A COLLECTION OF SPIKES - Spike Milligan

YEAR: 1992

LABEL: EMI

TRACK LISTING: The Q 5 Piano Tune, Ning Nang Nong, The Python, Silly Old Baboon, Call Up, Purple Aeroplane, Another Lot, The Sewers of the Strand, Frank J. Itchikutchi, Brass Band Samba, My Darling Little Baby, Nothing At All, I've Got A Photograph of You, Postman's Knock, Sex Food and a Pig, Wormwood Scrubs Tango, Cougher Royal, Morning in Puckoon, Tower Bridge, Word Power, You Gotta Go Oww!, Escape, Fun Fun Fun, Wish I Knew, Father Rudden, Silent Night, Hit Parade, RAF Interview, Underneath It All, Good King Eccleslas, Q8 Theme, Finale, Q8 Theme Reprise, Will I Find My Love Today, After Lights Out, Ning Nang Nong, I'm Walking Out With A Mountain, Woe Is Me, Australia, The Puckoon Flyer, My September Love, Hippo Rhinostricow, The Power of Licorice, Have They Gone

IMPRESSIONS: Spike Milligna, the well-known typing error, is simply one of my comedy gods. I first heard THE GOON SHOW in the late 1970s when our local PBS radio station WUHY-FM (now WHYY) aired them five days a week after dinner time. Then, around the same time, I heard Spike's "Q 5 Piano Tune" on "The Dr. Demento Show" and fell in love with that as well. Here was the guy who practically invented the form of British comedy my beloved MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS came to embody and I certainly identified with Spike's off-kilter world view (and later his manic depression as well). Here we have the "Q 5 Piano Tune" in all its glory as well as Spike reading from his many written works including "PUCKOON" and others. Spike's songs are usually funny novelty songs but occasionally they're borderline straight but with Spike's oddly diagonal take on the world making them just strange. Basically, these two CDs are a treasure trove which leaves one gasping for more Milligan.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: The Q 5 Piano Tune, Ning Nang Nong, Call Up, Another Lot, The Sewers of the Strand, Frank J. Itchikutchi, Nothing At All, I've Got A Photograph of You, Sex Food and a Pig, Wormwood Scrubs Tango, Morning In Puckoon, Tower Bridge, Word Power, You Gotta Go Oww!, Escape, Father Rudden, Hit Parade, RAF Interview, Underneath It All, Good King Eccleslas, After Lights Out, Ning Nang Nong, I'm Walking Out With A Mountain, The Puckoon Flyer, My September Love, Hippo Rhinostricow, The Power of Licorice, Have They Gone?

GUEST ARTISTS: Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Valentine Dyall, Patricia Ridgeway (vocals), Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Alane Clare (piano)

FACT SHEET: A COLLECTION OF SPIKES is a 1992 EMI double-CD compilation of audio from Spike Milligan's career featuring readings from his written work, solo songs as well as songs involving the other Goons, excerpts from "THE GOON SHOW" and other comedy tracks spanning the years 1956 to 1990. Sir Spike Milligan, of course, wrote and starred in the groundbreaking radio show with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe and gave birth to the modern concept of British comedy, already! Spike wrote his own epitaph obituary as he "wrote the Goon Show and died".