Saint She Ain't, A - Various Artists

...is good pastiche, and 'A Saint She Ain't' certainly ain't good pastiche. Written in a style reminiscent of film musicals of the 1940s and accompanied by piano (possibly two pianos, judging from the sound of the overture), the show features thirteen different songs which echo the list songs, novelty numbers and lovestruck duets remembered fondly from so many Hollywood singalongs. But it's not much fun, when it comes down to it.

Music ...
...to screw ya ... A saint she ain't!" The rhymes and the sure things get more ridiculous as the song goes on and the tune is simple enough to throw attention entirely on to the lyrics, so this track is rather good fun. I also rather enjoy the silly rhymes for classical composers in another perky duet, 'I Only Dig That Jive' (Scarlatti/Patty, Gounod/Bruno, Delius/Cornelius etc.).

Unfortunately, most of the lyrics sound as though ... more

Pastiche, the imitation of a literary or musical style for (generally) comic purposes, can be a wonderful thing. The songs of Tom Lehrer and the musical The Boyfriend spring to mind as great examples. Unfortunately, not all pastiche is good pastiche, and 'A Saint She Ain't' certainly ain't good pastiche. Written in a style reminiscent of film musicals of the 1940s and accompanied by piano (possibly two pianos, judging from the sound of the overture), the show features thirteen different songs which echo the list songs, novelty numbers and lovestruck duets remembered fondly from so many Hollywood singalongs. But it's not much fun, when it comes down to it.

Music is by Denis King, lyrics by Dick Vosburgh and the cast of eight features Barry Cryer and Gavin Lee (who went on to create the stage version of Bert in Mary Poppins). The plot is apparently based on one of Moliere's farces (as a set of singers labelled the Andrews Sisters and singing in a similar style to that group tell us), but you get little idea of it from the disc, so the show may well have worked much better on stage than it does here.

The tinkling overture soon gets boring, regardless of how many pianos are actually playing, and the first track, the 'Andrews Sisters' singing Mister Moliere, doesn't exactly inspire the listener with enthusiasm, despite some skilful harmony singing. Many of the other songs are merely functional, as well hitting one note (e.g. I like singing, or my life is a mess) repeatedly and to little effect. The lyrics, however, do begin to sparkle a bit on some of the list songs. For the uninitiated, list songs take a very basic idea and spin it out in many different variations, generally for comic effect - Modern Major General, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off and You're the Top are good examples of this type of song. Sadly, Dick Vosburgh isn't a lyricist on the level of Gilbert, Gershwin or Porter, here, but he does offer some amusing polysyllabic rhymes typical of the period being parodied. The title song is the best of the list songs, here, as the romantic lead and another character complain of their loved ones' infidelity. "As sure as preachers love 'Hallelujah', as sure as legal eagles love to screw ya ... A saint she ain't!" The rhymes and the sure things get more ridiculous as the song goes on and the tune is simple enough to throw attention entirely on to the lyrics, so this track is rather good fun. I also rather enjoy the silly rhymes for classical composers in another perky duet, 'I Only Dig That Jive' (Scarlatti/Patty, Gounod/Bruno, Delius/Cornelius etc.).

Unfortunately, most of the lyrics sound as though they could come from this sort of song, which eliminates any dramatic potential in the numbers with more serious intent. There's only so much you can take of this sort of thing before it becomes annoying - even Cole Porter and Ira Gershwin knew how to write a heartfelt lyric that doesn't call attention to its own cleverness. The lyrics reach rock bottom with 'The Banana for My Pie', which is essentially a long string of double entendres, as is probably obvious from the song's title. That sort of image may be funny once or twice, but the song manages to find 22 of them, by which point the joke is very, very old.

The performances rarely exceed being merely OK. None of them are bad, but the only performer who really makes my ears perk up is Gavin Lee as the romantic lead. He is a prominent part of four numbers, and his strong, pleasant voice and enthusiastic characterisation make them far more enjoyable than anything else heard here. I actually listened to this CD all the way through, twice, to write this review, the first time the CD has received an airing for years, and it was a relief each time he broke into song.

It really is a shame that this score doesn't work, as the attempts at period pastiche very nearly work. We have the novelty song with the long name ('I Love To Hold Rose With the Rolled Hose and the Shing-Shing-Shingled Hair'), the song about an unlikely place name ('Manitowoc') and the songs about the joy of dancing ('I Only Dig That Jive' and 'Can't Help Dancing'), all of which were part of the staple musical diet of the period. We also have a finale that consists of reprises. At the start of the 'Finaletto' track, I did laugh when we're told that "nobody goes away till we sing the finale and plug every song in the show", but this joke was actually made several times during the period being pastiched, and made much better (the best is the end of Irving Berlin's 'As Thousands Cheer', in my opinion). Still, it was pleasing to laugh at loud at a CD that had mostly left me underwhelmed up to that point. None of the tunes are memorable, though most are appropriately sprightly, and the lyrics, while fun, are nothing spectacular either. Many of the jokes fall flat, and are irritating rather than amusing. Most annoying is the 'flashback, flashback, flashback' that precedes a few songs set in the past. It's nice to know they're in the past, but it's tiresome.

As I am an incorrigible hoarder (I like to pretend I'm a collector!), I will keep this CD, but it won't be getting another airing any time soon, if ever, and I really can't recommend it at all. The good parts simply don't make up for the bad. The most positive thing I can say is that the booklet includes all the lyrics, though singing along is unlikely. A synopsis would have been more useful, I feel.

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The CD is on the First Night label (CASTCD73) and is reasonably easily available from on-line sources. Amazon UK, the cheapest source, has it for £8.99 plus postage, and it's also available from HMV, Virgin Megastores, Dress Circle and direct from the record label.

Track listing [NB, there are a couple of errors in the track listing on the Product Information tab]:

1. Overture
2. Mr Moliere - 'The Andrews Sisters'
3. Start-The-Day Tune - Bagalucci (Brian Greene)
4. The Navy's In Town - Faye (Pauline Daniels)
5. My All American Gal - Danny (Gavin Lee)
6. A Saint She Ain't - Danny & Bogle (Gavin Lee and Barry Cryer)
7. I Love To Hold Rose With The Rolled Hose and the Shing-Shing-Shingled Hair - Bagalucci (Brian Greene)
8. I Only Dig That Jive - Trudy & Willoughby (Jessica Martin and Michael Roberts)
9. You're The Only Star In My Heaven - Anna & Danny (Rae Baker and Gavin Lee)
10. Entr'acte
11. Manitowoc - Trudy (Jessica Martin)
12. There Oughta Be A Way - Bagalucci (Brian Greene)
13. The Joke's On Me - Anna (Rae Baker)
14. Can't Help Dancing - Anna & Danny (Rae Baker and Gavin Lee)
15. The Banana For My Pie - Faye (Pauline Daniels)
16. Finaletto - Company
17. Finale Ultimo - Company 

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