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Saturday, June 1, 2013

20 Tracks to Hinge & Bracket, CD. -- including "Fold your wings", from Glamorous Night -- "If only he'd looked my way" from Melville-Novello, "Gay's the word"

Speranza


1. Dialogue - Introduction
 
2.

"Sing Heigh To You"
(from Gilbert and Sullivan Act Two 'Patience')
 
3. Dialogue

4.
"Zigeuner" (from Noel Coward's 'Bitter Sweet')
5. Dialogue
6.

"Fold Your Wings" (from 'Glamorous Night')
7. Dialogue
8.

"We'll Gather Lilacs" (from 'Perchance To Dream')
9. Dialogue
10.

"Poor Wand'ring One"
(from Gilbert and Sullivan Act 1 Of The 'Pirates Of Penzance')
11. Dialogue
12.

"A Regular Royal Queen"
 (Act 1 Finale from Gilbert and Sullivan 'The Gondoliers')
13. Dialogue
 
14.

"If Only He'd Looked My Way" (from Alan Melville/Ivor Novello, 'Gay's The Word)
15. Dialogue
16.

"The Cat Duet"
 
17. Dialogue
18.

Novello/Ford,

"Keep The Home Fires Burning"
 
19. Dialogue
20.

Benson/Elgar,

"Land Of Hope And Glory"

 

The EMI comedy C.D. of the early days of Hinge and Bracket, June 25, 2009
By Simon Martin



This is the EMI comedy C.D. of the great double act Hinge and Bracket, two eccentric spinster ladies from the village of Stackton Tressel in Suffolk.

Dame Hilda Bracket drives round the village in her lovely shiny vintage Rolls while Dr.Evadne Hinge relies on her faithful old tricycle and cart.

This C.D. contains the early recordings when the singing wasn't as perfected.

Here Fyffe (as Dame Hilda) sings from the range of barritone to soprano voice and, as Logan (Dr.Evadne) would say, the singing of Evadne 'was screechie'.


As the years went on the singing improved greatly, so much so it was beautiful and you couldn't tell it was really two men singing, they had perfected it that well.

One of the differences was the songs were sung properly and not for comic effect.

They both really began to look more like ladies, to the point people really thought they were the real thing.

A good example of how much the singing voices improved is the 1980's recording called 'Hinge and Bracket at Abbey Road', which only seems to be available now from the U.K. official Hinge and Bracket website.

For the entire 30 years of the act some were huge fans of Hinge and Bracket, and was one of the lucky ones to meet Logan and Fyffe many times, and was invited back stage by George, who is down to earth and a lovely man.

The beauty of this act is we all know ladies like Evadne and Hilda.

A welcome sample of the duo's long, but not long enough, career.


These two guys, dressing, chatting and catting, singing, and aggressing the piano as English girls, are a gas.

In this CD they appear before an appreciatve audience, and I was especially interested in the four Ivor Novello numbers.

George Logan was Hinge, and Patrick Fyffe was Bracket and went to his grave in 2002.

From 1974 to 2001 the pair appeared live, on radio, and on tv.

Come on, American DVDs, give us the highly visual pleasure of their tv series out of England.

And throw in some Novello movies too!



Hilarious and very talented,
By Raymond E. Smith "musical maven"


Knowing that these two men not only sing in falsetto, but actually dress the part of rather eccentric Englishwomen from an indeterminate era that could be any time from the end of World War I to the mid 1970s makes this recording a delight for the ear.

Lovably hysterical!,


Hinge and Bracket are regretably under-exposed in N. America.

These 2 guys perform amazing falsetto renditions of some old favorite English songs, particularly from Gilbert & Sullivan as well as W.W.II hits.


I love them!

Put Them Together For H & B,


This album is in the category of EMI comedy but in fact it is so much more than just comedy.

The two performers are masters/mistresses of their craft.

The comedic elements on this CD are exceptional and characteristic.

The vicious sparring between the two is leavened with a veneer of civility and a cloak of double entendre.

I love the comedy but equally I am so grateful for the single handed contribution they have made to keeping Ivor Novello's memory alive.

I am too young to have experienced Novello's work except on LP and the numbers they offer on this disc are a reminder of why he was one of our most successful popular composers.

The stirring melodies and timelessness of his work are an indictment of Andrew Lloyd Webber's contribution to the West End musical.

The singing is not lovely exactly as these singers are 'en travestie' performers but despite this the songs are delivered with huge panache and have a loveliness that pleases within the context of the performance.

My one regret at listening to this album was the absence of any other recorded material freely available from the stable of Hinge and Bracket.

Yes, it is camp and it is certainly nostalgic but it is also impressively current.

This work was recorded in the 70's but the humour and the music are stylish and therefore timeless.

A big hand to Hinge and Bracket and let's see them again soon.

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