A Comedy Classic

I rated this 5 stars, but a couple of caveats. First of all it seems like most, if not all of these are live performances, rather than done in a studio. Some people prefer pristine studio recordings, rather than hearing an audience. Sometimes I don't like live recordings because there is too much crowd noise or prolonged clapping at the end of each song or the sound quality is poorer. Not on this album! The laughs of the audience add to the fun and it is never overdone. The laughter sounds real; not canned laugher inserted later. The audience is very receptive and it makes the recording more fun when you hear how much they are enjoying themselves. The recording is crystal clear, just like it was made yesterday. Another caveat. Some of the humor is dated; you would have to know what he is referring to in order to get the joke. Anyone over 40 will probably get most of the jokes. This is particularly noticable in one of the songs where he refers to fictious people that were in prominent ads of the day. Some (like the Jolly Green Giant) are still around, but other gimmicks (such as a Tiger in your Tank--Exxon I believe) stopped running a long, long time ago. Unless you were around when the advertisements ran, you wouldn't understand the references. Even with the dated material, there is enough here and enough variety for everyone to enjoy. This is a great family album and I can't really think of anyone who would not enjoy the humor. I was chuckling and laughing all the way through the album. I had never heard most of these songs before, but they are all gems. The 12 days of Christmas has never been done as funny (or as original) as here. Sadly Allen died at age 49 in 1973. Camp Granada is of course his classic song that is still as fresh today as it was when it was written.

My Son, The Greatest: The Best Of Allan Sherman

I enjoyed this back in the 60's....introduced the clever renditions to the two next generations....fun to see 13 and younger memorizing and singing along with the fun.

Allan Sherman was a genius

There will probably never be another like Sherman again. Back in the 1960's and earlier, many old songs in the public domain were still well known by the public, such as the folk songs "Down By The Riverside," and "Auld Lang Syne." Sherman used the tunes of these old songs with big band-type arrangements, and his own hilarious lyrics, thus tapping into the familiarity with the tunes, and the arrangments kept the songs sounding fresh. Since famiarity with these old songs is largely gone today (except perhaps among boy scouts), Sherman's approach could not work today. Furthermore, folk songs generally don't require a tremendous vocal range, so a guy without a great voice could sing his renditions of them and still sound pretty good. Sherman would also sometimes parody popular lyrical songs of the day, for example his rendition of "Downtown" (the original was sung by Petula Clark), which is included in this collection.