A Good Day for ‘Monty Python’ Fans
It’s a good day for Monty Python fans. First, Amazon is offering the just-released box set of the entire pioneering television deeply discounted for 24 hours. The normal $99.99 list price is down to a mere $39.99 until midnight.
Meantime, the Monty Python troupe now has a YouTube channel featuring about 24 collections of clips, outtakes and interviews with the gang. And instead of pretending its all about getting to know its audience, the group admits the channel is a direct ploy to sell Monty Python DVDs and merchandise, utilizing YouTube’s new partnership with Amazon (see above).
Score!Last weekend I was on a Monty Python kick, watching Holy Grail, The Rutles in All You Need Is Cash, the DVD release of Not the 1948 Show (which preceded Monty Python and starred Cleese and Chapman), and even acquired, at long last, the second Rutles album and the new Bonzo Dogs CD, but I didn't own the originals, so to speak.It's a wonderful Christmahannukwanzukah for me, definitely. :)
"…new Bonzo Dog CD…"?Speak to me of this!
In late 2007 a new Bonzo Dog CD was issued, Pour L'Amour Des Chiens. It's the old band, except Viv Stanshall, plus a few newbies like Stephen Fry. I think it drags a little bit past the halfway point (the disc is like 70 minutes long), but there's some keepers like "Hawkeye the Gnu," "Mornington Crescent" (which is exactly what it sounds like, a musical take on the game), "Beautiful People," and "Early Morning Train." Innes does a bang-on Dylan impression on "Ego Warriors." Stephen Fry has the spoken word recipe "Salmon Proust." Oh, and how can I forget "Sudoku Forecast"? If you love the Bonzo Dogs (and I do), Pour L'Amour Des Chiens is a worthy addition to the canon. It's on Amazon for something like 40 dollars. It was cheaper to have it imported from the UK. Exchange rate had it for about fifteen dollars. Plus a DVD, but that's why they invented multiregion players. :)
Right after i posted that, i went to Amazon and looked. Innes' Dylan has always been deadly – "Protest Song" (the version from "Monty Python Meets Beyond the Fringe" {pr "Pleasure at Her Majesty's" or any of a number of titles – the very first Amnesty show} is particularly deadly: "I suffered for my music, and now it's your turn…")
Damnitalltohell! Why do I not have a spare $40?!?!?
I think I may have found the spiritual, musical and comedic successors to Monty Python and the Bonzo Dog Band! Check out Tally Hall. http://www.tallyhall.com Good Day.