I bought John Hegley’s Family Favourites CD the other day, having seen him perform a few years ago (at a show my brother was reading at). Some might call that a delayed reaction, I call it… measured.
Great as it is, I am somewhat disappointed. Primarily because the great music-comedy-poem-thingy that is Luton Bungalow sounds very different on the recording to how I remember it – at the gig I was at, he sang:
“In my Luton Bungalow…. low… low… low… Luton Bungalow!”
On my CD he simply sings:
“In my Luton Bungalow.”
Which is clearly a poor substitute, although I’ll admit this story loses something in the telling. But its a fantastic disc, and he’s a fantastic man: I’d recommend it to anyone.
I occasionally play live with John, and I can assure you that at practically every performance each song has a unique performance! This means even the band he’s played with for the last 25 years doesn’t know what’s going to happen next! It keeps you on your toes.