Very Best Of Norman Wisdom, The - Norman Wisdom

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	One hit and lots of B-sides
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Buy this to listen to TWO great nostalgic songs .
Disadvantages:	There are 20 awful songs as well !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

There are celebrities, there are stars and then there are legends.

Sir Norman Wisdom, 94 years young as I write this review, is most certainly an entertainment legend in his own lifetime.

Like many British entertainers of the 1940s and 50s he was multi talented and could do just about anything brilliantly from comedy to acting to dancing to writing to singing.

I am not going to pretend that this 22 track 1CD album is a breathtaking masterpiece of post war crooning but I will say that his signature tune which is track 1 "Don't Laugh At Me (Cause I'm A Fool)" is worth the whole purchase price alone.

Track 22, "Me And My Gal" is also very good. In between, most of the other songs are slow tempo dreary sounding ballads set to mediocre string arrangements or very forgettable massively dated sounding ditty ballads accompanied by big band brass based arrangements.

There are also a few cringe worthy duets that are also totally forgettable and some other rubbish songs where the instrumentation is just light percussion and a double bass.

Many of the songs on this album were written for or featured in his films of the 1950s. He is an iconic figure to this day in Albania. This is because his films were the only Western culture films that were permitted to be shown in Albania during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.

If we were back in the days of the Cassette listening to this album would be torturous as you'd be constantly fast forwarding the tape. However, because this is a CD it’s an album worth having just to be able to play "Don't Laugh At Me (Cause I'm A Fool)" and "Me And My Gal"

Full track listings and running times:

1. Don't Laugh At Me ('Cause I'm A Fool) Norman Wisdom 3:36

2. Wisdom Of A Fool (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:45

3. Follow A Star (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 3:44

4. Boy Meets Girl (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:49

5. Impossible (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:18

6. Give Me A Night In June (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 1:57

7. Beware Norman Wisdom 3:05

8. Once In Love With Amy Norman Wisdom/Michael Collins 2:33

9. The Bath Song (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 3:23

10. The Heart Of A Clown (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 3:14

11. By The Fireside (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 3:53

12. Two Rivers (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:55

13. I Love You (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:51

14. Dream For Sale (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:49

15. Leaning On A Lampost (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 3:40

16. Skylark (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 3:03

17. You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:29

18. You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:58

19. Up In The World (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:49

20. Me And My Imagination (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:22

21. The Lambeth Walk (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2:46

22. Me And My Girl (2003 Digital Remaster) Norman Wisdom 2.14