WORDS & MUSIC - Benny Hill

YEAR: 1972

LABEL: EMI

TRACK LISTING: Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West), Anna Marie, Broken-Hearted Lovers Stew, Colleen, Rachel, The Beach at San Tropez, Suzy, Ting-a-Ling-a-Loo, The Dustbins of Your Mind, Fad-Eyed Fal, Ted, Tour Guide, Interview (featuring Lesley Goldie), Making a Commercial, The Birds and the Bees

IMPRESSIONS: I first had my brain warped by the discovery of Benny Hill at the age of 11 when he was first syndicated in the U.S. on Channel 29 every night at 11pm. My schoolmates and I never missed an episode and we'd even audiotape the shows (this was before VCRs, know-nothing tots) and memorize them for school lunchroom hijinx. Sometime a year or so later, I stumbled across the Benny Hill LP and snapped it up (I was already a fan of MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS and had those albums as well). There was nothing like hearing good-quality stereo versions of the songs we knew from the fuzzy UHF broadcasts of THE BENNY HILL SHOW.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West), Anna Marie, Broken-Hearted Lovers Stew, Colleen, Rachel, The Beach at San Tropez, Ting-a-Ling-a-Loo, Fad-Eyed Fal, Ted, Interview (with Lesley Goldie), Making a Commercial, The Birds and the Bees

GUEST ARTISTS: Lesley Goldie

FACT SHEET: This album goes by almost as many titles Led Zeppelin's fourth album. Originally known as "BENNY HILL SINGS ERNIE (THE FASTEST MILKMAN IN THE WEST)", the album was released after the success of Benny's hit single "Ernie" at Christmas 1971; this is the single that kept T. Rex out of the number one spot on the U.K. music chart. The vinyl album I got originally was called "WORDS & MUSIC" but it was also known as "THIS IS BENNY HILL". To make matters more complicated, the cd version I bought in the 1990s is just called "ERNIE" but it has the same cover photo as "WORDS & MUSIC"; (the original "ERNIE" LP had different cover artwork. Whew! The music tracks ("Ernie" through "Fad-Eyed Fal") are studio recordings while the spoken-word comedy tracks ("Ted" through "The Birds and the Bees") are all audio taken directly from "THE BENNY HILL SHOW" television programme and feature a live studio audience.