As I've said in my past reviews, it's great to see previous LP releases being made available in a digital format, and the leading light in this is Masterworks Broadway. So, it was with interest that I sat down to review three of their recent releases. And a more eclectic set of recordings you could not wish for.

The first of these is the Original London Cast recording of the Noël Coward revue Cowardy Custard. The story of Noël Coward's life told through song and biographical snippets, Cowardy Custard started as part of the City of London Festival in 1972 running for over a year with 405 performances, and featured songs and scenes from Coward's works of the ‘20s through the ‘60.

The cast reads like a Who's Who of entertainment at the time - Patricia Routledge, Geoffrey Burridge, Peter Gale, Una Stubbs, Derek Waring - the list goes on. Produced by the great Norman Newell, it takes you immediately back, not only to the '70s run of the show, but back to the days of Coward. The spoken interludes are excellent, and really give the show a firm footing. There's no story as such - it's Coward's life story if anything - but there is a wonderful flow to the recording.

The real stars are of course the songs. Coward wrote over 300 songs, so it must have been a tough job to fit them into the just over 100 minutes we have here. I've not done a count of the number of songs covered, but with several long medleys, you certainly get a good percentage of his output here. The performances are uniformly great. Patricia Routledge heads the cast for me - her renditions of 'Spinning Song' and 'I Went To A Marvellous Party' are, I imagine, just as Coward would have wanted them. She also gives a superb rendition of 'Mad About The Boy'. There are too many other highlights to mention - which is a reflection on the standard of Coward's output, and the skill of the producers of this revue.

The recording sounds good for its age, with most of the noise removed. The orchestrations vary from piano up to a larger combo (there's no list in the otherwise excellent and informative booklet) and create good atmosphere.

"If I'd have really cared about good press notices" Coward says, "I should have shot myself in the twenties". Well, you have nothing to worry about sir. This is a review that recommends.

8

Ian Gude