Rejoice, Dear Hearts! Pt. 1: I'm Sitting on Top of the World/Swanee
Rejoice, Dear Hearts! Pt. 2: What Am I Living For?/White Silver Sands
Kick Thy Ownself, Pt. 1: When You're Smiling (The Whole World ...)
Kick Thy Ownself, Pt. 2: Lover
Brother Dave Gardner contains multitudes. For starters, this Southern comedian was also an ordained Baptist minister as well as being a drummer and a singer. Judging from this pair of albums from 1959 and 1960, his live sh... more »ows were amazing performance pieces. His truly expansive routines included Shakespeare parodies, swinging musical passages, and funny digressions. There's also room here for cool-cat philosophizing, riffs on outer space, and preacherlike inflections. Brother Dave can spellbind the listener with his freewheeling rambles one minute and tell a riveting story the next. The routines feature countless hilarious voices and characters, not to mention jaw-dropping vocal sound effects. Incredible charisma and warmth imbue the entire CD. Brother Dave was an artist who was liable to draw from just about everything and anything and somehow make it all work. It's hard to imagine what '50s audiences made of this hipster from Tennessee. Country music legend Chet Atkins produced both of the original records. --Fred Cisterna« less
Brother Dave Gardner contains multitudes. For starters, this Southern comedian was also an ordained Baptist minister as well as being a drummer and a singer. Judging from this pair of albums from 1959 and 1960, his live shows were amazing performance pieces. His truly expansive routines included Shakespeare parodies, swinging musical passages, and funny digressions. There's also room here for cool-cat philosophizing, riffs on outer space, and preacherlike inflections. Brother Dave can spellbind the listener with his freewheeling rambles one minute and tell a riveting story the next. The routines feature countless hilarious voices and characters, not to mention jaw-dropping vocal sound effects. Incredible charisma and warmth imbue the entire CD. Brother Dave was an artist who was liable to draw from just about everything and anything and somehow make it all work. It's hard to imagine what '50s audiences made of this hipster from Tennessee. Country music legend Chet Atkins produced both of the original records. --Fred Cisterna
Bruce K. Day | Falls Church, VA United States | 12/02/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I first heard Brother Dave's "Rejoice Dear Hearts!" in about 1968 at the age of 14. The record belonged to a friend's parents who were great fans of recorded humor-- Andy Griffith, Red Foxx, and Brother Dave. I still consider it to be one of the best I've heard. I later bought a used copy and place it at the front of my collection which includes David Frye, Firesign Theater, Cheech and Chong, and George Carlin. It still measures up to the best and is Pure Southern Humor without the gratuitous low-brow foolishness of later artists (although they're funny too). It is great that it is back on CD--it was always hard to keep from having the needle "skip" when flipping the record while laughing your ___ off. Brother Dave's characters are alive and well--and my kin!"
The Best of all Southner comedians. No Hard sayins"
Bruce K. Day | 05/19/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"We live in a time when its still hard to find individual talent.James Dickey said the key to SOUTHERN humor was that it was self=deprecating. All of Dave Gardners characters lived and are still living in these United States.Still, nothing like Brother Dave."
The most celesial cat ever!
Willis S.Wright III | Elizabeth City, NC United States | 06/13/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I first heard these (then) albums when I was 8 years old. My father and his best friend (the two funniest guys I ever knew), LOVED "Brother Dave". Better still, they would let me in on their adult world and let me listen along. Back then, I loved the outrageous vocal effects and other-worldly voices. As I got older I "got" more and more of the humor. thirty years ago, the albums disapeared, seemingly lost forever. Then I recently found them on CD. I cried at my fathers memory and DIED laughing all over again. This time I got ALL of the humor. I swear, there was one joke that my father NEVER got and which took me fourty years to get (The one where Chuck says 'lets blow this joint', and Baby says 'naw man pass it on to the waitress'.) Often imitated, (just listen to a Ray Steven Record), but never duplicated, Brother Dave was equal part philosopher, preacher, con-man, metaphysicist, and comedy pioneer. Buy this disc, set your brain to allow for the cultural reference time warp, and REJOICE, dear heart! By the way, disclosur forces me to admit that I'm a born and bred Southerner, but as Brother Dave says, We all live South of somewhere!"
Earth is a Southern Planet
lastfrontier5 | Eagle River, AK USA | 08/29/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The fact that dear, beloved Brother Dave made the Essential Comedy selection proves beyond a doubt that Earth IS a southern planet. Glory! On a deeper note, this Brother Dave set brings back my father's philosophical style and rich humor. Remember, it doesn't matter where you are when the bomb drops -- just as long as you can say, WHAT WAS THAT??"
Dave was a man whos jokes will live on when we're memories.
jat_55@hotmail.com | Chattanooga, TN | 07/02/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I remember Dave Gardner from when I was child and I was supprised when I pulled out the old vinal at how current his jokes still are. He and Bill Cosby have a commonality in that they both like to tell good entertaining stories that are filled with thought provoking yet humorous at the same time. He keeps you in stitches every moment you are listening to him."