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StanFrebergTip O f The Freberg: T he Stan FrebergC ollection. 1951-1998 (4 CDs)(RHINO)W h e n T h e Beat les h it A m erica , Pa ulMcCartney told reporters that one of thegroup's m ain comic influences was StanFreberg's"St. Georgeand the Dragonet"Freberg's 1953 parody ("The legend youare ahout to hear is true. Only the nee-dle should be ch an ge d to protect therecord...") was an international hit, eventhough Dragnet was on the air on ly inA m e r i c a . W h e n th e show eventua l lydebuted abroad, most foreigners amaz-ingly assumed Jack W ebb had bui l t anentire TV series out of Freherg*s record.Rhino celebrates Frcberg'sfivedecadesin records, radio and TV with a compre-hensive four-disc set, f ea tu rin g exten-sive liner notes (contributed by,amongothers. Barret "Dr. Demento" Hanson)and a CD's worth of previously unissuedmaterial,

The collection includes Freberg's savvyspoofs of such 1950s pop hits aw"Sh-Boom"and "Heartbreak Hotel," as well as bite

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ComedyStan Freberg presentsthe United States ofAmer icaVol . 2: The Middle YearsRhino) lalso avai lable with Vol. 1 }

Word crackled over theinternet this spring; Stan Frebergwas back in the studio, recordinghis first comedy album in 35years, a sequel to his landmarkHistory o f the United States o fAmerica tP Comedy fans eager-ty awaited a batch of newFreberg humor.The bad news is that themajority of the bits on Vo l . 2: TheMiddle Years were actually writ-ten in 1964 for a never-producedstage version of Freberg's 1961album. So while Freberg wasindeed recording earlier this year,he was essentially pulling materi-al out of the trunk. And much ofthe sketches,which in the early'60s must have seemed incredi-

bly daring rewriting the' National Anthem and GeAddress, presenting Lincoln as amilquetoast of a husband nowseems pretty quaint in an era ofHoward Stern and Lettermanmonologues.That caveat aside, Vo l . 2 isnonetheless highly enjoyable anda worthy follow-up to its prede-cessor (which teachers havelong used to introduce studentsro Columbus and Betsy Ross predating Schoo lhouse /?ocW. Asthe first album concludedwiththe Revolutionary War, this onesatirizes U.S. history throughWORLD WAR I . Once againFreberg has assembled a top-notch cast, from veterans of thefirst LPsuch asJune "Rocky theFlying Squirrel" Foray and JesseWhite to David Ogcfen Stiers(W inchester on M'A'S'H). JohnGoodman (with a surprisinglystrong singing voice) and HarryShearer (who's doing great politi-cal satire on his own with hispublic radio series Le ShovA.One of the themes runningthrough the album is that .America is a consumer product,appropriate given Freberg's longadvertisingcareer. Vol. 2 openswith a 1780s ad agency produc-ing a primitive commercial forthe young America (" It's goodluck even with 13 stars!") .The album's high point mightwell be Freberg's Union army adman asking Barbara Frietchie(voiced by Tyne Daly) to stick herhead out a certain window: "W ecommissioned a coffeehousepoet in Greenwich Village, JohnGreenleaf Whittier, to write a lit-tle poem commemorating yourbrave act, which we'll feed tothe press later..."The best news of all isFreberg's assurance that he'llput out a third volume real soon much sooner than another 35years. Here's hoping that he notonly puts together anotherstrong ensemble, but that healso writes a totally new set ofsketches. Today's culture warsare unbearably humorless; wedesperately need the StanFfebergs of the world to offersome comedic perspective toAmerican history.AndrewMilner