George Formby – The War And Postwar Years – Vol. 2 – 5 CD

Track Listing:

CD1:
1. Swinging Along - 2:59   2. A Lad from Lancashire - 2:43   3. The Lancashire Romeo - 3:17   4. Imagine Me in the Maginot Line - 2:49   5. Grandad's Flannelette Nightshirt - 3:07   6. Mr Wu's a Window Cleaner Now - 2:47   7. Count Your Blessings and Smile - 2:50   8. Oh! Don't the Wind Blow Cold? - 3:07   9. You've Got Something There - 2:42   10. I Always Get to Bed by Hald-Past Nine - 3:13   11. On the Wigan Boat Express - 3:05   12. Down the Old Coal Hole - 3:18   13. I'm the Ukelele Man - 3:09   14. On the Beat - 3:21   15. Letting the New Year In - 2:58   16. Bless 'Em All - 3:04   17. Guarding the Home of the Home Guards - 2:42   18. I Wish I Was Back on the Farm - 2:43   19. Formby Favourites for the Forces, Pts. 1 & 2 - 5:55   20. Thanks, Mr Roosevelt - 2:59   21. Bless 'Em All, Pt. 2 - 3:11

CD2:
1. It Might Have Been a Great Deal Worse - 3:04   2. You've Be Far Better off in a Home - 3:05   3. I Did What I Could with My Gas Mask - 2:51   4. Delivering the Morning Milk - 2:55   5. The Emperor of Lancashire - 2:57   6. You Can't Go Wrong in These - 3:08   7. Auntie Maggie's Remedy - 3:25   8. You're Everything to Me - 3:36   9. I'd Do It with a Smile - 2:53   10. The Left-Hand Side of Egypt - 3:23   11. Who Are You A-Shoving Of? - 3:36   12. The Barmaid at the Rose and Crown - 3:13   13. I Played on My Spanish Guitar - 3:15   14. Swing Mama - 3:31   15. George Formby's Crazy Record, Pts. 1 & 2 - 6:51   16. Formby Film Favourites, Pts. 1 & 2 - 6:15   17. Katy Did, Katy Didn't - 2:59   18. Frank on His Tank - 3:06   19. Smile All the Time - 3:17   20. Out in the Middle East - 3:07

CD3:
1. Andy the Handy Man - 2:52   2. They Laughed When I Started to Play - 3:22   3. Talking to the Moon About You - 3:09   4. Got to Get Your Photo in the Press - 3:22   5. Mr Wu's an Air Raid Warden Now - 2:45   6. Sally the Salvage Queen - 3:00   7. Thirty Thirsty Sailors - 2:48   8. Hold Your Hats On - 2:51   9. The Cook House Serenade - 3:04   10. You Can't Love Two Girls at the Same Time - 3:05   11. Under the Blasted Oak - 3:24   12. When the Lads of the Village Get Crackin' - 3:20   13. When the Waterworks Caught Fire - 2:52   14. The Baby Show - 2:43   15. Home Guard Blues - 3:06   16. Oh! You Have No Idea - 3:12   17. Spotting on Top of Blackpool Tower - 3:01   18. Sentimental Lou - 2:58   19. British Isles Medley - 3:04   20. American Medley - 2:57   21. On the HMS Cowheel - 2:57   22. Bunty's Such a Big Girl Now - 2:58

CD4:
1. It Serves You Right (You Shouldn't Have Joined) - 2:56   2. If I Had a Girl Like You - 2:48   3. Swim, Little Fish - 2:50   4. Bell Bottom George - 3:07   5. The 'V' Sign Song - 3:06   6. The Old Cane Bottom Chair - 2:53   7. Our Fanny's Gone All Yankee - 2:54   8. Unconditional Surrender - 2:50   9. Blackpool Prom - 2:31   10. Mr Wu's in the Air Force - 2:46   11. The Darling Young Man - 2:52   12. I'd Like a Dream Like That - 3:05   13. She's Got Two of Everything - 3:12   14. Up in the Air and Down in the Dumps - 2:48   15. Excerpt from 'Get Cracking' - 1:24   16. You Don't Need a License for That - 3:14   17. The Mad March Hare - 3:04   18. It Could Be - 2:49   19. We've Been a Long Time Gone - 2:32   20. Auntie Maggie's Remedy - 2:49   21. Leaning on a Lamp Post - 3:08   22. When I'm Cleaning Windows - 2:50   23. Come Hither with Your Zither - 2:10

CD5:
1. Saving Up for Sally - 2:14   2. Pleasure Cruise - 2:43   3. Ordinary People - 3:20   4. Zip Goes a Million - 3:04   5. It Takes No Time to Fall in Love - 3:28   6. Nothing Breaks But the Heart - 3:23   7. Do de O Do - 3:29   8. Chineselaundryblues - 2:26   9. Baby - 3:04   10. You Can't Keep a Growing Lad Down - 2:52   11. You Can't Keep a Growing Lad Down - 2:54   12. It's No Use Looking at Me - 3:04   13. John Willie's Jazz Band - 2:59   14. There's Nothing Proud About Me - 2:49   15. Madame Moscovitch - 2:53   16. Sitting on the Sands All Night - 2:43   17. Dare-Devil Dick - 3:05   18. The Ghost - 3:43   19. Mother, What'll I Do Now? - 2:55   20. Hitting the High Spots - 2:36   21. Under the Blasted Oak - 3:21   22. Oh! You Have No Idea - 3:14   23. The 'V' Sign Song - 3:08

Reviews:

1. AllMusic - Bruce Eder
Although George Formby's biggest hits were associated with his pre-World War II work, one can say with some justification that his efforts at entertaining the troops and the Britons on the home front were truly his finest hour -- and as this four-CD set demonstrates, they weren't bad years musically, either. If the songs are sometimes a tiny bit uneven in quality or the formula seems a little flat on a track or two, one can chalk that up to the necessities of war; it's only in relation to his earlier work that some of the material here may seem slightly off. As it is, the material here gives one a perspective on the progress of the war that one won't find anywhere else in entertainment -- from "Imagine Me in the Maginot Line" at the outset of the fighting in France to the later material referring to the Blitz and the arrival of the Americans in England -- and, in fact, a better one than could have been had at the time. The material has been cleaned up to the point where the sound quality is impeccable on virtually all of it. How one feels about Formby is a question for the individual, but he was a consummate performer, whether he was doing some bawdy novelty tune or a ballad, and his virtues are much in evidence throughout. His postwar work was more limited in scope and depth, although he still had the ability to delight an audience, whether it was doing a parody of the "Third Man Theme" called "Come Hither with Your Zither" or the songs from the musical Zip Goes a Million. The set concludes with an array of alternate takes of Formby material going back to the 1930s. The annotation is thorough and also as polished as the sound, and the entire package will prove a delight even to casual fans who may well not know any of this material as well as his classic prewar material.