Matching Tie and Handkerchief

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0094637005125 Label: Virgin Manufacturer: Virgin Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Virgin Release Date: 2006-09-04 Studio: Virgin
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Editorial Reviews: Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief is a 1973 collection of (mostly) album-only interwoven sketches. The best bits are ones that take full advantage of the radio idiom--"Novel Writing," in which sports announcers breathlessly chronicle the first sentence of Thomas Hardy's newest book; or "Wasp Club/Tiger Talk," in which a typical BBC show about pets quickly turns into a savage fight for life inside the studio. John Cleese, having practiced on the mid-1960s radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again is the most assured performer on the album. But Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and quasi-Python Neil Innes all figure prominently. Very British, somewhat 1970s, Matching Tie and Handkerchief is an absolute joy for any Python fan. A minor quibble: the LP sported a cool double-grooved side 2, and every time you put the needle down, you didn't know which lineup of sketches you would get. Obviously--and unfortunately--the CD can't do this. --Michael Gerber
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Matching Stars and Reviews Comment: The fourth Monty Python album is again drawn mainly from the first three series of `Monty Python's Flying Circus' which is quite fortunate as the fourth series was abridged in both been titled `Monty Python' and also the absence of John Cleese. A lot of the material is not from the TV series and has been written specifically for the album adding to the original sketches in allot of cases. The greatest sketch on the album is possibly `The Australian Philosophers' from the second series which has been improved by the addition of `Bruce's Song' which gives it a great finale. Another favourite would be the Cheese Shop Sketch from the third series of the Circus. Two sketches of suit perfection that I cannot believe that they didn't make it on to one of the earlier albums. The second side of the original vinyl album had two separate grooves so you could hear one of two tracks when ever you put the needle down. The first few times I played it I always got one of them so the first time I got the second I was quite confused. Something the CD listener need not worry they will get to hear the fantastic `Minister for Overseas Development Sketch' and `The Oscar Wilde Sketch' without having to have there luck in. For a fourth album without a TV series to feed it with original material this is still one of the best Monty Python albums, highly recommended. Customer Rating: Summary: The best Python album? Comment: This is the peak of Audio Python, their most original album as well as the one with the highest proportion of material that hadn't already appeared on the TV show. The original vinyl was unusual in that the second side of the album was pressed with two grooves instead of one, running side by side with each other, so that when you lowered the needle onto the record you never quite knew which version of Side B you were going to hear. The album is full of high points, including the celebrated F-word version of the 'Cheeseshop' sketch, but perhaps the funniest are the ones that were written specifically for audio; 'Ralph Mellish', about a meek drone who goes to work accompanied by a ludicrously overblown suspense-style commentary which repeatedly draws our attention to the fact that nothing is happening; 'Background to History', an Open University-style programme on medieval farming in which the guest historians mumble like stoned rock stars and their assessments are presented as spot-on musical parodies of Bob Marley, Gary Glitter and Joe Cocker; the bizarre 'Record Shop', which defies description, and 'Novel Writing', in which a packed crowd cheers on Thomas Hardy as he gets 'Return of the Native' underway. Great stuff and very good value for money. More Reviews