The Lenny Bruce Originals Volume 1

by Lenny Bruce

Product Description:

2 LPs on 1 CD: INTERVIEWS OF OUR TIME and THE SICK HUMOR OF LENNY BRUCE.

Solo performer: Lenny Bruce (spoken vocals).

Recorded in San Francisco in 1958. Originally released on Fantasy (7001 and 7003 respectively). Includes liner notes by Grover Sales.

Digitally remastered by Kirk Felton (1991, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).

If Lenny Bruce were alive today, boy would he be pissed. Ever since he died, a myth has grown around him--the artist hounded to his death by self-appointed guardians of morality--that's as pious and self-serving as the targets of his often-vicious satire. First and foremost, the thing to remember about Lenny Bruce is this: he was damn funny.

A remastered CD reissue of two of Bruce's best '50s albums, INTERVIEWS OF OUR TIME and THE SICK HUMOR OF LENNY BRUCE--famous for its picnic-in-a-cemetery cover shot--THE LENNY BRUCE ORIGINALS shows that the controversial material, like "Religions, Inc." and the gay-subtexted "Father Flotski's Triumph," here in its original unedited form, was only one side of Bruce's comedy. Pieces like "The Interview" aren't that different from Mort Sahl or even Bob Newhart. Regardless, this is strong comedy that's dated surprisingly little, as good as Harvey Kurtzmann-era MAD.