
 Written on August 17, 2004 Summary: Be Prepared - TO LAUGH! How can you describe Tom Lehrer's work to someone who has never encountered it before? Satirical? Yes, but only partially. Biting? Always, but sometimes with a touch of silliness. Wicked? Definately, but with a twinkle in the eye. Perhaps the one word to descrobe Tom Lehrer's work is, quite simply, funny. Having discovered Lehrer through a chance hearing of his most famous song, Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, I became hooked. This box-set presents all of Lehrer's recordings along with a fantastically produced hard-backed book chronicalling just about all of the information there is on the man (he's a very private individual) as well as all of the lyrics. Taking each of the three discs individually I shall start with the second one. Disc Two features Lehrer's two original recordings from 1959 and 1960 - 24 tracks in all. Each song is a gem but standouts include the aforementioned 'Pigeons' as well as The Hunting Song, My Home Town, Oedipus Rex and The Masochism Tango. The titles themselve point at the very political-INcorrectness of the content! These recordings are live and include the bridging introductions and gags (some of which are even funnier than the songs) and are boosted greatly by the presence of a very receptive audience. Disc Two is virtually the same set of songs as Disc Two but without the audience and dialogue. These versions were recorded in a studio and suffer badly without the rapport that Lehrer has with the live audience. The only reason to listen to Disc One over Disc Two is for the two extra tracks slipped in at the end. Both I Got It From Agnes (how you interpret this song shows how dirty your mind is!) and That's Mathematics (a riff on That's Entertainment) are little treasures well worth re-visiting. Disc Three is a mixed affair that is never short of genius. The first 14 tracks are Lehrer's work featured on the US version of That Was The Week That Was. These are all performed with an audience and bridging dialogue and are just as good, if not better than those on Disc Two. Classics here include Smut (my personnal favourite from the whole collection), Pollution and The Vatican Rag (which has the assembled audience in stitches!). The titles here rightly suggest that more satire is apparent in this set of songs than the earlier work. This slightly dates the content, but not so much as to render it redundant. Also on Disc Three are four of Lehrer's earlier works (from Disc Two) with full orchestration instead of the usual self-played piano. These are wonderful to hear, but still lack the audience reaction. Also here are songs that Lehrer wrote for The Electric Company TV show (funny, educational and yet, still a little subversive!) and a few little oddities including I'm Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica (a Jewish 'Christmas' song) and Selling Out (another personnal favourite). By the end of the third disc I was a little depressed that this comic genius had not made any more recordings. We must be satisfied with what he has left us, and look at the quality not quantity. Start again as soon as you're finished listening, these songs have great 'repeat appeal'. The only other recording of Tom Lehrer's work available (if it still is available) is the cast album of Tom Foolery, a revue of Lehrer's songs from 1980, performed by a cast of four and produced by (a young) Cameron Mackintosh. Although Lehrer himself does not appear on this recording, the cast work well with the material and the inclusion of a live audience helps too. I own a copy of this recording and treasure it. Lehrer's final (to date) public appearance was as part of the Cameron Mackintosh celebration Hey, Mr Producer! Here he performed Poisoning the Pigeons in the Park and here is where I took an interest in the rest of his work. This performance is available on DVD, video and CD. Written on August 14, 2003 Summary: America�s great musical satirist The complete Tom Lehrer oeuvre is to be found in this outstanding box set. For the uninitiated, Tom Lehrer was a recording artist, whose incredible wit and singular ability to comment on politics of the time with a hummable melody is unparalleled. Contained within are his first two studio recordings, which allows the listener to focus on the clever melodies and wordplay, but the real gems are his three live recordings where audience reaction to Lehrer's outrageousness and his command of a crowd are on fine display. College fight songs ("Fight Fiercely, Harvard"), folk music ("The Irish Ballad," "Clementine"), and even the Boy Scouts ("Be Prepared) are all fair game. Lehrer is at his finest when creating a melody that is pleasant and enjoyable and then putting in lyrics that horrify the listener. (Ex: "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" which is simply one of the funniest songs ever.) Included are some recordings that Lehrer did with a full orchestra, that work very well (Although Lehrer himself was not totally comfortable recording them).There are some relatively new cuts that Lehrer did in the 90's and a special treat for those of you who grew up in the 70's, Lehrer's songs for The Electric Company, which are still a lot of fun, but this is basically everything that Lehrer did during his relatively brief musical career, before returning to academia. I discovered Lehrer's work in the 70's and am glad that this set exists for my listening pleasure. (Now that I've written all these nice things, Mr. Lehrer, can I go home now? Please?) Written on February 3, 2002 Summary: Most beautiful box set I've ever seen Tom Lehrer is brilliant, and some of the other reviews will eloquently tell you why. Chances are if you are looking at this item, you already know his brilliance. Even if you have the original CDs, you may want to get this, for it is the most beautiful box set I have ever seen. The hardcover, full color book has fun comments, Mad Magazine excerpts, and all the lyrics. The only improvement I could think of is I wish the "Critical disdain for Tom Lehrer" sticker that is on the shrink wrap had been put in a place where it could stay in good condition.  Written on September 18, 2001 Summary: Repetitive Redundancy I love Tom Lehrer's work, BUT... When you buy this boxed set, don't expect each of the CDs to have unique songs. The same songs appear on all three CDs. They may have been recorded at different times, but I had hoped to purchase a set of CDs with unique songs on them. Too much redundancy! Written on May 27, 2001 Summary: Tom Lehrer is THE best musical satirist of the 20th century! Tom Lehrer hasn't written a song since 1990 and hasn't performed in public since 1967, but, despite having only written some 50 or so songs, he is undeniably the best musical satirist of all time. Spike Jones is good in his own way, and Weird Al is pretty good, but Lehrer, with his clever wordplay, rather savage parodies, twisted sense of humor, and, sometimes, witty social commentary, doth triumph o'er them all. For one thing, whereas Weird Al parodies specific songs, Lehrer parodies entire GENRES of songs, thus providing a broader type of parody. Some topical references on the "That Was the Year That Was" album contained on the third CD might go over the heads of some, but the rest is great. Not always laugh-out-loud, George Carlin/Steve Martin FUNNY, but still, it's the best humor you can expect from a Harvard undergrad. I have almost all the songs memorized. If you've never heard Lehrer, caveat emptor. Some of his twisted little ballads and waltzes may be stuck in your heads for days. You will never, ever, ever view such topics as nuclear bombs, math, love songs, Christmas, Armageddon, and, everyone's favorite subject, poisoning pigeons, among others, ever again! |
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| Price comparison |
 The Remains of Tom Lehrer |
 Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer |
 That Was the Year That Was |
 An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer |
 Revisited |
| Our price | $44.99 | $8.99 | $8.97 | $10.99 | $8.99 |
| List price | $49.98 | $9.98 | $11.98 | $11.98 | $9.98 |
| Lowest used price | $34.99 | $4.99 | $5.90 | $4.49 | $3.49 |
| Lowest new price | $23.85 | $5.84 | $6.99 | $8.06 | $7.44 |
| Catalog | Music | Music | Music | Music | Music |
| Release date | 2000-05-23 | 1997-05-06 | 1990-04-12 | 1990-04-12 | 1990-05-02 |
| Media | Audio CD | Audio CD | Audio CD | Audio CD | Audio CD |
| discs number | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Format | Box set | - | Live | Live | Live |
| Ean | 0081227983123 | 0081227277628 | 0075992743426 | 0075992743525 | 0075992620321 |
| Upc | 081227983123 | 081227277628 | 075992743426 | 075992743525 | 075992620321 |
| Link to shop* (opens in a new window) | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* |
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